VERMONT YOUTH CONSERVATION CORPS 2006 Yearbook Board of Directors Ron Redmond, Chair Matthew Fargo, Vice Chair Rain Banbury, Secretary Richard McGarry, Treasurer Eric Hanson, Past Chair Contents Judi Manchester, Past Chair Caroline Wadhams-Bennett, Past Chair Program Overview 4 Richard Darby David Goudy Project Profi les 6 Jeffrey Hallo Martha D. McDaniel, M.D. Season Highlights 8 Franklin Motch Lee Powlus AmeriCorps Program 10 Doris Evans, Founder and Board Member Emeritus Park Crews 12 Headquarters Staff Wilderness Crews 20 Thomas Hark, President Jocelyn Haley, Director of Administration and Finance Roving Crews 26 Polly Tobin, Director of Field Programs Kate Villa, Director of Development Community Crews 40 Brian Cotterill, Operations Director Lisa Scott, Program Manager Fall Leadership Crews 46 Christa Finnern, Program Coordinator John Leddy, Program Coordinator News from HQ 52 Heather Nielsen, Program Coordinator Jason Buss, Program Coordinator Alumni Updates 56 Patrick Kell, Development Manager John Paul Grogan, Youth Development Coordinator Partnerships 58 Jennifer Trombley, Program Development Assistant Andrew Magee, Youth Development A*VISTA Alumni Rendezvous 59 Matthew Brantner, Youth Development A*VISTA Keegan Tierney, Facility & Events A*VISTA Kristen Kozik, Facility & Events A*VISTA Matthew Dragon, Technical Skills Development A*VISTA Lisa Passerello, Agriculture & Natural Resources A*VISTA Cara Butterly, Youth in Agriculture A*VISTA Sara Armstrong, Youth in Agriculture A*VISTA Yearbook Editor: Polly Tobin Goddard Justin Kenney, Operations A*VISTA Copy Editor: Kate Villa Don Bicknell, Volunteer Extraordinaire 2 A Message from the Founding President Dear Alumni and Friends, As you know, the VYCC is all about people coming together from all corners of Vermont to make great things happen. We have a wonderful community of staff, youth, alumni, project sponsors, parents, and donors who make all the difference -- thank you! In 2006, we launched new programs -- Youth in Agriculture and Natural Resources Crews, Youth Leadership Retreats, Fall Crews, a Technical Skills Program and the year-round Conservation and Community Leadership Program, to name a few highlights. These crews, combined with our Wilderness, Roving, and Community Crews, accomplished almost 110,000 hours of service on public lands in every county in the state, building bridges, inventorying lakes, building trails, managing state parks and generally making Vermont a better place to live, work, and recreate. Much of our growth has been made possible by our move to our permanent home, the Youth Leadership, Education & Training Center, which is located in the big refurbished West Monitor Barn in Richmond, Vermont. As each week has gone by the facility has continued to take on more and more of the look and feel of the VYCC. The ground fl oor, where we store all our gear and tools, is used daily as crews now come and go on a regular basis all year long. One of the most wonderful things is that our new space is utilized by more than seventy of our partners for all sorts of meetings. As importantly, our year-round programs use every inch of the Center. We are doing more and doing it better than ever before. If you were one of those that made the Youth Leadership, Education & Training Center possible, your generosity lives on in the thousands of people who pass through each year. Thus, the spirit of our community is alive and well. New friendships and old continue to grow and the bonds that make the VYCC what it is are stronger than ever. Until this year we never had a place for our community to gather. I am thrilled to be able to invite you, whether an alumni, Corps Member, Field Staff, parent, or donor to visit our new home. We want you to feel like you can just stop in and look around, say hi, hike or ski our trails, or even use the wireless internet access from the parking lot! If you need an invitation, there will be start-ups and closures taking place for the fi rst time at the Center in 2007, a series of benefi t concerts this fall to help retire the mortgage, as well as our second annual Denim & Diamonds event in October. Be sure to watch our websites www.vycc. org and www.monitorbarn.org for further information. I hope you will stop by. Most appreciatively, Thomas Hark President [email protected] 3 Program Overview What is the VYCC? The VYCC is a non-profi t service, conservation, Crew Types and education organization. Our mission is to teach individuals to take personal responsibility for all of their actions. We accomplish this Roving Crews mission by forming small teams of young Roving Crews camp for four-week sessions and people who work with excellent adult leaders live full-time in the outdoors. Corps Members to complete high-priority conservation projects. learn new skills such as watershed restoration, The challenges and experiences each crew trail construction, and bridge construction, as must overcome to be successful create an ideal well as see many different areas of Vermont. setting to develop leadership, teamwork, and Often they will camp for the fi rst two weeks in a communication skills. Each year, the Corps hires state park and then camp for the next two weeks almost 300 young people between the ages of 16 in a backcountry location where they will learn to and 24 to manage state parks, build trails, restore fi lter their own water and live without electricity. rivers and streams, and improve community Roving Crews complete projects for state and greenspaces. federal agencies, as well as local community sponsors. Philosophy The philosophy of the VYCC is simple and Community Crews powerful. As VYCC President Thomas Hark tells On a VYCC Community Crew, Corps Members staff in training: “Our goal is for the program to live at home and work as a team to improve ‘ooze’ with education.” The conservation projects alternative com pleted by the VYCC crews are important transportation and, like the original Civilian Conservation Corps routes, such as bike projects, will last for decades. However, these and pedestrian projects are also the vehicles used to accomplish paths, and to our mission. enhance local natural areas. They may also History learn innovative bio-engineering Since 1985 the VYCC has provided young people techniques in order from every county, and nearly every town in to restore rivers Vermont, the opportunity to gain valuable and streams which natural resource training have been adversely and education. The affected by erosion VYCC has completed and pollution. These crews are made possible millions of dollars worth through a variety of partnerships with federal, of priority conservation state, and local project sponsors and offer Corps work in Vermont through Members an opportunity to improve and care for partnerships with agencies the resources in their local communities. and organizations such as the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Wilderness Crews Recreation, Vermont Agency of Transportation, For those Corps Members who seek an Vermont Department of Environmental exceptionally challenging experience, Wilderness Conservation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Crews are available. Wilderness Corps Members Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Forest live and work in the backcountry for four weeks Service, National Park Service, and Vermont’s at a time. They become self-reliant while learning Green Mountain Club. the importance of teamwork with other members 4 Fall/Winter AmeriCorps Crews For the fi rst time ever, the VYCC had crews in residence during the fall and winter of 2006. Crews of AmeriCorps National Service Members of the crew. Without running water, electricity, lived and worked out of Goddard College in or other amenities, the crew must work together Plainfi eld, Vermont, completing high-priority to make the woods a home. Wilderness Crew conservation and human need service projects projects typically include trail maintenance, rock around the state. work, and backcountry construction of bridges. Crews divided their time equally between working Park Crews on group projects Through a unique partnership with the Vermont with partners such Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation as the Vermont (FPR), the Park Crews offer Corps Members Food Bank and and AmeriCorps National Service Members the ReCycle North, opportunity to work with the public in recreation and completing and park management. The VYCC currently individual leadership projects with local VYCC operates fi ve Vermont partners such as the American Red Cross or State Parks. Crews local youth organizations. In addition, these manage all aspects of Members served as a part of the national disaster the parks, including the recovery effort on the Gulf Coast, where they camping reservation built playgrounds, cleaned up parks, and helped system, registering park to repair houses in communities damaged by visitors, maintaining Hurricane Katrina. and improving the grounds and facilities, and managing Youth in Agriculture and concession sales. The Natural Resources Crews crews also develop and The VYCC, in partnership with the University lead educational and of Vermont Extension, Smokey House Center, recreational activities for park visitors such as Mount Mansfi eld Union High School, and nature hikes, children’s activities, and Saturday Lamoille Union High School, developed an night campfi res. Through this process, crews alternative education program that integrates gain valuable business, communication, park concepts of work-based learning to enhance management, and leadership