New Pilot Program Presents Conservation Education Volunteer Opportunity 

SAF partners with USDA Forest Service Job Corps to bring conservation education training to their centers

February 23, 2024

Bring your conservation education experience or share this opportunity with your fellow conservation education facilitators. 2024 kicks off a new pilot program in which SAF has partnered with the USDA Forest Service Job Corps to bring conservation education to their centers. If you or a colleague are interested and wish to explore further, complete this survey.

The Forest Service administers 24 Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers (JCCCC) from coast to coast. Every student at a Civilian Conservation Center (CCC) is a conservation student even if they are assigned to trades other than forest conservation or wildfire. Students participating in culinary, welding, electrical and many other trades at these CCCs are to receive a fundamental education and awareness of conservation principles, the Forest Service’s mission, and the role they play as citizens carrying out that mission.

SAF is designing an inter-disciplinary experiential program, coordinating with key partners such as Project Learning Tree. We are working in concert with the JCCCCs to implement these two-day conservation education training sessions.

Who is facilitating the trainings? SAF invites you and others in the conservation education community to be the faces that bring this placed-based hands-on learning experience to the conservation students. Complete this survey to submit your interest to participate or learn more. To get your curiosities addressed contact Chris Langenfeld, SAF’s Conservation Education Manager, at [email protected].

As the Forest Service and SAF work together in this new capacity, we strive to support richness within the sector’s workforce. With this program, we elevate the professional and scientific culture while helping to create a better-informed citizenry. Adding hundreds of trained conservation students will provide a larger pool of skilled and diverse candidates from which to select potential employees. The diversity of stories and experiences will enrich the dialogue and professional aptitude with the conservation sector and beyond.

This pilot program comes to life this May. We are excited to learn where we can plug you in and how you may contribute to this rewarding program as we work to scale up.