CDC Youth Conservation Corps (YCC)
Youth Conservation Corps [YCC] is a summer employment program for young men and women age 15 through 18, who work, learn, and earn together by doing projects on public lands. The purpose of the YCC program is to:
-
Accomplish needed conservation work on public lands.
-
Provide gainful employment for 15 through 18 year old males and females from all social, economic, ethnic, and racial classifications.
-
Develop an understanding and appreciation of the Nation's natural environment and heritage in the participating young adults.
​
The Pembroke Sands area has attracted widespread interest by conservation interests, including USFWS and The Nature Conservancy. The YCC program is part of a broader effort to integrate local voices into this effort, to bring the benefits these assets present to the advantage of local residents, and to create career pathways in conservation for the young people of Pembroke.
YCC Pembroke Film
YCC Box Turtle Film
YCC crew members are involved in a variety of activities designed to give them a broad and diverse experience in different aspects of the conservation field. Such activities will include physical labor on land management and ecological restoration projects with a crew leader and professionals in the conservation field. In addition crew members will partake of planned and spontaneous educational opportunities that allow a deeper understanding of the importance of conservation and its broad applicability to a range of social issues.
Students will have an opportunity to interact with conservation professionals from the areas of environmental education, wildlife biology, plant ecology, Geographic Information Systems, land preservation and law enforcement. As well as work with local school and community officials. Students will have an opportunity for field trips to educational institutions and Museums that specialize in conservation issues.
Work activities will include but are not limited to control of invasive species, seed collection, trash cleanup, biological inventories, and installation of erosion control materials, community butterfly habitats, community garden projects and educational opportunities.