New River Conservancy (NRC) is pleased to welcome a 10 member team of AmeriCorps to the region for four weeks to do environmental conservation work in Montgomery County, before working another month in Pulaski County doing wildfire management. The team is part of the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), which was modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps. Members range from ages 18 to 24 and serve in a 10-month team-based residential program to complete a variety of projects in the areas of education, disaster services, the environment, and other unmet needs.
Tom Saxton, Big Plant coordinator and contractor for NRC says “I am pretty excited for a team like this. I have worked with these crews with the USFS and NPS over the years and they are awesome. They are going to really get the NRC projects dialed in and get us ahead of the game with monitoring/maintenance. It’s not so easy to be constantly playing catchup with the extent of the NRC footprint out there.”
The team has been lending a much-needed hand to the riparian buffer restoration efforts on Stroubles Creek and at Heritage Park. They arrived on August 9th and will be here until September 13th before they move on to working with the Pulaski County Wildland Fire Crew. When asked why he joined, Logan, a team member, says “I joined NCCC to further my career and to be able to volunteer and help change things for the better.”
In their first week they have added mulch to vulnerable new planting areas to hopefully increase the chances of survival of the young trees planted during The Big Plant; removed large amounts of unwanted vegetation from the riparian areas of Stroubles Creek and Heritage Park to free up space for further planting, restore the ecosystem, and keep young trees from being smothered by aggressive plants. The team has also performed maintenance on plantings that have sustained damage to the tree shelters; learned how to collect aquatic benthic macroinvertebrates in Stroubles and learned how they are indicators of water quality.
In addition, they have conducted mortality monitoring on around 40,000 trees, the data from which will be used to assess which species and which areas are doing well, which will help shape future planting and restoration efforts.
Communications and Marketing Director, Lisa Stansell-Galitz for NRC says “We are so thrilled to have this group of young women and men to help us with our projects along Stroubles Creek and at Heritage Park. I have learned that Americorps is basically the domestic side of PeaceCorps and for students wanting a gap year before college, this is a great opportunity.”
AmeriCorps, a federal agency, brings people together to tackle the country’s most pressing challenges through national service and volunteering. AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers serve with organizations dedicated to the improvement of communities. AmeriCorps helps make service to others a cornerstone of our national culture. New River Conservancy is a non profit organization with a mission to protect the waters, woodlands and wildlife of the New River watershed. For more information, please visit contact Lisa Stansell-Galitz at Lisa@newriverconservancy.org or follow them on social media.
Photo: Americorps members take a break among the trees on Stroubles Creek at Virginia Tech campus. Foreground: Americorps Team Leader Critter (John) — Team Leader Front row: L-R: Stephanie, Jeremiah, Allison, Jared, Gavin. Back row: MJ, Nick, Eaton. Missing from photo: Logan is participating in wildland fire training to be a backup member for a Forestry Specialty Team.
