The CLIMB Conservation Corps
Our crews have one crew leader and 3-4 crew members. A crew will go to the field in a vehicle we will supply, driven by the crew leader. While in the field the crew will work, take lunch, return to work, and then return to the office totaling an 8-hour workday. We have a couple of crews running throughout most of the calendar year. These crews are different, but the goals are still the same; to engage young people in meaningful work along the Mississippi Gulf Coast while bettering themselves and their environment. Do you have what it takes to be a crew leader or member in a paid position?
Conservation Corps Crews
We currently have two crews funded by The Corps Network; a crew that is funded through NOAA and The Nature Conservancy (GulfCorps) and an AmeriCorps Crew. While all of these crews may be different, the goals of the programs are still the same; to engage young people in meaningful work along the Mississippi Gulf Coast while bettering themselves and their environment.
Crews may also complete technical and/or specialized projects, depending on project partner needs, including disaster relief if the opportunity arises. Each crew consists of four members and a crew leader. Do you feel you have what it takes to be a crew member or crew leader?
Program Focus
Our programs focus on workplace based learning, life skills development, conservation service work, appreciation of diversity, civic responsibility, and career development. The Conservation Corps also provides an opportunity for members to learn about the local environment, environmental issues, and get introductions to recreation and resource management careers as well as professionals in the industry.
Conservation Corps crews work with local, state, and federal organizations on projects as well as other non-profit organizations. This gives members a wide exposure to different sides of the conservation struggle.
Impact
Climb’s Conservation Corps has worked hard over several through a couple of funding
opportunities. The program started as an AmeriCorps program with a handful of members working in Weeks Bayou doing water quality testing. Climb began working with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) serving as the pilot program for their multi-million-dollar funding opportunity covering the five Gulf Coast states, GulfCorps, in its eighth year of operation Is going strong and receiving funding to continue this hard but rewarding work.
In the 2023-2024 season, Climb worked 5,359 total acres. Most of that was with our partner the United States Forrest Service in the DeSoto National Forrest. More than 20,000 hours have been worked More than 8000 apple snail egg masses have been removed, Enhanced over 178 acres of wetlands, along with 1,145 acres of upland conservation. We have given over 100 people the opportunity to work in this field. Some decide conservation work is the way forward for them. Others have gone on to career-oriented jobs outside of conservation. They all carry forward soft skills and hard skills that they have learned onto
their future endeavors.
As of last year (2020), in Mississippi alone, Gulf Corps members served more than 19,931 hours, planted over 46,000 plants, removed 8,710 Apple Snail egg masses (an invasive animal that hinders the ecosystems it inhabits), treated over 25 acres of land for invasive species of plants, and enhanced 178 acres of wetlands along the 1,145 acres of uplands conservation. This program has, in the last three years, employed over fifty youth which led to more than 29 gaining post program employment.
