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In May, 4-8 corps members transition into the Discover the Power of Parks Interpretive Ranger Program. These corps members kick off the interpretive season by leading 3 weeks of school field trips in Bear Brook State Park. During this time, the interpretive rangers guide over 900 students in an investigation of aquatic and terrestrial habitats.

After additional training in June, the interpretive rangers continue their work in New Hampshire State Parks, connecting with over 20,000 visitors by the end of the season in October. The interpretive rangers provide public programs exploring the natural and cultural history of the area, as well as relaying hiker safety and Leave No Trace information to park visitors.

The Discover the Power of Parks program is made possible through our partnership with New Hampshire State Parks with generous funding from Public Service of New Hampshire.

Four SCA NH corps members engage Manchester area high school students in year-round conservation service learning projects through the SCA Manchester Conservation Leadership Corps (CLC). The group meets twice each week during the spring and fall to complete local projects and foster an ethic of civic responsibility.

During the summer, SCA Manchester CLC partners with organizations such as the White Mountain National Forest, National Park Service and National Audubon Society. The students and leaders spend two weeks camping and maintaining trails. Through hard physical effort and daily living in a group, participants develop teamwork and leadership skills that will serve them throughout their lives.

SCA Manchester CLC’s track record demonstrates that engaging in active conservation work can and does inspire high school students to pursue careers
in the conservation field.

Through this program, my members and I will be using the surveys created by The Army Corps of Engineers to get the general feel of why the public uses local parks. My members will also spend part of their time during this program creating and implementing conservation projects of their choice in the greater Atlanta/Cumming area. I will support them in whatever ways I can by reviewing and approving their ideas, and then overall by helping them with the construction of their projects.
Each member will have access to an SCA vehicle, which they will use these to get to various program locations in which we will all carry out Visitor Use Surveys. We will perform routine checks on our vehicles to ensure they are in proper and safe working condition.
Goals will be accomplished by maintaining a line of professionalism, and only speaking with those who are willing and wanting to help us. We will try to involve the general public as much as we can with the conservation projects, since these are intended to benefit local people.
My members and I will share information and photos on this group blog so that others can see the work we are doing.
My main goal for my members as far as contacts go is to allow them to learn how to make connections with the agency contacts at our various parks. Different parks have different contacts, obviously, and different contacts mean all different kinds of personalities. It is important for my members to understand the proper way of speaking with and dealing with park contacts.
Throughout our time together, whether it is in general conservation or through our work we will talk about civic engagement and what it means to us as members in a society. We will also talk about Environmental Education and its importance with young people, ourselves, and even the older generations. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are, you can still actively choose to be environmentally friendly, or not. We hope to teach others why it is important to spread knowledge and educate others on these topics.
The history of conservation is extremely interesting in my opinion. It is something that has been going on for a long time, and people are unaware of it’s rich history. Hopefully my members and I can touch on what we know about the conservation movement. We can talk about what it means to us, and how The SCA comes into play with this topic. We all know that The SCA was founded in 1957, right during the peak of many interesting things going on in our US History. The fact that The SCA was so welcomed by America during this time makes me personally proud to be part of such an incredible organization. As active members of The SCA, and conservationists, we will do what we can as we are working, and even during our personal time to ensure people understand the point of us being there. We will explain the reasoning behind my members work projects, in addition to having others help implement them. The same goes for the visitor use surveys. Knowledge + Education = POWER!

Keep checking in with us!!

Written by Leah Cantor

Read about what is going on at SCA Massachusetts this winter.

Our Summer Nature Program will be June 25 - June 28 this year for students aged 6-12. Explore the forest and learn about local animals!

Applications are available below. Applications are due by June 6. Please fill out both attached documents and email them to jharwood@thesca.org or mail them to SCA Massachusetts, 466 West Hawley Rd, Plainfield, MA, 01070.