Published: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 6:10 AM CDT

When Sarah Schearer finished college recently, the Wisconsin native wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself.

After one year of college, 19-year-old Drew Densmore of Maine took some time off school while he figured the future out.

After some soul searching (and job searching) the two found themselves in Telluride las week camping in  Town Park and building trails on the Valley Floor.

They are on an eight-person team stationed in Telluride through the Southwest Conservation Corps, a Durango-based agency that puts young people, ages 18-25, to work in the spirit of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s. This summer they were contracted out by the Town of Telluride to reroute trails and do other work on the Valley Floor. A crew was here in August, and the current crew is here for a two-week stint to finish up the Corps’ contract.

Six workers and two team leaders have spent the last week  rerouting singletrack, building new trails and even installing bridges on the Valley Floor.

“We partner with either public land management agencies or non-profits to create service opportunities for youth and young adults,” said Kevin Heiner, the conservation program director out of the SCC’s Durango headquarters.

Last year the town’s Open Space Commission and a team of town-hired consultants crafted a trails and river restoration plan for the Valley Floor, which called for rerouted trails and river restoration projects on the San Miguel River.

Telluride Town Manager Greg Clifton said he had worked with the Conservation Corps during his time managing the Town of Ridgway and contracted with them after the trails plan was approved this spring.

“It’s just great to have them here,” Clifton said. “They’re hard workers. They provide us a good service.”

To Heiner’s knowledge the project is the first of its kind in Telluride.

“We’re really excited to work up in Telluride,” he said. “It seems like it’ll be the first of many [projects] with the acquirement of the [Valley Floor].”

Some of the Telluride crew found themselves with SCC because they needed the money and others just wanted to spend time outdoors, but Group Leader Levi Dean said, “overall we have an interest in environmental stewardship.”

Samantha Evanoff, 22, of Chicago, joined SCC because “I wanted to actually do something instead of just learning about the environment.”

Despite battling the elements — their first day on the job lastweek saw cold and constant rainfall on Tuesday — the job is both challenging and rewarding.

“This is a lot better work than a minimum wage job for a huge corporation where you never seen an end result,” said Abigail Dack, 20, of Oregon. “It’s really satisfying at the end of the day.”

Her fellow crewmember echoed that sentiment.

“When you’re working on it, you think, ‘this is so difficult,’ but when it’s done, it’s pretty exciting,” Evanoff said.

Others are just happy to be stationed in Telluride for two weeks.

“You get to work where most people go for vacation,” Densmore said.

The group took a break for the weekend and retured to Telluride on Monday. Group Leader Cara English said they will be transplanting willows and removing noxious weeds.

“It’s a win-win arrangement,” Clifton said. “The whole Conservation Corps movement is a pretty proven strategy for putting young adults to work in a way that’s beneficial for communities.”

 

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