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Welcome back to ACEbook 2016!
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Thank you friends and subscribers
for supporting ACE.
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Project Showcase & Updates:
Highlights from our ACE locations
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Emerging Professional Internship Corps
EPIC
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Meet ACE EPIC’s Diversity Team! Katy Dalrymple (Diversity, Inclusion, and Special Projects Coordinator) and George Lotubai (Diversity Specialist) are excited to lead a new chapter at ACE through diversity programming like the Cultural Resources Diversity Internship Program (CRDIP) and Direct Hire Authority (DHA). CRDIP is a NPS program that provides career exploration opportunities for diverse students and recent graduates in historic preservation and cultural resources work. This year, there are 19 positions located at 17 different sites all over the country! Check out crdip.org for more details.
A Direct-Hire Authority (DHA) internship is perhaps the most effective tool currently available to agencies seeking to expedite the hiring of qualified people in positions that must be filled quickly. Through this program, ACE and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are looking to find the best talent from every background, providing the best chance at success for the partner and the intern. For more information, check out ace-dha.org.
ACE and our EPIC team are starting a new year with a renewed focus on diversity and inclusion. George and Katy are very excited to share their collective passion for public lands and sharing them with all audiences!
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Our ACE Arizona crews have started work in central and southern Arizona where the temperatures are a bit warmer than those in Flagstaff and the surrounding area.
The first project of the year brought our crews to Maricopa County, just outside of Phoenix. The goal of the project is to perform maintenance on the Maricopa Trail, which stretches 240 miles and connects the 10 regional parks in the area. ACE is partnered with Maricopa County for this project, and the crew has been working with John Rose, who is the Trails Supervisor for the region. The county boasts an extensive trail network that far exceeds many public land areas.
The crews are performing routine trail maintenance in order to prepare for the inaugural Prickly Pedal race, which will span 40 miles. Proceeds from the race will benefit the Maricopa Trail and Park Foundation.
“An important aspect of trail maintenance is clearing and repairing drains,” said ACE Trails Coordinator Mark Loseth. “We want to create a clear path to move water off the path to prevent erosion and improve sustainability.”
To read more about this project click here:
http://www.usaconservation.org/maricopa-trail-arizona/
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Managed Marsh Complex
Project Partner: Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure, Inc.
ACE California began its partnership with Amec Foster Wheeler in December 2014 by serving on the Managed Marsh Complex project in southern California. The Managed Marsh Complex project is part of the mitigation required under the Quantification Settlement Agreement Water Transfer, with the objective of returning the farmland north of Calipatria, CA back to its original wetland environment. During the 2014 and 2015 season the ACE crew was able to plant approximately 17 thousand trees!
ACE’s partnership with Amec has continued into the 2016 season, with an eight-member crew returning to the Managed Marsh Complex to continue restoration efforts. Stationed near Brawley, CA during the month of January, the ACE crew led by Justin Cosmo worked alongside Amec to harvest large quantities of willow poles, which they then transplanted to sites based on Amec’s design plans. The crew also worked to reduce Salt Cedar (Tamarisk) within the worksite area by utilizing manual and mechanical fuels reduction techniques. Additional Managed Marsh Complex project goals include creating habitat, minimizing irrigation water usage, evaluating design, construction and management techniques, and minimizing construction impacts. |
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Serving just over twenty days during the month of January, the eight-member ACE crew cut and transplanted 3,500 willows, as well as performed Tamarisk control on 2.9 square miles of marshland within the Managed Marsh Complex project area!
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From February 2nd until February 19th, an ACE crew based out of Asheville, NC has been working at Lake James State Park doing cyclic maintenance work at their Paddy Creek recreation area. At Paddy Creek, the crew maintained 2 miles of mountain biking trail by cleaning drainages, and removing berms and roots. They also maintained 2 miles of the hiking trail by cleaning drainage structures and brushing the surrounding vegetation.
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The staff at ACE Southeast in Asheville, NC recently hosted two indoor resume writing workshops for our corps members Drawing from their past experience working for ACE and the Federal agencies, Mike Santiago, Josh Burt and Neal Watson helped corps members to write effective resumes and to understand the Federal employment website, USAJOBS.gov. The sessions were very well received, and the staff plans to continue development of these workshops throughout the year.
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ACE Puerto Rico Conservation Corps (PRCC) has been busy building trails, and improving the existing trails, at San Juan National Historic Site. They have created several lookout areas as well as armored drains to prevent erosion. The crew has been learning quickly under the guidance of ACE Crew Leaders, Russ Lloyd and Maggie Hartney. The crew also built smaller replica walls of those originally built by the Spanish inhabitants over 400 years ago. |
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ACE Utah conservation corps members and staff attended an International Mount Bike Association (IMBA) Trail Care Crew workshop on January 30th, 2016. The event was organized by the local Dixie Mountain Bike Trails Association (DMBTA). ACE Utah provided the tools and expertise to help the IMBA Trail Care Crew teach sustainable trail construction principles, and ensured volunteers received hands-on experience in the field. The workshop brought over 40 volunteers from the surrounding area to Kanab to begin work on a section of trail, one of many trails identified by IMBA last year. ACE Corps members acted as crew leaders to help local volunteers transfer trail construction and maintenance concepts into practice. Volunteers constructed a 1,200' section of new mountain bike trail. To read more about this project go to IMBA's Blog
For more information on the International Mountain Biking Association visit them at http://imba.com/ |
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We are excited to announce our new blog series titled “I am ACE” (#IamACE), which aims to highlight the individual stories of ACE’s corps members and interns.
Our corps members and interns come from culturally diverse backgrounds across the United States and each has a unique story to tell. Common to all is a passion for our natural environment, and a desire to develop into a future land steward.
In the first of our #IamACE series we introduce you to Stephanie Emery, and ACE EPIC intern currently serving with the Bureau of Land Management in Ironwood Forest National Monument in southern Arizona.
Read Stephanie's story here:
http://www.usaconservation.org/iamace-stephanie-emery/
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