​

​This summer and RYO invites young people aged 14-16 to get outside on the Rensselaer Plateau. 

 

Inspired by the work of the Youth Conservation Corps this FREE program offers young people a chance to start and finish a project on one of our partner’s sites, practice skills that you can use in the woods and learn from professionals who work in the field of environmental conservation. 

 

A typical day might look like this:

• Arrive on site by 8:30AM. 

• 9-12PM; get your hands dirty working on one of our many site projects. Examples include: preparing the land for an ADA accessible trail, maintaining a current trail or cleaning up a nature area used by the community. 

• 12-1PM; fuel up with lunch (you bring your own)

• 1-3PM; learn a skill or hear about cool jobs you might be interested in. Examples include; learn how to make a fire without matches or a lighter, identify aquatic species in the nearby stream, hear from a local ecologist about how she got a job that pays her to study plants. 

• 3-3:30PM; pack up, clean up and get ready to head home. 

 

With the help of a grant from the US Forest Service and contributions from the Rensselaer Plateau Alliance, Friends of Dyken Pond and the Rensselaer Land Trust we are able to offer each teen that completes one of these weeks a financial stipend of $100. That’s right, we want to pay you for your time, energy and participation. Youth are the present and future of this planet, we need you! 

​

Dates include:

• July 5-8, Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center, Cropseyville, NY

• July 11-15, Staalesen Preserve, Troy, NY

• July 18-22, Grafton Lakes State Park, Grafton, NY

• July 25-29, Poestenkill Community Forest, Poestenkill, NY

• August 1-5th, Albert Family Community Forest, Nassau, NY

​

​

​

 

 

​