Up in the Ashland Watershed, along the White Rabbit trail, a group of teens is hacking away at the bushes on the forest floor. They’re cutting back madrone tree saplings to reduce the risk of wildfire. Steven Rice, a high school junior from Goshen, said they’re keeping these smaller saplings from encroaching on the larger trees.
“They're sort of a nuisance to all these other ones,” he said, snipping a branch. “So we're just cutting them back and making sure that they're little snubs. Hopefully, they won't grow back.”
Rice is one of 15 teens taking part in a summer program run by the non-profit Lomakatsi Restoration Project. The program, which launched in 2012, teaches ecological restoration, forestry, botany and more — all while paying students to work in the field.
John Cymore is leading the crew this year. He was there when the program began and said he enjoys seeing the impact it’s had.
“One of the youth crew covered up this trail over here, built this trail and built this bike trail too,” Cymore said, looking around him. “We love returning to the sites we've shepherded and leaving our footprint on the ground. This is the youth crew's legacy, and I'm always honored to be part of it.”
"They carry this program with them for a long time into their life."
Typically, around 60 to 80 people apply, and 20 end up getting hired for the four-week program. But this year, only 15 people were hired after the program lost one-third of its budget when the Trump administration froze federal funding.
Lomakatsi’s Allayana Martinez-Darrow said they made up the difference with increased community support.
“We found success opening new doors, and private philanthropic partners have really stepped up,” she said. “And then a lot of it is just looking at the new funding landscape and making sure that we can fit into it in the best way we know how.”
The non-profit launched a fundraiser to help fill the gap this year. And Lomakatsi’s Executive Director, Marko Bey, said they've gotten most of the federal funding unfrozen.
“The Forest Service has supported this program with $25,000 to $35,000 a year, and in addition, provided a lot of staff specialists in the fields of ecology, forestry, recreation,” Bey said. “This year there was some transition, but next year, we're really confident the dollars will be obligated and the program will continue.”
The federal funding challenges weren’t the only change to the youth training program this year. Over the winter, Bey said Lomakatsi finished 15 years of major restoration work in the Ashland Watershed. This year, the youth group moved beyond Ashland. Cymore said the training program has expanded to look at other parts of the region.
“We had the option to go up to Crater Lake,” he said. “We've been down to the Klamath dam removals. We've been out to endemics in the Kalmiopsis. So we really got to broaden our range and have learning opportunities at every step of the way.”
Tahvo Hansen, a junior at Ashland High School, said he’d done trail maintenance like this before with his mountain bike team. He had already considered going into ecological work like this, but this program, he said, cemented that goal.
“It definitely added to it,” Hansen said. “Now that I'm actually with a team and we're doing things, I have a lay of what to do. I definitely have, I feel like, more information and resources to choose a path if I want to.”
Hansen said they’ve gotten to do a lot more than just cutting back madrones.
“We did a fire line one day,” he said. “The other day, we went to a fish hatchery where the old Iron Gate Dam was, and we learned about that.”
Lomakatsi brings in professionals from the federal government, tribes and other organizations to teach the teens about different career paths in natural resources.
Cymore said many of the youth go on to do similar work as a career. But, even if they don’t, he said this gets them thinking about conservation.
“Whether they are actively in conservation or they're voting for conservation, they're voters for the rest of their lives,” said Cymore. “They have friends, they have influence, and I think they carry this program with them for a long time into their life.”
They’ve definitely learned more about the natural world around them. Steven Rice said before he started, he couldn’t tell the difference between two types of trees.
“I came in here with some low expectations and some high expectations,” he said. “And I feel that they've all been met. And some new stuff that I've never even heard of that has been brought to light. So it's just really eye-opening.”
These teens might be graduating from Lomakatsi’s program, but in a few years, they could be back, working as professionals to prevent wildfires in a nearby forest.
