Colorado Youth Corps brings 25 years of outdoor impact
“I believe the perfect life means living in a place that inspires you, having a job that is fulfilling, and surrounding yourself with like-minded people. RMYC provides all these opportunities.”
— Loretta McEllhiney, former Colorado Fourteeners Program Manager, USFS
It’s brutal work. I’m at 12,000 feet on an eroded trail on Mount Quandary outside Breckenridge with a team of volunteers, improving the path leading up one of Colorado’s most popular fourteeners. But my shoulders and lower back resent every swing of my Pulaski. Beside us is a Jenga pile of logs that we need to pick up and carry using a vice-like metal claw device and wrestle into position as stair treads. Then we must pulverize rocks with pickaxes to backfill the gaps and secure them in place. Breaking rocks and carrying logs at 12,000 feet … it’s not a walk in the park.
I’m here as part of a volunteer weekend organized by the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, bettering the trails for the 300,000 hikers who climb Colorado’s peaks every year and bring $76 million into the state’s economy. Beside me is filmmaker and high-alpine mountaineer Renald Ozturk, as well as crew members from Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, one of eight accredited organizations making up the Colorado Youth Corps Association. Clamping the device’s metal jaws around a log, we tandem-waddle it into place, tap it down, and begin shoveling.
I can’t say, “This wasn’t in the brochure,” because it is. This is the daily routine for the more than 2,000 conservation service corps crew members in the state who last year improved or maintained 752 miles of trails and mitigated 5,000 acres of wildland fire zones. Celebrating 25 years of engaging youth in the outdoors, the CYCA represents eight corps throughout the state — including Boulder County Youth Corp, Larimer County Conservation Corps, Mile High Youth Corps, Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, Southwest Conservation Corps Four Corners, Southwest Conservation Corps Los Valles, Western Colorado Conservation Corps, and Weld County Youth Conservation Corps. Among other things, these crews work on wildfire fuel mitigation and suppression, trail maintenance, fence construction and removal, invasive species treatment and eradication, energy and water conservation, and historic preservation.
“The awareness of our mission and impact is definitely increasing,” said CYCA Executive Director Scott Segerstrom. “We’re now seen as a critical tool for conservation and are even being invited to the table for input on policies. Corps are now institutionalized into our partners’ operations and are seen as irreplaceable. Our momentum is growing.”
CYCA also provides its participants with valuable work and life skills, while imparting the importance of public lands. “It’s critical that today’s youth have formative experiences that reinforce how valuable our natural resources are,” Segerstrom added. “Experiences in the outdoors lead these young people to be informed voters, engaged conservationists, and confident, resilient people. They learn conflict resolution, empathy, communication skills, and more, which prepares them to be positive members of their communities. They not only find their purpose in the corps world — they get to share that purpose with others.”
But as I’m discovering on Mount Quandary, it can also be an uphill battle. Especially in the wake of hiring freezes and cuts to public land partners. In fall 2024, the U.S. Forest Service announced it would suspend all seasonal hiring for the 2025 season, cutting about 2,400 jobs — the largest single-year staff cut in recent memory. Add the recent cuts to the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Forest Service — all of which are youth corps program partners — and the situation spirals.
Case Study: Rocky Mountain Youth Corps
Putting one foot ahead of the other through all these hurdles is CYCA affiliate Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, based in Steamboat Springs. The Forest Service cuts will likely affect them, as their crews do a lot for the Medicine Bow-Routt and White River national forests.
That said, it’s still shaping up to be a robust year for RMYC. Housed in a 4,300-square-foot building on a 3.4-acre campus in Steamboat Springs, RMYC has served nearly 14,000 youth in its three decades of service, including more than 5,000 through its Yampa Valley Science School program. Its crews work on everything from community cleanups, wildfire mitigation, tree planting projects, trail building, geographic information system programming, historic structure preservation, hydrology and archaeology projects, beetle kill removal, and more. Its burgeoning internship program helps participants pursue land management careers.
“We’re strengthening our partnerships with land managers throughout our region and providing meaningful service opportunities to young people,” said RMYC Chief Executive Officer Ryan Banks, who oversees a $7 million operating budget for his crews. “We’re looking forward to another summer helping public land managers complete their conservation projects — especially since now they may be a little shorthanded.”
Banks walks the walk. He spent several years working with AmeriCorps programs before joining RMYC’s full-time staff in 2017 and taking its reins in January 2024 from retiring CEO and founder Gretchen Van de Carr. Last year, RMYC put more crew members into the field than ever; the corps served more than 850 youth through its various programs, improving 1,621 acres of public lands.
Like the ones joining me on Quandary, RMYC’s crews maintained more than 700 miles of trails and removed or mitigated more than 16,000 trees. Crews are also beefing up their wildfire mitigation efforts, including fielding an all-women’s chain saw and fire mitigation crew.
“It’s a pretty male-dominated profession, so whenever we can help increase diversity it’s pretty special,” said Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest Fire Management Officer Chris Green.
Fourteeners a Big Beneficiary
Fourteeners are a staple recipient of the corps’ efforts. The Colorado Fourteeners Initiative was formed in 1994 as a partnership of nonprofits, private donors, and public agencies to preserve and protect Colorado’s 58 fourteeners. And they regularly tap corps crews like those from RMYC for their projects. Another fourteener on the receiving end of their tender-loving shovels is Mount Elbert, Colorado’s highest peak at 14,439 feet.
“RMYC is a longtime partner of ours and an integral part of making our projects happen — especially with our work on Elbert,” said former CFI Field Programs Director Ben Hanus.
Crews from RMYC have spent the last few years working on the North Elbert and Black Cloud trails, hauling timber and stones using grip hoists to create staircases and walls. Crews typically work two days on the lower trails to acclimate and six days on higher elevations, hiking 3,000 vertical feet each day from base camp.
“It’s a strenuous place to work, but we’re grateful for the help. [RMYC crews] come with training, crew leaders, and great attitudes. Next to CFI staff, they’re the next best qualified to do this type of work,” Hanus added.
Loretta McEllhiney, former Colorado Fourteeners Program Manager for the USFS, agrees. “RMYC provides much of the labor necessary to complete these backbreaking projects,” she said. “These crews help build respect for the natural environment, develop job skills, teach the meaning of service, and provide an opportunity to work in a team environment. The perfect life means living in a place that inspires you, having a fulfilling job, and surrounding yourself with like-minded people. Youth corps provide all these opportunities.”
CYCA Booming
Combine RMYC’s work with that of the state’s other youth corps and, like the trails they maintain, things are going nowhere but up. CYCA is coming off its biggest year ever.
“Investment in the corps has tripled in the past three years, from $3 million annually to more than $10 million,” said Segerstrom.
He manages and disperses the two largest AmeriCorps grants in Colorado and supports a corps sector that now has a combined $28 million operating budget. Partner organizations include Great Outdoors Colorado, Bureau of Land Management, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and others.
“The cutbacks our partner organizations are facing are definitely unfortunate, but we look forward to picking up whatever slack we can,” Banks said. “It’s a win-win for everyone.”
Author: Eugene Buchanan is a former reporter for the Denver Business Journal and 14-year publisher and editor in chief of Paddler magazine. His freelance articles have appeared in The New York Times, Men’s Journal, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, Forbes Life, and more. He lives in Steamboat Springs.
