Service and Conservation Corps to Add “Waders in the Water”
OutdoorHub 01.23.14
America’s Service and Conservation Corps have always been known for training a ready and able workforce of Americans, but today’s Corp smembers will not only provide “Boots on the Ground,” they will also soon have “Waders in the Water.”
Thanks to a new public-private partnership between The Corps Network and Trout Headwaters, Inc., a national innovator in restoring the protective qualities of streams, rivers and wetlands, members of The Corps Network will gain enhanced capacity to complete aquatic restoration projects.
Simultaneously Corpsmembers will obtain industry-recognized credentials and additional pathways to a conservation career-all while improving the health, beauty, and climate-resiliency of our public streams, rivers, and wetlands. Functioning and healthy floodplains, wetlands, and marshes reduce flooding, storm damage, protect infrastructure, and improve water quality and quantity.
Trout Headwaters, Inc. will work with The Corps Network to develop projects and train Corps members, whose 127 member Corps programs engage 27,000 young people and veterans in all states and the District of Columbia. The partnership, and its nationwide opportunities for workforce development and learning, will be formally announced at The Corps Network 2014 National Conference to be held February 9 – 12, 2014 in Washington, D.C.
“Thanks to the expertise of Trout Headwaters, Inc., Corps members will have another vehicle to obtain valuable experience and industry-recognized credentials while working directly on projects that help conserve and protect waterways, lakes, parks, and other important resources for current and future generations. In addition, it will help us fulfill the goal of the recently-launched 21st Century Conservation Service Corps, which aims to have 100,000 young people and veterans working to improve public lands and waters every year,” said Mary Ellen Ardouny, President & CEO of The Corps Network.
“We believe deeply in the work of The Corps Network and its focus on creating more opportunities for youth to serve their country while they are likewise trained to be the next great generation of conservation and community leaders,” says THI President Michael Sprague. “As a private company we look for the best opportunities to give back, and what could be better than training young people to love, protect and restore our nation’s natural resources?”
