Washington Conservation Corps looking to fill 300 positions

Looking for some exciting work and money for school? The Department of Ecology’s Washington Conservation Corps (WCC ) needs applicants to fill nearly 300 AmeriCorps service positions in 16 counties across the state.

The WCC was created in 1983 and has provided opportunities and training for more than 1,700 young adults. In 1994, WCC started received federal AmeriCorps funding, allowing crews to carry out on-the-ground projects across the state. Local communities rely on WCC to complete environmental projects by forming cost-share agreements with Ecology.

Typical WCC activities include planting trees and vegetation, repairing stream and streamside habitat, constructing and upgrading trails, building fencing and providing environmental education. The WCC also includes the Puget SoundCorps, formed in 2011, to complete projects on public lands designed to help carry out the Puget Sound Partnership’s Action Agenda – the single playbook for focusing efforts to recover and protect the Sound. Last year, WCC members planted 940,000 trees and shrubs, improved or restored 1,100 acres of new fish and wildlife habitat and constructed or improved 400 miles of recreational trails.

The WCC also helps communities cope with natural disasters by responding to and removing storm, flood, fire and other debris and recruiting and managing emergency response volunteers. In 2012, members assisted with flood response near Ellensburg, wild land firefighting near Entiat, and marine debris cleanup along coastal beaches in southwest Washington.