Siskiyou's Torin Gaynor, left, meets Senator Jim Nielsen at the Capitol. Sen. Nielsen showed corpsmembers a letter from the late CCC director, B.T. Collins.

For this year's Government Education Day at the State Capitol, the CCC's Corpsmember Advisory Board members were joined by members of the 14 different local conservation corps programs.  In all, some 100 corpsmembers attended and visited 80 percent of the legislative offices (meeting some 96 elected officials or staff members), as well as visiting the Governor's Office and the office of Natural Resources Secretary John Laird.

Most of the center directors were on hand to visit their local members' offices with the corpsmembers, and CCC Director David Muraki, as well as local corps directors, also participated.

The corpsmembers had been well briefed about the visits by Legislative Coordinator Julie Wolsey, and shared their personal stories and career aspirations with the legislators.

The day concluded with a state budget exercise, where corpsmembers had to defend their budget plans and proposed cuts in actual legislative hearing rooms, before actual legislative budget staff and CCC budget staff.

Governor Brown issued a letter commemorating Government Education Day, welcoming corpsmembers and urging that "as you meet with your local legislators, please share your experiences participating in the Corps and the great work and service it provides California communities."

Among the CCC staff contributing to the day's success, along with Julie, were Pattie Woody (who set up the dozens of legislative meetings), Martha Diepenbrock, Virginia Clark, Michelle Rankin, Erin Healy, Brian Marshall-Winks, Summer Kincaid, Nick Martinez, Dana Brazelton, Cindy Zalog, Michael Staggs, Michael Henneberry, Juan Mercado and Tina Moore.

Assisting at the mock budget hearing for the CCC, along with Erin Healy, were Senate Budget Consultant Catherine Freeman and Assembly Minority Budget Consultant Chris Holtz.   The local corps budget exercise was aided by Brian Marshall-Winks, Assembly Budget Consultant Gabrielle Meindl and Senate Minority Budget Consultant Rocel Bettencourt.

Crewleader Aaron Garcia of Santa Maria, left, talks with Martha Guzman-Aceves in the Governor's Office.  Ms. Guzman-Aceves is the Deputy Legislative Secretary for Environment, Energy, Water and Agriculture.

Fortuna corpsmembers Miracle Hubbard, left, annd Gavin Jackson pose with Natural Resources Secretary John Laird.

Programs and Operations Chief Erin Healy questions CAB members on their budget plans, with the aid of legislative consultants Chris Holtz, left, and Catherine Freeman.

Greenwood Center Director Marie Mijares poses with CAB members (and grizzly bear) in front of the Governor's Office.

Fire crew veterans in training at the Placer Center. Photos by John Martinez.

A crew carries out a fire hose exercise at Placer.

The CCC's second veterans fire training exercise in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service took place last month at Placer, with 83 military veterans participating. The veterans were assigned to CCC crews at Placer, Tahoe, San Diego (2) and Inland Empire.

The first exercise took place in 2012, with many of the veterans hired
by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management after the training. The word spread about the CCC/USFS program, and more veterans were recruited for the current year.

CCC Emergency Services Manager John Martinez says the exercise was a great success. "This year's crews were a lot more ready and capable to go through the training, and the Forest Service supervisors were very impressed with the quality of the crews and their supervisors," he said.

And the result? Of the 73 veterans who completed the training, 62 were offered positions by the U.S. Forest Service or BLM.

The week-long training started with a day of classroom instruction at McClellan Park, with the remainder of the week set up as a response to a mock fire,
on the grounds of the Placer Center.

Not only did the veterans benefit, but CCC staff gained experience by "shadowing" USFS personnel in various positions. John Martinez shadowed the Incident Commander; San Diego's Sara Weaver, Planning; Redding's Nick Johnson, Operations; Ukiah's Cathy Barr, Logistics; and San Diego's Branden Gray, Logistics and EMT.

Heading the fire crews were C Is Patrick Soriano (Tahoe); Brian Peterson and John Tabarez (San Diego); Juan Muy (Placer) and Arthur Gonzalez (inland Empire).

John Martinez said the USFS staff included people from Montana, Tennessee and Alaska, and the exercise is believed to be the only one of this scale taking place anywhere in the country.

During the week, the veterans learned the basics of cutting fire line, mop-up, fire shelter deployment, hose lay, night firefighting, and the Incident Command System ... "everything that occurs at an incident command base camp," John said. "They were always learning something new."

John praised the staff at Placer for dealing with the influx of veterans and USFS personnel, particularly the cooks, who were feeding both the regular corpsmembers and the veterans.

Additional veterans trainings are planned in the near future, perhaps as early as next month.
 

Inland Empire veterans during the first day of training at McClellan Park.

 What's your job title?

Conservation Supervisor.

Where are you located?

Napa.

Tell us what you do for the CCC:

I oversee all the aspects of the Napa Satellite from sponsor billing to project coordination to Corpsmember Development activities.

 How did you end up at the CCC?

It was supposed to be a one-year break from college -- a friend of mine told me about the CCC. I went down to see the recruiter in Pomona and two weeks later was on a bus to Fortuna to attend COMET. This was in 1996, and I was a corpsmember for about two-and-a-half years, assigned to the Ukiah Center. Cathy Barr was my C I.

I left the CCC but a few months later was hired as an emergency C I for a FERP (1998 El Niño flood recovery program) crew, working on the Mendocino Coast at Russian Gulch State Park.

I became a permanent C I in Los Angeles in 2000, and spent almost three years there, when, because of CCC budget cuts, I was going to get laid off. So I moved up to Santa Rosa to run the CCC's Sonoma County Probation Department crew, for juveniles ages 16 to 18. That was interesting; the youth were all wearing ankle bracelets, but we had a couple of good success stories.

I did that for about nine months before budget cuts ended the crew. I went to Headquarters and worked in recruitment for about a year, then came to Napa in 2005 as a C I, and I've been here ever since. I've been a Con Sup for about a year. 

Frank as a corpsmember, 1997

 Is there something that stands out over the years? 

My first three years as a C I. We were always on some type of emergency, from fruit flies to glassy-winged sharpshooters to Newcastle Disease to the energy crisis, along with all the fires.

What do you like best about the CCC?

The opportunity it provides to corpsmembers -- a genuine opportunity for young people to do something with their lives, whether they take advantage of it or not.

If you were to be a corpsmember for a day once again, what would you want to do?

One of my biggest regrets was not doing the Backcountry program, so that's what I'd do.

Anything you might want to change or add to the program?

Create a really solid transition program, to help corpsmembers find not just meaningful work, but careers. Or help them transition into college.

Spend time with my family: my wife, Cecilia, my 7-year-old son, Jonathan, and my 2-year-old daughter, Samantha.

What's on your iPod?

I listen to mainly older stuff, from 1960s and 70s Motown to 70s and 80s punk rock, to old-school R and B. Quite a wide range of music.

Books on your nightstand?

Right now, mainly children's books.       

My favorite Internet sites include ...

Yahoo, NHL.com (National Hockey League), and latimes.com (Los Angeles Times).

My favorite apps include:

 Any game apps that keep my kids occupied while I'm at the bank or someplace ...

Your last vacation?

Last August, Disneyland and California Adventure.

You can invite three or four famous people, living or dead, over for dinner. Your guests would include ...

 Al Pacino, Al Davis, because I'm a big Raiders fan, and Ulysses S. Grant.

Time travel becomes a reality and you can visit any era you want. Where would you go?

Maybe around the early to mid 1800s, to see what places like the Bay Area and L.A. looked like before cities took over.

Frank and a corpsmember greet Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2004.

 Congratulations to Larry and Tony on their years of service.

15 Years 

Larry Notheis                      Center Director                Fortuna

Tony Burger                      Conservationist I                 Ukiah

Many CCC locations participated in projects for this year's Earth Day celebration, including Redding, Chico, Los Angeles, Monterey Bay, Inland Empire, Camarillo, Tahoe, San Diego, Placer, Greenwood, Napa and Ukiah.

The Redding Center corpsmembers put in a full workday at Palo Cedro Park, cleaning up park debris, cutting down and then chipping dead trees, and preparing the forms and digging holes for a disc golf course.

Redding corpsmembers prepare an area for disc golf.

Earth Day cleanup at Palo Cedro Park.

In Chico, corpsmembers spent the day in Bidwell Park, one of the largest city parks in the country. Special Corpsmember James Chiarottino tells us C I Laramie Griffith led a crew of corpsmember volunteers and COMET members in removing invasive plants and chipping vegetation. One of the corpsmembers, Dylan Gonzales, has only been in the CCC for a month, but with his Earth Day work, has already logged 48 volunteer hours.

This is the eighth consecutive year for the CCC at Bidwell Park's Earth Day celebration. The CCC also has interns who work in the park for three to six months at a time.

In Los Angeles, VISTA Marisol Espino says corpsmembers volunteered at the annual Santa Monica Mountains Trail Days at Point Mugu State Park. Marisol and Special Corpsmember Javier Rodriguez led 13 corpsmembers on a two-day camping trip and Backbone Trail work project.

Los Angeles corpsmembers take an Earth Day break at Pt. Mugu State Park.

The Monterey Bay Center worked with the City of Santa Clara at a combination Earth Day/Arbor Day celebration on the grounds of the Triton Museum.  Corpsmembers volunteered their help with food preparation and cleanup, and also donned the Smokey Bear costume.

American Trails Magazine:  The CCC's San Diego Center and its work at Otay Valley Regional Park was featured in the Spring issue of American Trails magazine. ("Conservation Corps Tackles Urban Trail Challenge.") The work, for the County of San Diego, focused on upgrading a portion of the multi-use Palm Avenue Trail.

The urban trail gave the CCC experience in building a hardened

crushed-granite trail, comparable to asphalt or concrete.  According to the article, the partnership with the CCC and the County "saved the county considerable time and the high costs associated with bids, designs and construction management..." 

The trail is now open to the public.

Palm Avenue Trail work, courtesy American Trails magazine.

Next Year, Sundance?: There was great participation in our inaugural corpsmember Film Festival.  Corpsmembers showed their creative sides in producing short pieces for the contest.

There were three award categories -- most popular on YouTube; most popular among Headquarters staff; and most popular as voted by the Corpsmember Advisory Board members. 

There was a tie for the YouTube winner, between the Fortuna and Greenwood centers. In the two other award categories, Greenwood received the most votes.

A montage of the videos created by Jacob McNamara will be posted on our website in the near future. You can view the videos now on the CCC  L:\ drive, or check out the entire playlist on YouTube at film festival entries.

Thanks to the CCC Film Festival Commitee for their work to bring a little Hollywood to the Corps.  Plans are already underway for a 2014 Film Festival.

Women in the Trades: The CCC received 46 scholarships for corpsmembers and staff to attend this year's "Women Building California and the Nation" conference held in April at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento.  Headquarters VISTA Cindy Zalog coordinated the CCC's participation, that included corpsmembers from Fortuna, Ukiah, Greenwood, Stockton, Palcer and Sacramento.  Staff supervision was provided by Annette Nickontro (Greenwood); David Rourk (Stockton); Shelly Reimers (Placer) and Shannon Hawkins (Ukiah).  

The conference brings together tradeswomen and union leaders to develop skills and strategies to recruit, retain and promote the leadership of women on the job site.  Corpsmembers had a chance to attend workshops ranging from "Surviving and Thriving in Apprenticeship," to blueprint reading, dealing with harassment, and industry opportunities.  They also had an opportunity to try out some equipment, as Ukiah's Amanda Shields does at left.

Annette Nickontro said the conference drew participants from all 50 states and all of the Canadian territories.

"These women from the trades are strong in body, mind and spirit -- very contagious energy when you attend.  They firmly support other women coming into their realm of apprenticeships, jobs and union participation."  Annette said she would encourage centers north and south to try to attend next year.

Watershed Stewards in Orange County:  Members of the Watershed Stewards Project recently traveled to Irvine to participate in the Children's Water Education Festival.  The event invites students from more than 60 local schools to attend the two-day event and learn about water conservation.

WSP members hosted two booths and taught more than 400 young people about steelhead trout, water quality and conservation.  Above, Daniel Block, Tessa Reeder and Karissa Willits are shown playing a game that teaches children about keeping streams clean and fish healthy. 

Tahoe has a new Conservationist I, Zachary McHenry.  Zach started his CCC career as a corpsmember, spending two-and-half years at the Inland Empire Center. His brother, Zeke, was also a corpsmember there.

Trish Simpson is now working as an analyst for Erin Healy and the Programs and Operations Division.  Trish has worked for the CCC for 25 years, most recently in Business Services assisting with contracts.

Welcome to Ashish Kumar, new in Accounting.  Ashish is an Accountant I and comes to us from Cal Fire.  He'll process deposits and some of the travel claims.

New VISTAs:  Now working at Headquarters assisting Hunt Drouin is Camry Haskins from Danville, who'll focus on new apprenticeship programs.  She received a degree in political science from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.  And Danielle Chapman is a new VISTA helping with the Veterans Green Corps.  Danielle, from San Jose, is working on her master's degree at Cal State, Sacramento, in recreation, parks and tourism administration.

Two former Headquarters VISTAs will now be working as Special Corpsmembers: Julian Eaton will be helping with Corpsmember Development for the San Diego Center in North County; Cindy Zalog will be updating Corpsmember Development curriculum, including the Conservation Awareness Program, and working on the Corps Job Exchange.

 1930s CCC CORNER

The banner above was posted at a CCC camp in northern Arizona. A retired Park Service ranger who researched the work of the CCC at the Grand Canyon and beyond, notes the CCC boys "even spent time eradicating prairie dogs, and gathering ticks for a U.S. Public Health Service study of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. When hikers got lost, they found them; when fires broke out, they fought them."

-- May 6 - 31               Redding Fire Training continues

-- May 6 - 8                 Supervising Cook Conference, Los Padres

-- May 15-17              Corpsmember Development Conference, Headquarters

-- May 20-24              Environmental Health & Safety Technician Training, Greenwood

-- May 29-31              Stream Enhancement Training, Ukiah 

We plan to send out our next newsletter in early June. We'd like to receive hear about new or departing staff and interesting activities.  Please send information or photos (jpegs, please)  by Friday, May 24.   Please direct your items to Susanne Levitsky at susannel@ccc.ca.gov; (916) 341-3145.