The Community Services Consortium (CSC)’s Workforce & Education Department has received $352,000 - 11 grants of $32,000 each - to fund summer youth employment crews.

CSC in Lincoln County received four of the grants, totaling $128,000, in partnership with other agencies from the Oregon Youth Conservation Corps (OYCC) and the Oregon Youth Employment Initiative (OYEI). The money will fund youth natural resource crews to work on Lincoln County conservation and research projects.

“We are thrilled to bring these grants to Lincoln County and put our youth into summer jobs,” said Carol Zekan, CSC Workforce & Education operations manager for Lincoln County. “We have five crews of about five members each this year, and several outstanding crew leaders return from last summer. We already have one crew in the field. They all showed up early for work, and they were prepared and eager to out in the field.”

At-risk youths in Lincoln County have an opportunity to earn up to $2,000, gain work experience, team building and leadership skills, and to recover school credits. All of the Lincoln County natural resources crews are involved in GPS mapping and clearing debris in the Siuslaw National Forest.

Lincoln County Projects include:

·         South Lincoln County/Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area (ONA): CSC youth crews will partner with the City of Yachats – Yachats Trails Committee, Bureau of Land Management – Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, and the Mid-Coast Watershed Council. They maintain trails, remove invasive species, control erosion, repair trail bridges and stairways, rebuild and maintain the lighthouse garden fence and borders, and will develop and install an interpretive wayside.

·         Newport Parks and North Lincoln County Habitat Restoration: This project is in partnership with the City of Newport Parks and Recreation Department, Mid-Coast Watershed Council, and the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex to maintain parks and restore wildlife habitat in the Nestucca Bay Wildlife Refuge. CSC crews will raise nursery plants, and plant for low-impact development bio-swale projects in Newport. The crew will work with Surfrider Foundation to develop a plan. The crews will also remove invasive plants and restore native butterfly nectar seedlings to the habitat area.

·         Eddyville/Tamara Quays: CSC will team with the Mid-Coast Watershed Council and the Salmon Drift Creek watershed District to restore riparian areas and remove invasive plant species. The CSC crew will perform investigations to determine planting merit and needs, as well as survey completed restoration projects and provide monitoring information to the watershed council. They will also provide restoration work on Little Elk Creek, big Elk River and the upper Yaquina River, and maintenance work on Tamara Quays, Crowley Creek, Holmes Park Road on Devil’s Lake, and other areas planted by the 2009 natural resource crews.

·         OSU Mud Shrimp Research and Beaver Creek Conservation: This project is in partnership with Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center, South Beach State Park, and the Mid-Coast Watershed Council to continue the mud shrimp research of the last five years. The crew will also continue improvements in the Beaver Creek Natural Area through trail and watershed maintenance and conservation.

Published in the Newport News-Times on July 21, 2010.