Work Begins on Wyoming Conservation Corps Projects |  
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May 21, 2007 -- University of Wyoming students in the new Wyoming Conservation Corps have started work on projects ranging from trail construction in Curt Gowdy State Park to cleaning and rehabilitating a state land section west of Casper and surveying for noxious weeds in the Osage oil field near Newcastle.
The Wyoming State Legislature this year approved a three-year, $312,000 appropriation to incentivize the establishment of the WCC to meet some of the labor-intensive conservation needs of state and federal agencies, says WCC director Nicholas Agopian, a recent UW College of Law graduate who proposed establishing the WCC in Wyoming. The WCC is also supported with a $15,000 Wyoming Community Foundation grant and a $30,000 program planning grant from ServeWyoming, the state's Americorps state commission.
"The WCC provides a lower-cost alternative for agencies to resolve identified needs in the state that otherwise might not get done due to lack of funding or for other reasons," he says.
Additionally, he says participation in the WCC introduces UW students to hands-on natural resources and environmental issues faced by Wyoming's land managers.
"By completing conservation projects with Wyoming's various public lands managers, we are looking to teach the students and provide them personal skills training and technical skills training," Agopian says. "We will also convey the importance of community service and civic engagement. When they leave this program and graduate from UW, these students will have the tools and skills necessary to be active community members and community leaders."
This year, 16 students will complete approximately 8,000 hours working on projects, and the number will increase to 24 participants and 16,000 hours next year and 64 participants contributing 32,000 hours in 2009.
Projects to be completed and sponsoring agencies are:
-- High Savery Reservoir willow replacement in Carbon County completed April 23-28. Crew leaders transplanted 3,000 willow cuts, Wyoming Water Development Commission.
-- May 29-June 6, working with RockWell Petroleum to conduct a weed survey in the oil fields within Weston County, Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
-- June 11-June 20, completing a trail construction project at Curt Gowdy State Park, State Parks and Cultural Resources.
-- June 11-June 20, clean up and rehabilitation on a state land section west of Casper on the Coal Mountain Road, Wyoming State Lands and Investments.
-- June 23-July 3, using cedar shake shingles to roof picnic shelters at Buffalo Bill State Park near Cody, State Parks and Cultural Resources.
-- June 23-July 3, habitat fencing project near Lander, BLM.
-- July 9-July 18, performing a variety of conservation tasks including fencing and trail work at the Duncan Ranch near Glenrock, State Lands and Investments.
-- July 23-Aug. 1, trail work outside of Wolf in the Big Horn Mountains, Forest Service.
-- Aug. 6-Aug. 15, fence removal and modification for a big game migration corridor within the Grizzly Habitat Management Area south of Rawlins in Carbon County, Game and Fish Department.
-- Aug. 6-Aug. 15, habitat fencing project near Lander, BLM.
UW students who were selected as crew leaders and crew members this summer:
Buffalo -- James Gampertro.
Chadron, Neb. -- Aaron Sanford.
Cheyenne -- Kendall Peacock.
Cody -- Jessica Julien.
Evanston -- Krista Johnson.
Grand Island, Neb. -- Dale Novotny.
Henderson, Nev. -- Jake Matthews.
Knox, Pa. -- Becky Steele.
Lander -- Katy Baringer.
Laramie -- Gwen Barrows, Shawn Folkerts, Melanie Matthews, Chris Laursen and Patrick Richards.
Newcastle -- Theresa McGinty.
Powell -- Mike Kwiecinski.
Photo
University of Wyoming students Melanie Matthews of Laramie, left, and Krista Johnson of Evanston help to build an experimental sustainable mountain bike trail at Curt Gowdy State Park. They are among UW students working this spring and summer on a variety of Wyoming Conservation Corps projects. (State Parks and Cultural Resources) Posted on Monday, May 21, 2007
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