Today, Sunday July 27, 2014, we came upon a busy crew working on the Fall Creek Trail near the Calico Trail. We hike this trail frequently but missed the 2013 season. Much to our liking we came across several strong structural improvements to the trail.
As we ascended, noticing the many well-done improvements, we encountered the crew. There were a half dozen strong young people doing their job. They were friendly, polite, and very interested in telling me about SCC. I was really impressed.
Judith Ingalls MD
Telluride, CO
This experience challenged me in ways that still allow me to grow and achieve new heights in my life, 5 years later. The very nature of the challenging work as well as the personal interactions have pushed me beyond my limits more than I could have possibly imagined. The work keeps getting more interesting and inspiring - We've come along way and grown so fast, the dynamics of the program keep expanding... With expansion comes a sort of mass production. There are pros and cons to it - pros being that our program works in the most beautiful remote places in the southwest. The work being offered is more meaningful and diverse. The cons being that I feel to a certain degree that SCC has lost the personal touch.
My experience with SCC started over two years ago when I volunteered for the Education and Outreach program. Over the course of that year I worked in several communities in Southwest Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico as a crew member, youth mentor and a crew leader. The main focus of the work is always toward positive youth development through the vehicle of contracts with land management agencies. The following year I moved in to a staff position but the focus of my work remained the same. SCC is a great non-profit for several reasons, but I would consider their greatest strength lying in the personal touch that each person brings with them. The staff have always gone above and beyond in regard to their commitment to improving other peoples lives.
I've worked for, with, and around a number of non-profits. The SCC stands out as one of the more promising in its field. This group had the courage (or was it fear of competition?) to field a pilot crew of all veterans to do conservation work on public lands. Honest and Candid? Beyond the age discrimination carefully worded as target
As a former board member I was invited to take the train up to the Elk Park stop and visit the work crew about 1 1/2 miles in on the Colorado Trail. I went with a current board member and Don Kelly, our forest service' trail supervisor. We arrived in time to share lunch with the crew. They had been working for weeks on a dangerous section of the trail that had a major rock slide. This made it dangerous for hikers, backpackers and impossible to navigate by pack animal. This was an elite group of the SW Conservation Corps that had worked their way up to the top in trail maintenance skills. Huge boulders were being moved to make a lower and safer bypass of the damaged area. We enjoyed our lunch/conversation and were very impressed with the pride that these young people displayed in their work. We left with a sense that not only were our tax dollars been well spent but that these people will carry this experience with them in a positive way for the rest of their lives. All users of this trail will certainly benefit from the hard labor this crew provided to make this a safer route for them to travel.