Yesterday, I pledged the same oath that President Clinton once led some 15,000 Americorps members in reciting:
I will get things done for America to make our people safer, smarter and healthier. I will bring Americans together to strengthen our communities and environments. Faced with apathy, I will take action. Faced with conflict, I will seek common ground. Faced with adversity, I will persevere. I will carry this commitment with me this year and beyond. I am an AmeriCorps member. And I will get things done.
And with that, I was inducted into the Montana Conservation Corps.
I will serve for the next five months with a team of six other individuals from across the United States. Called “Team Entomology,” we will spend much of the next five months working in the Jedediah Smith Wilderness and the Big Hole River Valley.
The Jedediah Smith Wilderness lies to the West of Grand Teton National Park, in the Grand Teton range.
My schedule will consist largely of ten-day “spikes” or “hithces,” with four days off in between. Ten on, four off. Spikes begin on Mondays.
I’m part of a “saw crew” (as opposed to a “trail crew”), so most of my time this summer will be spent in front-country locations, clearing trails of downed timber, etc. I’m disappointed that I will not be part of the crew spending a full month 26 miles into the wilderness of southern Yellowstone. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to this summer’s projects. Moreover, experience running saws and doing other fuels reduction work will prove invaluable if I choose to fight forest fires next summer.
We–the entire Montana Conservation Corps (some 170 corp members, from six regions across Montana)–spent the last four days at Camp Paxton outside of Seeley Lake, MT. We completed a day of first-aid and CPR training, and some service projects around Camp Paxton–while staying and working in buildings constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (the grandfather of the MCC) in 1939. On Monday, our region (the Greater Yellowstone region) will travel down to Yellowstone for additional training.
