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What follows is the tale of five inspiring individuals, dedicated to a life of service, who share a connection to the land, and have made a commitment to the people who live there. Their quest is a courageous endeavor, the challenge of controlling wildland fire in Arizona’s most beautiful and equally unforgiving terrain. The Student Conservation Association, in partnership with Coconino, Kaibab, & Prescott National Forests of Northern Arizona, is pioneering a new program, the Veterans Fire Corps (VFC), to complete fire & fuels management projects.

Bearing down on the standoff between wildfire and the wildland-urban interface, The VFC readily takes action. When weather, wind, and vegetation conditions align, they harness the power to control fire in their struggle to find a balance with Mother Nature. Some would call them idealists, many call them Heros, but one thing is clear: When history has passed and all that we know has come to fade away, the mountains of Northern Arizona will stand eclipsed under the shadow of these giants known as the VFC. This is their story.

The VFC is working with the US Forest Service to improve ecosystem health, rangeland conditions, wildlife habitat, and reduce the threat and adverse effects of wildland fire while also providing recent-era Veterans with the training, credentials and experience they need to competitively pursue wildland fire and/or forestry careers. The VFC is working on a variety of projects including; tree thinning, mechanical brush clearing, and prescribed fire.

Check back regularly to follow a firsthand account of their adventure.

The Wilderness Ranger Corps (WRC) - Snoqualmie Pass Team, is based out of Snoqualmie Pass, Washington in the scenic and mountainous Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The pass is located about 50 miles east of Seattle right off of Interstate 90.

The WRC's home base is attached to the US Forest Service Visitor Center up at Snoqualmie Pass, Washington. It is also located at the popular winter ski destination, The Summit at Snoqualmie. Many of our hitches and projects will be based out of Snoqualmie Pass, as the area is a very popular camping and hiking destination.

What is TrACS, you say?
TrACS stands for Trails Assessment & Condition Surveys, and we're doing exactly that! This summer, the TrACS Team is hiking and collecting data on sections of the 1,200 mile hiking trail system throughout the White Mountain National Forest, NH.

The White Mountain NF is comprised of three districts: the Saco, Androscoggin, and Pemigewasset District, which span over 800,000 acres in New Hampshire and Western Maine. The Forest is home to many unique and distinct features, including 6 Congressionally designated Wildernesses totalling almost 149,500 acres, 8 square miles of Alpine Environment, and Mount Washington, the highest peak in the NorthEast at 6288' with the reputation of the world's most erractic weather and highest recorded wind speed of 231 mph. Here's a link to the WMNF website:

http://www.fs.usda.gov/whitemountain

The SCA TrACS Team is a 12 week internship to learn and apply the TrACS system in the White Mountain National Forest. The team is small in numbers but big on enthusiasm; team leader is Alice Webber, and her two eccentric interns are Eben Spalding and David Stahl. Together, these three will be hiking and backpacking the Androscoggin and Pemigewassett Districts, surveying the current conditions of specific trails and prescribing possible solutions to create "Pie in the Sky" hiking environments.

Hope to see you all on the trails soon!

By: Clare Price

As the end of June approaches, it is difficult to believe that we, the members of the CWPP Conservation Corp in North Carolina, are already over one sixth of the way through with our assignment. Upon arriving in North Carolina, we set up housing and our home office and then set off to South Dakota for SCA training. Not only was training great for learning more about SCA policies and projects, but we were also able to visit Mount Rushmore and experience snow in May, which was met with both delight and confusion. Upon our return from South Dakota, we have been going non-stop, from site training to conducting fire department interviews to exploring Iredell County during our assessments. Additionally, we have all been able to explore our base of Statesville, NC and the surrounding areas, as well as plan our group and individual service projects.

After arriving back in North Carolina, we received additional on-site training by the North Carolina Forest Service, our agency partner for the CWPP project. After arriving from South Dakota early that morning, and consuming endless amounts of caffeine, training helped everyone have a better grasp on our project. By the end of the week, we were ready to begin our Community Wildfire Protection Plans in Iredell County. We spent a little more than a week assessing wildfire risk in Iredell County. The assessments began with interviewing local fire department representatives about basic fire station information as well as questions specific to wildfire protection, preparedness, and prevention. After interviews were conducted, areas of wildfire concern were assessed. When we were not out assessing these areas of concern with our agency representative, we worked on inputting data and getting accustomed to the database interface.

With Iredell County done, we embarked onto our next county: Mecklenburg. The assessments are the same process as with Iredell County, but Mecklenburg faced its own challenges, such as navigating through the suburbs of Charlotte. We learned that through the incredible power of CWPP teamwork, nothing was out of reach. With our trusty maps and GPS, we have continued to make it back to our base in Statesville without getting too lost. With Mecklenburg County almost complete, we will continue assessing North Carolina. Stay tuned for all the juicy details on Union County, NC.