Shared by Elizabeth Roach, as Guest Blogger.

Responsible for assisting the properties in District 3 of Virginia State Parks with their trails, natural resources, and volunteer events, we're AmeriCorps members Kristen, Leticia, and Samantha.

The Virginia State Parks that we help manage include Sky Meadows, Shenandoah River, Seven Bends, Douthat, Natural Bridge, and James River State Parks but can include any Virginia State Park that needs assistance, mainly with prescribed burns. 

We're AmeriCorps members Kristen, Leticia, and Samantha

As part of the natural resource crew for VSCC (Virginia Service and Conservation Corps), we are called upon to engage in a wide variety of activities which benefit Virginia State Parks. One of those, which we do surprisingly often, is interacting with members of the community, both visitors and volunteers. For example, the crew spent three weeks in March helping Natural Bridge and James River State Parks manage volunteers from several universities with projects that would have taken staff months to do without the extra help. These volunteers were crucial to building reroutes for trails that have fallen into disrepair due to years of erosion. The new trail sections will be just as enjoyable, but much safer and more sustainable than the originals.

As we guided and worked with these volunteers, we were struck by their eagerness to help the parks. They traded what could have been a more fun and relaxing spring break for participation in a rewarding project that will contribute to future visitors' experiences. As volunteers ourselves, we really appreciated their commitment to community service and their help with these important projects. Now the park can open up those trails sooner for visitors to enjoy as the weather warms and people are more inclined to spend time outdoors. 

Trail management is crucial to the visitor experience

While serving we have also had plenty of community interactions, many of them asking what AmeriCorps is and how they can join. One woman who particularly stands out approached us as we were out grabbing some ice cream after a day of hard work with a couple of friends while still wearing our uniforms, looking to apply to AmeriCorps but unsure how to or whether it was for her. So we talked for a bit about what we did at the State Parks and what AmeriCorps can do to help provide experience in the environmental and natural resource fields. Simple interactions like this can help encourage younger adults get involved with volunteering to help our community and the environment. 

Most of the time, our interactions with the public are brief. Whether they are asking for information about the park or stopping to ask what we are working on, people always show gratitude for the work we do. We often get caught up trying to accomplish our tasks to the best of our abilities, so it is great to be reminded of the ultimate goal of our program: improving the parks for the benefit of the public and the environment. Our position may not often put us in the public eye, but visitors see the effects of the work we do so it is our responsibility to make their experiences at our parks extraordinary. We are proud to be a part of a program which allows us to make a lasting impact within Virginia State Parks. 

Growing up in the era where the Smokey Bear Campaign had left its mark on generations of Americans, most of us in the District 3 crew believed before the start of our service in the AmeriCorps VSCC program that fires were bad.

Though we were very excited to become wildland firefighters, we did not realize that sometimes ecological impacts of fire are necessary for a healthy environment. Having completed a total of eight burns to this date, we have become much more knowledgeable about the job of being a wildland firefighter as well as how our actions are allowing the environment to properly thrive. 

When we were first being shown around James River State Park and saw the units that were burned last year, we got to see how fast the vegetation had grown back. One of our supervisors, Samantha Lopez, had given us one of our first major lessons on the importance of burns and informed us that these fires were essential for habitat management. James River State Park conducted burns to help create a prospective thriving environment for quail populations, more specifically the Northern Bobwhite. The Bobwhite population needs a habitat of short and dense shrubs, perennial grasses and ample forbs, with open structures at ground level and bare ground. Prescribed burns help create this necessary environment by eliminating dead plant materials, opening the vegetation at ground level, and stimulating annual food-producing forbs to germinate.*

A few months after our introduction to James River State Park, we returned to conduct the long-awaited burn there. At the end of our ten hour work day, we walked through the units again to get back to the staging area. Walking through the now-blackened units, it was nice knowing that it would become home to various quail who would seek the fields as a nesting site, even though it looked like a bunch of burnt nothing at the moment. The Bobwhite population is just one example showing the overall importance of prescribed burns. Having the AmeriCorps VSCC members as key players in conducting prescribed burns is an amazing opportunity to see how this management practice can do so much for the environment and the animals that inhabit it. 

Since the start of our service, each of us has grown personally, developed professionally, helped promote AmeriCorps and volunteering, and improved the environment. We have become more confident, improved our decision-making skills, and become more knowledgeable about trails, prescribed burning, and other natural resource subjects. The training and guidance provided by our supervisors, Al Cire and Samantha Lopez, have made us more confident in the work that we do.

Building confidence in what we can achieve together

They have often told us that “you aren’t born just knowing these things,” so any questions we have for them are answered patiently and explained clearly. We have gained many transferable skills over the last three months serving with AmeriCorps that will help us further our careers after our service comes to an end, such as trail building and maintenance, carpentry, and small engine use and repairs. The program also gives us the opportunity to earn valuable certifications, such as pesticide registered technician licenses and wildland firefighter certifications. Learning all of these skills has helped us figure out the paths we want our careers to take in the future while giving us the knowledge and experience needed to complete our service and succeed after our service term is over. 

Sometimes in life you have to get your hands dirty to learn, as the VSCC Natural Resource Crew for District 3 found out.

---

Editor's note: We're happy to highlight a different Virginia Service and Conservation Corps service member or team and their experience serving in Virginia State Parks.

This is another in a series of articles from AmeriCorps members serving in our Virginia Service and Conservation Corps. Members have been asked to share how they were called to service and what they are experiencing.

You may also enjoy: 

• Natural Resource Crew District 6 Haiku
• Tales From the Trails: AmeriCorps
• Taking Risks to Learn New Things: AmeriCorps
• The Virginia Service and Conservation Corps Experience: James River
• Spend Your Summer Outdoors: A Full Experience

To find out about our AmeriCorps programs, check them out here.

*Source: USDA Managing Northern Bobwhite with Prescribed Fire 1 Aug. 2013.