February 6, 2020 | FARMINGTON – After more than 20 years in the area, the Southwest Conservation Corps is gearing up to hire one of its largest summer youth crews yet.

The program plans to hire about 65 students, almost four times more than 2016 when it hired 16 students, said Teresa DiTore, youth programs manager with Southwest Conservation Corps.

January 13, 2020 | Join United Way of Southwest Colorado (UWSWC) at Wolf Creek Ski Area for a fun day of skiing and boarding with discounted full-day lift tickets on Wednesday, Jan. 15, to benefit United Way nonprofit organizations in Archuleta County.

January 10, 2020 | The Southwest Conservation Corps youth program will be the beneficiary of Moonlight Pizza & Brewpub’s Moonlight Monday promotion on Jan. 20.

January 7, 2020 | ALAMOSA — The Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) Board awarded a total of  $1,942,586 in youth corps and open space grants to projects in your district.

The City of Alamosa received a $16,600 youth corps grant to hire Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC) to construct and maintain trails on several municipal properties, adding six miles to an existing network of 15 miles of trail. 

October 13, 2019 | The Russian olive – which can grow 35 feet tall – is native to East Asia and Russia and typically overtakes native species, including willows and cottonwoods. It has a vast underground root system, and its stumps can send out shoots if not treated with pesticide. The tree originally was introduced as early as the 1960s as an ornamental plant and also was used as a windbreak.

MSI has spearheaded Colorado-based efforts to eradicate the plant throughout the Animas River Valley since 2016, often partnering with the Southwest Conservation Corps. In 2017, MSI was awarded a grant from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife for a three-year removal project. The organization estimates it has cleared 290 acres of Russian olives in the Animas River watershed and removed about 4,000 stems.

August 27, 2019 | Monarch Mountain’s Ski Conservation Fund has disbursed a little more than $30,000 to three different area conservation projects, the National Forest Foundation announced last week.

The fund gave $12,000 to the Monarch Pass Gravel Pit Restoration Project, $13,200 to the Boss Lake Trail Improvement Project and $7,600 to develop cross-country ski trails near Monarch Mountain.

The gravel pit project is being handled by Trout Unlimited, and the other two projects are being run by Southwest Conservation Corps.

August 18, 2019 | Rangely - After hearing the Rangely District Hospital presentation about the proposed mill levy Tuesday, Rangely Mayor Andy Shaffer called the regular town board of trustees meeting to order.  There were no public input, changes to the agenda public hearings, or reports from the council during this meeting.

August 16, 2019 | Buena Vista Singletrack Coalition is excited that two new trails are currently under construction as part of the $151,000 grant awarded to the town of Buena Vista by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Non-Motorized State Trails Grant program.

The grant was submitted in partnership with Bureau of Land Management, Southwest Conservation Corps, Colorado Mountain Club and Buena Vista Singletrack Coalition.

July 26, 2019 | Southwest Conservation Corps and Mountain Studies Institute have partnered on a project to help landowners mitigate weed growth that came as a result of the 416 Fire.

A work crew from Southwest Conservation Corps sprayed herbicide Monday on invasive plants that sprouted in full force after last year’s 416 Fire burned 54,000 acres north of Durango. More than 100 private lots were sprayed with herbicide, including homes by Trimble Hot Springs and the Falls Creek subdivision.

SCC and MSI hope to control the spread of invasive plants that took root as a result of last summer’s fire, and SCC hopes to position itself as a local resource to help with future initiatives of this kind.

July 24, 2019 | The U.S. Forest Service has embarked on a bit of a science experiment this summer, to see if trees, willows and other vegetation are able to take root on a waste pile near the Brooklyn Mine, located on a mountainside northwest of Silverton, said Gretchen Fitzgerald, a forester with the agency.

“Not much has been done with this waste rock,” Fitzgerald said. “But I wanted to try this.”

If successful, the project could have beneficial effects on water quality and set a precedent for the future restoration of toxic areas.