See what's on tap for 2010

Thank you! With your support, we had a great 2009 and we're planning for even more great projects in 2010.

Here’s some of what you made possible last year:

• 4,100 interns and crew members placed on America’s public lands
• 550 park sites served
• 55,000 acres of habitat restored
• 90,000 native plants planted
• 10,000 trail miles built or maintained
• 1,400 miles of waterfront areas rehabbed
• 2 million hours of environmental service

Here’s some of what’s on tap for this year, with your support:

• 4,500 SCA interns and crew members, from all geographic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds will role up their sleeves and get to work in all 50 states saving our public lands
• Desert and wilderness crews will restore native habitat from El Paso, TX to El Centro, CA
• Native plant crews will remove invasives and restore indigenous flora from the Grand Canyon to Gateway National Recreation Area
• Community crews in 20 cities will provide over 1,500 urban high school students with environmental service opportunities and training not otherwise available to them – in DC, Dallas, Chicago Detroit, Boston, and Seattle to name a few
• High school backcountry trail crews at 111 work sites will put in 4 week stints completing trail construction and restoration projects, including 12 at Denali National Park
• Adult backcountry crews will build and restore trails at 27 sites including Boise ID National Forest, Santa Fe NM National Forest, and the Ely Wilderness in assignments  ranging from 3 to 6 months
• Leader crews will use their expert stone and wood working skills at 12 especially challenging sites across the country
• Nearly 2,000 interns will work on projects as diverse as monitoring geothermal features in Yellowstone, tracking bears in the Great Smokies, teaching park safety, monitoring water quality, and leading the Junior Ranger program.

You can be especially proud that:

• More than 60% of SCA alumni who responded to our survey indicate that they are actively engaged in environmental related professional or community work.
• Up to 12% of staff in the National Park Service are SCA alumni.
• Over 4,000 environmental organizations and people follow and retweet our news and stories on Twitter
• SCA alumni, in the thousands, from across the country congregate online at SCA’s Facebook Fan page to share stories, post service events and stay connected to each other and the environmental values that inspire them.
• The Student Conservation is the only youth conservation service organization specifically named as a resource in the Serve America Act.
• President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Biden, Dr. Biden, and Former President William Clinton joined SCA on Earth Day 2009 to plant trees in Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC.

We think SCA rocks...

but don’t take our word for it. Here’s just one example of what SCA is all about.

Before he did an SCA fisheries internship at Yellowstone National Park, Ben Goldfarb said, “I had a casual interest in fish.  Basically, I liked catching them.” Three months later, Ben had developed an entirely different perspective. “I now plan to pursue aquatic or marine biology in grad school and, later, as a professional,” he states. “My SCA experience has truly been life-changing.”