Getting young people into conservation
Urban Conservation Corps offer a solution for youth to make a start on a career path of service
What if our teenagers wanted to be park rangers instead of basketball players? Wildlife biologists instead of Hollywood stars? What does it take to get today’s kids interested in conservation?
In a field stereotyped by boots and wide brimmed ranger hats, we recognize conservation isn’t perceived as the hippest career choice. But youth corps across New Mexico are changing the perception and the stereotype. For example, in 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Rocky Mountain Youth Corps started a new program, the Urban Conservation Corps, that showcases the sweat, grit, triumph and — dare we say — hipness of conservation, and it’s working.
This innovative partnership, highlighted as a Bright Spot by the Albuquerque Journal (on Sept. 23), has graduated over 150 corpsmembers, 89 percent of whom go on to pursue a degree or jobs in conservation and beyond. Recruited from the Albuquerque area in most cases, these young adults were disconnected from nature, rarely visiting green spaces, and had little knowledge of what a “conservation career” can look like. On the job for 10 weeks to six months, they criss-cross New Mexico restoring native habitats and building trails on our public lands.
But the program is much more than a paid service opportunity — each person in the crew receives an Americorps Education Award and is paired with a mentor in conservation. These mentorships give corpsmembers business contacts, references and guidance that help them find jobs and imagine new life paths. Hannah, a 2016 UCC graduate, had never really met female park rangers and never considered that career path open to her. Nationally, only 17 percent of conservation workers are women. In 2018 our Urban Conservation Corps was 45 percent women. Because of her experience with female rangers, scientists and mentors during her time at the UCC, she now works at the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge educating kids and potentially inspiring others to follow in her footsteps.
It’s deeply important to us that these crews reflect the cultural diversity of our community. Corpsmembers were 44 percent Hispanic, 17 percent Native American, and 40 percent Anglo American. Despite their sometimes complicated circumstances — only 60 percent of corpsmembers have graduated high school or obtained their GED; 13 percent had previous court involvement — all our graduates leave with a sense of confidence in themselves and their future. Ivan, a UCC corpsmember from 2015 to 2017, was considered a high-risk youth, kicked out of his house as a teen, out of school and mixed up with a dangerous crowd. Now he’s a Rocky Mountain Youth Corps supervisor, with goals of pursuing a career in entomology.
Ivan and Hannah are just two examples out of numerous UCC alumni who become valuable, educated additions to our economy, workforce and communities.
In short, the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps’ Urban Conservation Corps is flipping the script on the role of young people in the economy and conservation, inspiring them to become engaged citizens, problem solvers and conservation leaders of tomorrow.
We couldn’t have done it alone. Thanks to our existing partners, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, multiple Middle Rio Grande Pueblos, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, City of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, The Nature Conservancy, Albuquerque Sign Language Academy, New Mexico School for the Deaf, NMYCC, Forest Stewards Guild, New Mexico Wild, AMAFCA, AmeriCorps and others.
With ongoing support from additional partners, the UCC will continue to grow — convincing more young people that conservation can indeed be cool. We are encouraged by the successes we have found. There’s a lot at stake. Bringing more youth, energy and diversity into conservation is critical in protecting our public lands for generations to come. It’s not Hollywood — better yet, it’s our hometown.