View Corps Posts from the Field [1] Jarrod Ball Program Director - Trails 1491 Tyrell Lane Boise, ID 83706 208-424-6734 jball@thesca.org [2]
About Corps Trails [3]
The goal of the SCA Trails Corps is to provide meaningful opportunities to volunteers, while effectively preserving and enhancing trail corridors and historic sites on our public lands.
We do the dirty work, keeping the water off the trail (and the trail out of the water) in addition to keeping people on the trail. We build turnpikes and bridges, water bars, and check steps, retaining walls and stairs, all so that others may have the opportunity share our enjoyment of the natural world, while minimizing their impact to these precious lands.
Trails Teams
Utilizing a team of 5 members and one Project Leader, teams spend from twelve weeks to six months in the field. Teams generally spend the duration of the season living in tents and cooking in a field kitchen in front and back-country settings. Great food, hard work and the camraderie of living and working with others from a wide-ranging population makes for a truly memorable experience.
Trails Assessment and Condition Survey (TrACS) Teams
Smaller teams consisting of two Members and one Project Leader, paired with a trusty measuring wheel and large binder, hike, measure and note the condition of the trails. Teams are able to cover long distances of a season and provide valuable data to the Forest Service on the condition of the trails.
US Fish and Wildlife Survey Team
A new model for the SCA, a ten member team works to complete the GIS inventory of all trails in the entire National Wildlife Refuge System. Members are travelling to all 50 states and Puerto Rico to collect all new trails since 2006, or those overlooked in the 2006 (Cycle 1) survey. Members utilize advanced GIS collection instruments and identify trail deficiencies in all trails so that our partners will know where to allocate resources. Additionally, the team works with Federal Highways to post-process all data to make it useable for reports, surveys, etc.
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Tyler Lobdell - Program Manager [7]
Originally from the prairies of central Illinois, Tyler has been working with the SCA for the better part of 6 years. His initial introduction to outdoor leadership and the world of trail work was as a member on a Pacific Crest Trail team which traveled throughout California doing trail maintenance in some of the most beautiful spots America has to offer. Since that life changing experience Tyler has led numerous national crews, 3 corps teams, and in 2010 was Northwest Program Manager for Corps Trails. He currently serves as Program Manager for the Fish and Wildlife Service Trails Inventory Program based out of the SCA Boise office. Tyler is also an active Leave No Trace Master Educator and SCA Conservation Work Skills Instructor. His belief in the outdoor experience and the potential for SCA to change lives keeps him excited and passionate season after season.
While not in the office you can find Tyler mountain biking, backpacking, climbing, or tending his garden. His time spent working with the SCA over the past years has been full of growth, learning, and great people and he hopes that the future holds more. He has plans to continue his work in trails with the US Forest Service and hopes to get certified as a Wilderness EMT and AMGA Single Pitch Guide in 2012.
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Trevor Knight - Program Coordinator [11]
I grew up in Coeur D' Alene, ID where I spent most of my youth enjoying the lakes and mountains that make North Idaho so beautiful. I left the lakes and greenery behind when I moved to Pocatello, ID for a taste fo the high desert country. While in Pocatello I studied Ecology at Idaho State University. After graduating in 2005, taking some time to do some traveling and try to figure out what to do next. I got my first introduction to trails and service work with the Northwest Service Academy based out of Trout Lake, WA. While in my AmeriCorps position there I had the pleasure of leading trail crews throughout Oregon and Washington. Shortly after finishing my AmeriCorps program I moved to Taiwan where I taught English for 2 years. While 2 years is just enough to scratch the surface of what Asia has to offer culturally and culinarily, I was in need of a job working outdoors again. I returned to the States in 2009 where I found the job market to be less than ideal. I was fortunate enough to land a position as a project leader with the Student Conservation Association (SCA) leading a trail crew of 4 in the Eldorado National Forest. I went on to lead crews in Florida and the Olympic National Forest. With the SCA I have had an amazing opportunity to work in many different ecosystems and meet a wealth of other people who care as deeply as I do about the world around them. I now help manage the Trails Program out of our office in Boise, ID.
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Alex Olsen - Data Coordinator [14]
Alex has worked with SCA in numerous capacities since 2000. He worked in the Seattle regional office of SCA for four years with the Community program, Corps program and High School Program. He “left” SCA to attend graduate school and teach high school from 2004-2008, though even then he couldn’t help leading high school crews over the summers of 2005 and 2006 in Haleakala National Park in Hawaii, and White Mountains National Recreation Area north of Fairbanks, Alaska. He re-joined SCA in 2009 full-time, first leading a Corps Trails crew in Mt. Rainier National Park, then moving to Boise to become the Eastern Corps Trails Manger in 2010, and finally helping launch and manage a innovative new Trails Inventory Program with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2010.
Before SCA, Alex worked with the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps (1994-1999), and before that the nonprofit Green Mountain Club in Vermont (1991-1993). Throughout his twenty years of professional outdoor experience, he has led ten trail crews, supervised four backcountry trail programs in Colorado, and managed several programs during his “ten” years at SCA.
Alex has a Bachelors Degree in English from Colorado College, and a Masters in Teaching from the University of Washington, and has also taught American Literature and Creative Writing in a Seattle-area high school for three years.
Alex is an avid mountain biker, telemark skier, backpacker, rafter, and sea kayaker. Whenever he can, he travels internationally; past destinations include South America, Vietnam, Nepal, Mexico, China, and Europe.
Love of teaching, the out-of-doors and a deep concern for the environment led Alex to the Student Conservation Association. He has only one regret - he wished he knew about it when he was a high school student!
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Jarrod Ball - Program Director [17]
Mr. Ball has over 15 years of experience managing and leading teams. Working in small businesses, he managed the sale and exchange of land with private individuals, governmental agencies and fortune 500 companies. His career included settlements in easements, water rights, wind, and other natural and environmental resources. With the Student Conservation Association he has lead field trail crews in the Umatilla National Forest, Denali National Park, Deschutes National Forest and Delaware Water Gap NRA.
He has been a Ski Patroller, and holds certifications in: CPR, Wilderness EMT, USFS Cross Cut and Chainsaw. Further experience includes: AIARE Level 2 Avalanche, Canoe Operation and Safety, Rigging for Trail Building, and the International Mountain Biking Association Trail Building School. He is also a Leave No Trace Trainer and SCA Work Skills Instructor.
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