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Has the 2012 Got Dirt? Photo Contest got you bummed because you love contests but have never once managed to take a single decent photo?

Well I've got news that'll cheer you up: That's right! It's time for Round 2 of the Conservation Caption Competition, Fall 2012 Edition…

For a chance at winning a Kelty Commute backpack, come up with a caption for the photo below (taken from the entries to our 2011 Got Dirt? Contest)  and post it as a comment, either here or on our Facebook page, before 5 PM EST this Wednesday. The winner will be announced on Friday.

If you're feeling magnanimous, share this contest with your Facebook buddies. Everyone deserves a chance to win something, even those of us who don't know how to work a camera.

Special thanks to SCA national partner Dr. Pepper Snapple Group for making the Conservation Caption Competition, Fall 2012 Edition possible.

Click here for the full rules.

SCA's caption quality evaluation intern*, Danielle Thompson, has selected her favorite of this week's captions.

BEHOLD. 

Congratulations to Greg Jackson for coming up with the winner. Greg, keep an eye out for the postman; your prize is in the mail.

This round of the Conservation Caption Competition, Fall 2012 Edition, has been brought to you by SCA national partner Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Big thanks! Keep an eye out for round two on October 15. Click here for the rules.

*When not filling this vital role, Danielle serves as the Environmental Education and Outreach Intern at the Fish and Wildlife Service Field Office in Anchorage, Alaska. Read all about it in her splendid blog. 

SCA is hitting the road to find the next generation of conservation leaders. Summer is over and many of our summer 2012 members are readjusting to life back home. But our recruiters are ready to find the next batch of earthsavers.

Are you or anyone you know interested in getting to work for the planet? If so, the path to a sustainable future is being built right now…and you could help lead the way.

SCA will be visiting hundreds of high school and college campuses this fall. Our recruiters will be looking for next batch of trailblazers, earthsavers, adventurers and explorers who want to help save the planet. Positions are available for high school crews, college-aged internships and local community programs, not to mention the need for skilled crew leaders.

You can help build this SCA workforce. If you know someone interested in a position or you are interested yourself, then take the next step and join SCA in saving the planet.

• Learn more about SCA by meeting a recruiter at a campus near you. 
• Meet an SCA rep via our online live chat sessions every Friday. Your chance to ask away.
• Connect with other SCA members, applicants and staff. Sign up to jointhesca.org. 
• Find your passion. Search our open positions.
• Apply to become an SCA member and help save the planet.

by Jillian Begin, SCA Crew Member, Borderland State Park, Massachusetts

Trail work hurts. Between the sore muscles, bruises and scrapes, there’s no getting around the fact that this is physical labor. We live in a world of risks: tick bites, poison ivy, chainsaws, and boulders. Working ten days in a row can weather an individual. Mustering the physical and mental strength to push through the rainiest and muddiest of days does tell me one thing, though: this job is anything but passionless.

We see ourselves as both trail worker and “user,” the technical name given to the hikers, bikers, and equestrians who use a trail. As I’m working, I sometimes think back to the trails I loved as a child in northern California and wonder “Who built that trail? Who maintains it? Do they love it like I do?”

Reflections like this not only help me relate to the “user” but remind me that a trail is more than a cleared path through the wilderness. It holds the possibility of exploration, wonder, and connection. Every trail has the propensity to inspire.

The most rewarding moments on the trail come from the “users,” everyday strangers that come across us working. We’ll often see the same locals and their dogs through a stint at a state park, just hiking their favorite trails. When it’s time to leave, it can be genuinely difficult to say goodbye. It feels as though we are leaving a newfound paradise.

Borderland State Park in eastern Massachusetts was this paradise for my four crewmates and me in July. We cleared overgrown and invasive vines from a stone wall that dates back to the 1900s. This striking five foot tall wall runs along the edge of a beautiful pond with a stone bench on its top for users to rest and enjoy the view.

One woman we met exclaimed, “I’ve been coming here for 20 years and I’ve never seen this wall!” A man said, “You folks are doing a really important thing for us.” And perhaps our favorite of all came from a cyclist who stopped and yelled from a distance, “Thank you for all you’re doing here! This is my favorite spot in the whole world!”

Because the wall was crumbling in the middle, we built a rustic timber fence to keep visitors away from this dangerous section. We used material from nearby in the park, felling only cedars that were overcrowded, effectively granting surrounding saplings more room to grow. We also pulled truckloads of black swallowwort, an invasive plant that is poisonous to butterflies and hides itself among milkweed, the Monarch’s favorite food.

We talked to users of all ages and hobbies, engaging them in the conservation and history of their favorite state park. In doing so, it became our favorite state park. Beyond our new visitor and canine friends, we bonded with rangers and the memories of Blanche and Oakes Ames, the historic owners of the park. We were gifted with Borderland doggie bandanas, mine now lives on the dashboard of my truck as a keepsake. The feedback we were given on our positive effects at Borderland, the park, and its community touched us even more. Such a connected to people and place transforms the work we do into something more than physical labor. It’s a labor of love.

Our very own SCA spokeswoman and top female surfer, Lakey Peterson, needs your support! The worlds largest annual surfer poll is open and we want Lakey to win this year - especially after her epic win at this years US Open where SCA had a booth and hosted a beach clean up. It only takes a minute, please vote now and help SCA's Lakey Peterson win! After all, we want the #1 female surfer to also be someone who is at work for the planet!

Click on this link to vote and place Lakey's name in the female surfer box #1.