HOC Hires 82 Youth In Central Oregon

REDMOND, OR — The Heart of Oregon Corps has hired 82 youth to participate in the Central Oregon Youth Conservation Corps program this summer. Now through August 14th, these 82 young people will work on land stewardship projects across Central Oregon. They will accomplish 23,000 hours of service and ear over $200,000 in wages.

In the Ochoco National Forest, youth will work on recreational trail projects and eradication of noxious weeds in the Mill Creek and Bridge Creek Wilderness Areas, thus learning about wilderness and celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act while accomplishing much needed resource work. Youth will also complete projects in the Crooked River National Grassland improving bluebird nesting habitats through the construction, placement and mapping of up to fifty nesting boxes in locations in which there currently are none. Finally, Bend Fort Rock crews will work on important hazardous fuels projects to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires in the area, especially important in a season already experiencing early season wild fires. Crews will also construct an ADA accessible trail at popular Benham Falls.

The long standing partnership between Heart of Oregon Corps youth crews and USFS has accomplished land stewardship work in Central Oregon since 2002.

“The Forest Service absolutely loves the crews we get from this program. Great kids, hard workers and they get very important stewardship and restoration work done on our Central Oregon public lands,” states John Allen, Forest Supervisor of the Deschutes National Forest regarding COYCC.

Grant Awards for 2014 Central Oregon Youth Conservation Corps
$30,000	Oregon Youth Conservation Corps
$25,000	The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
$10,000	The Collins Foundation
$9,000	The Facebook Data Center in Prineville
$5,000	The Gordon Elwood Foundation
$5,000	The West Family Foundation
$2,500	The US Bancorp Foundation
$2,000	The Bill Healy Foundation
$88,500	Total 2014 Grant Awards