Every year, SCA provides training, tools and projects that place motivated teens and young adults in the field to effect changes great and small. How do we measure the effects? Sometimes its through decreased CO2 levels or by the tons of trash collected or in the number of trees planted. Our success is also measured by the lessons learned, the perspective gained and the lives we transform—today and into the future. Often when the SCA project is over, the success story is just beginning. Take a look at some of our most recent accomplishments.
New York City is so much more than bright lights and busy streets. Hidden behind the glitz and glamor is a series of environmental challenges. Some like mitigating the urban heat island effect, a phenomenon where urban centers are significantly warmer than the surrounding suburban or rural area due to...
Not many people can say that they spent a month in the woods with a silent radio as their only connection to the outside world. No shower, no internet, no toilet… or toilet paper. This is how I spent my first summer with the SCA—living in the temperate rainforest of the Olympic National Park with a fellow crew leader and six high school students.
Looking back on my life, it seems obvious that I should be working toward a career in ocean conservation. I was desperate to be a mermaid, enchanted by aquariums, and regularly called a fish every time my family took trips to the pool, the lake, or the beach. I took a rather round-about way to get into the conservation field, though.
There is nothing quite like adventuring in the great outdoors. You strap on your worn mud-packed boots, fill your water bottle, and head out to the trail head. In front of you is endless hues of nature. The trees cascade down the mountainside, eager for you to summit. As you look down the path, a squirrel scurries by.
Bees have been much in the news of late, and for the saddest of reasons: due to habitat loss, global warming, pesticides, and monocrop agriculture, their numbers are in sharp decline across the United States. The loss of bees and other threatened pollinators could damage not...
What is an Emerald Ash Borer and how did it get all the way from East Asia to America? Why did its population grow so fast once it arrived in the U.S.? Why should you care?
The Emerald Ash Borer has become an ongoing problem across the United States, and the...
Eric Straw is a 30-year old North Texan, a former SCA crew leader, and an avid paddler. He’s currently on a six-month mission to canoe in each of the 50 U.S. states. We caught up to him in New Hampshire, his paddle still wet from the waters of Elbow Pond.
On June 17th, SCA teamed up with national supporter Domtar to restore a century-old community center and bring new life to the historic small town of Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania.
In Part I , we discussed how Liz Putnam founded the Student Conservation Association in 1957, and how the organization developed and flourished in subsequent decades. In the second of this two-part series, we will look at the how SCA has faced the challenges of the new millennium...
In September 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that, for the first time ever, it was placing seven species of bees on the endangered species list. Not ten days into the new year, it announced yet another addition: the rusty-patched bumblebee. In its statement, it noted...
After 60 years of conserving America’s public lands, SCA’s place in history is assured. Here are 6 places in SCA’s history that played key roles during the passage of time.
If you’re familiar with the SCA saga, you know why Vassar tops the list: this is where Liz Putnam...
SCA volunteers get around and, as we celebrate 60 years of service to nature, we share 6 sites where you may not expect to find SCA members — but they’re there, protecting and restoring parts of America’s natural legacy.
In 1953, a twenty-year-old Vassar College junior named Elizabeth Cushman (now Elizabeth Putnam) had a life-changing experience. On a visit to the Grand Teton National Park, she saw the Northern Lights – the spectacular sky show produced by the collision between solar particles and the Earth’s...
All SCA crews keep a journal of their activities, covering everything from work accomplishments to observations in nature. In 1957, SCA crews hauled a portable typewriter and assigned an official scribe to document their adventures. Here are six excerpts from the first two SCA “groups” (as they were called back then) at Olympic National Park.
Want to help fertilize the planet and have fun doing it? Seed bombing could be the answer. What’s a seed bomb, you ask? It’s a simple cluster of seeds wrapped in a ball of soil and clay that you can throw—like a bomb. Here are five cool facts to get...
SCA Founding President Liz Putnam will be the first to tell you she could not have started SCA without the support of many collaborators and advisors. Six decades later, Liz continues to preach the gospel of Teamwork, and here are six individuals (well, okay, seven) who played key roles in the early days of SCA.
We literally wrote the book on trail construction. Check out six of the most important tools for building and maintaining trails. Would you agree with our list?
The B-52s are more than a bestselling rock band — they are also conservation rock stars! This weekend in Texas, concert-goers had a chance to get their hands dirty before the show by stepping up to serve with SCA.
