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Faces of the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps: Michelle DiMeglio of Maine Conservation Corps

Michelle Dimeglio

This summer we plan to highlight several of the participants in the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps. To view all Faces of the 21CSC stories, please click here. The following story was provided by Maine Conservation Corps, a 21CSC program operator.

The Maine Conservation Corps’ Alumni are spread far and wide and often continue to work in conservation long after their time with us is done. Recently the MCC heard from Michelle DiMeglio whose life has been shaped by AmeriCorps and the MCC in many positive ways. Michelle currently works as a Youth Program Assistant for The Corps Network in partnership with the National Park Service. Her program works to expand opportunities for youth in National Parks.

Michelle was first drawn to the MCC due to its Trail Training Program. Having previously served with trail crews in California and Arizona, she wanted to gain more experience as a leader. The MCC’s training program prepared her for work with chainsaws, griphoist equipment, and the dynamics of leading a field crew. She was also certified as a Wilderness First Responder. She came away from the program with the skills and confidence to lead.  Continue reading →

Youth protect public lands along St. Croix National Scenic Riverway as part of 21st Century Conservation Service Corps

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Conservation Corps youth take a break after a day of pulling buckthorn on National Park Service lands along the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, east of Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Editor’s Note: This week Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis visited St. Paul Minnesota to sign an agreement with the National League of Cities and the YMCA to better coordinate efforts to get kids outdoors, as part of the Secretary’s youth initiative. This week we will highlight the additional efforts of an organization supporting the Secretary’s goals for her initiative in the Twin Cities area through the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps.

This summer, youth will play in vital role in helping to protect biodiversity and improve visitors’ experience along the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. The St. Croix River, with its proximity to the Twin Cities metropolitan area and federal designation as a Wild and Scenic River, is a popular outdoor recreation area for paddling, hiking, biking and birdwatching. Participants, ages 15-18, and young adult AmeriCorps members will work in crews of eight, along shoreline and public lands in this national park to remove invasive buckthorn and purple loosestrife that destroy native vegetation and critical habitat. Corpsmembers will also be involved with identifying and mapping threatened areas.

The St. Croix projects will engage a total of 60 diverse youth participants from Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa, a 21st Century Conservation Service Corps program operator, in partnership with the National Park Service. The projects will be completed over eight weeks of the 2014 the Summer Youth Corps program.

Continue reading →