Crew 1/Longhair Don’t Care – Sinks Canyon State Park, Wyoming, June 13-22 – This crew had a tough hitch of digging a ditch for 6 days! The ditch is to hide electric lines for the new yurts installed in the Popo Aggie Campground. The big picture for these lines means more people are able to experience the wonders of the canyon who aren’t quite able to camp. Many of the yurts are ADA accessible. In the last few days of the hitch, Longhair Don’t Care built tent pads and processed firewood for the campground as well as pheromone packet applications to needed trees in the canyon.
Education Day – Sinks Canyon is a long known archeological wonderland for ancient human remains. This crew’s day was spend walking around some of the cliff’s paintings and pictographs (including an impressive year cycle calendar in sandstone), some projected to be thousands of years old. They also got to touch and see some collected bones found in the park that provide evidence of hunting and bone tools. Lastly, the crew explored an established hunting ground for Native Americans of the past millennia.
Day Off – Having spent days working literally “in the trenches,” the crew enjoy a night off in Lander, Wyoming with a big hike to Hidden Falls. They capped the day off with a citizen science wildlife survey with a University of Wyoming grad student, Zoe Nelson. Together, the crew and Zoe explored one of Sink’s ponds for amphibians.
All said and done:
-500+ pheromone packets applied in about a 7 acre plot
-2 cords of wood processed
-about quarter mile of trench dug for electrical line
Crew 2/ThadMad – Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Wyoming, June 13-22 – As you will see from the photos, this crew built brand spankin’ new buck and rail fences for the Recreation Area. The Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), a National Parks program, were in charge of breaking down the wire fence that existed before the buck and rail while our crew quickly followed the YCC team by erecting the new fence. Beyond fencing, the crew cleared trees and brush from the area around a historic science school damaged.
Education Day – One of the WCC’s coolest education day, the crew suited up with kayaks and floated down the Bighorn River learning about geology and ancient human history. A day on the river is usually not a bad day.
Day Off – Crew leader, Madison Williams, built an itinerary to rival most people’s vacations let alone a mere day off. The crew visited a goji berry farm in Powell, Wyoming then the Ice Caves in the Pryor Mountains, and then off to the have dinner at the Bear Trap in the Bighorn Mountains.
All said and done:
-14 hazard trees felled
-almost 4 acres tree debris cleared
-265 trees bucked and limbed
-an entire mile of continuous buck and rail fence installed
Crew 3/Baby Geniuses, Jackson Wyoming and Vedauwoo Recreation Area, Wyoming, June 13-22 – This crew started their work in Jackson, Wyoming with the Great Outdoors Western Campout for Monday and Tuesday. Here, the crew helped lead the service trails days component with ages ranging from 4th graders to senior citizens. Then, our crew head back down to the southeastern quadrant to work on buck and rail fencing for Vedauwoo Recreation Area. Every night, the crew enjoyed seeing the rock climber’s flickering headlamps on the cliff walls from their campground.
Education Day – This education day was spaced out. While in Jackson for the campout the crews worked with the National Park Service for half of their education day while one morning in Vedauwoo the crew hiked around the beaver dam areas and Turtle Rock.
Day Off – These guys and gals are troopers for conservation. On their day off, they swung through Yellowstone National Park for a couple hours but then embarked on the long journey back to the direct opposite side of the state between Cheyenne and Laramie – a total of 560+ miles and 10 hours of driving.
All said and done:
-half a mile of new buck and rail fence built
-a quarter mile of buck and rail fence repaired
-45+ 4th grade aged children supervised
-quarter mile of trail maintained while supervising 100+ volunteers.
Wyoming Conservation Corps 