Appalachian Conservation Corps Takes Part in Great Outdoors Day of Service
Individual PlacementsBy Laura Boaggio
June 16th, 2023 | Washington, D.C. – The warm air and sunshine are always welcomed sights in June. As folks lace up their hiking boots and head out to enjoy the official start of summer, others are working behind the scenes to keep the land clean for park-goers. While they’re usually camouflaged in the woods or a park uniform, several made an appearance Friday for an important day of service.
The Corps Network held its eighth annual Great Outdoors Day of Service on June 16 in Washington, D.C., to celebrate Great Outdoors Month (June).
More than 170 people registered to volunteer – including young adults from Corps across the mid-Atlantic – for maintenance projects at the National Park Service’s Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac. There was a large crowd of volunteers, but a handful of familiar faces stood out – Individual Placements (IP’s) from both the Appalachian Conservation Corps and Stewards IP program participated in this year’s event.
Members from Appalachian Conservation Experience, Branches to Chances Climate Corps/Delaware Center For Horticulture, Appalachian Conservation Corps, Stewards IP, Earth Conservation Corps, Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center – Harper’s Ferry, Maryland Conservation Corps, Montgomery County Conservation Corps, Latin American Youth Center, and Student Conservation Association gathered Friday morning to clean and repair land surrounding LBJ Memorial Grove in Washington, D.C.
Friday’s event was extra special, as it marked the first ever National Service and Conservation Corps Day – a time to celebrate Corps and the work they do.
On June 15, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced the National Service and Conservation Corps Day resolution in the U.S. Senate, which was unanimously agreed to. Co-sponsors include Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and John Hickenlooper (D-CO).
The resolution comes at a perfect time, as this year marks 90 years since the Civilian Conservation Corps was established. The CCC program was launched by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 and put 3 million young men to work building our modern national and state park systems.
Today, the Corps Network has a membership of more than 150 state, local and non-profit Corps organizations across the country engaging young people in service, education and career training – and ACC is proud to be a part of that.
Forest Platzer of Harpers Ferry Job Corps carries bags full of plant debris from LBJ Memorial Grove.
A handful of ACC interns from parks in Virginia and Maryland came out Friday to help remove invasive species, collect trash, and remove any downed or dangerous limbs from nearby trees surrounding the work site.
Our invasive plant management team took a break from National Capital Region sites to help remove some unwelcome flora surrounding LBJ Memorial Grove. ACC currently has four interns working at Capital Region parks to restore native plant communities and ecosystem functions.
ACC IP Veronica Mucciarone removing invasive plants.
ACC IP Elizabeth Rea removing invasive plants.
IP’s from Monocacy National Battlefield in Frederick, MD, also volunteered their time. ACC has eight interns placed at Monocacy this summer, working in resource management, maintenance and visitor services at the battlefield.
ACC IP Jared Ezrin removing invasive plants.
Bags of plant debris collected from the 8th Annual Corps Network Great Outdoors Day of Service.
Sponsors of The Corps Network 2023 Great Outdoors Day of Service included the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, and Guest Services, Inc. Visit the Corps Network website to read more about the event.
Volunteers taking a break from hard work to enjoy the sights.
