The summer Youth Conservation Crew (YCC) offered by Aldo Leopold Charter School (ALCS) provided paid internship positions for 47 area youths. This summer the YCC crews include the following: trail building and reconstruction, eco-monitoring, and mural design and installation.
Trails crew (from upper left to lower right): Felix Morones, Titus Metcalfe, Rhiannon Farley, Morgan Bighley, Soloman Lazzell, Colin Casler, Uriel Gelbart, Jon Bjornstad, Mike Carr, Zack Horner, Carlos Arias, Denali Burke, Ava Bjornstad, Leonardo Rodriguez, Will Scott, Jakob Saari, Morgan Lazzell, and Samuel MedinaUnder the direction of Jon Bjornstad and Mike Carr, the trail crew has focused on redesigning a portion of the Boston Hill trails near the Spring Street trailhead to mitigate the steep grade and the effects of erosion from last summer’s monsoon. In three weeks, the crew of 23 youths surfaced the trail constructed during the spring semester with crusher fines donated by the Town of Silver City and connected the new path to the existing trail on the east side of Boston Hill.
Bjornstad brings 14 years of trail building experience for the US Forest Service and Carr retired from the Forest Service after 21 years. Their idea in the redesign was to showcase the botanical and geologic features of the area, while expanding mountain biking and hiking opportunities close to town. The result is approximately one-half mile of trail. Crew member and high school junior Morgan Bighley says, “When you’re rolling with a good crew, it makes it all possible.”
Mural Crew (from upper left to lower right): WNMU Fine Arts major Patty Countryman, Dena Hillyer, Sterling Wecks, Katrina Estrada, Kaleena Reiter, Mia Estrada, Mauri Nelson, Tru Ugarte, Volunteer Carol Brady, Ajalaa Claussen, Marisa Holguin, Naomi Harris, and Leonardo Rodriguez.The mural crew, headed by Diana Ingalls-Leyba, completed the last mural at Penny Park located on the west side of the restrooms. The crew continued working on the mural at WNMU Miller Library and is now installing an ofrenda mural on the west wall of the annex to the Silver City Museum. The focus of this mural is the history of the Silver City Museum.
Ingalls-Leyba has worked on murals in our community since 2003. She has received support from Mimbres Region Arts Council, Youth Conservation Corps, Comcast, Lineberry Foundation, Falling Colors, National Endowment for the Arts, and New Mexico Arts. Local donors include Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate and Syzygy Tile.
Junior Kaleena Reiter states, “As crew leader I like watching crew members learn new skills like making thin set and grouting tile. I also like creating a piece of work that will last.”
The eco-monitoring crew, under the direction of conservation biologist Mike Fugagli and math and science teacher Peter Hurley, has been busy banding birds, mapping song bird territory in riparian habitats along the Gila River, and monitoring water quality in the Iron Creek Bridge Preserve, Mogollon Box, and the forks of the Gila River. After receiving grants from the US Forest Service and the Upper Gila Watershed Alliance, Fugagli and a portion of the crew spent the last week gathering baseline data regarding climate change indicators in the corridor between Hell’s Canyon and the confluence of Turkey Creek and the Gila River. They were accompanied by two professors from the University of Nebraska at Kearny: ecologist Dr. Mary Hamer and mammologist Dr. Keith Galuso.