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  Home Page » Features » Outdoors » Eco Opportunity

Eco Opportunity

Veterans tackle fuels reduction and trail projects

by Ann Bond
San Juan Public Lands Center

DURANGO – Kevin Swinderman, 33, served in the Army National Guard from 1999 to 2006 at military bases in Oklahoma, Texas and Southern California. After getting out of the service, he moved to the Durango area to be near family.

Swinderman was driving a taxi to help make ends meet while studying military history at Fort Lewis College when he saw an advertisement in The Durango Herald for the Veterans Green Corps and followed up on it.

“I missed the structure of the Army and like working in the outdoors,” he said. “There’s a camaraderie in the military, because we have so much in common. It’s great to work with other veterans because they share your experiences.”

Swinderman was hired along with other military veterans to work on fuels reduction, forest health and trail projects on public lands in Southwest Colorado. The effort is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to offer veterans employment in emerging conservation careers while stimulating the economies of rural communities. 

Crews are trained by the Colorado nonprofit Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC) in coordination with Veterans Green Jobs, a national nonprofit that offers veterans education and career development.
Over the next two years, their plans are to train up to 50 veterans in Colorado.

Veterans Green Corps crew member Steven Parker, 23, of Pagosa Springs, served in the Marines for four years in basic infantry. He’s working with Swinderman on a fuels-reduction crew in Archuleta County.

“I had worked for my father as a mechanic and was familiar with chainsaws, so when I heard about this opportunity, everything clicked,” Parker said.

The Durango-based crew received nine weeks of training at the Colorado Fire Camp in Salida to become certified as Class A fellers. They also went through firefighter training and are Red-Card qualified, which makes them eligible for work on a U.S. Forest Service fire crew.

Program Coordinator Jason Lawrence of Durango acts as a liaison between SCC and Veterans Green Jobs. An Air Force veteran, Lawrence served as a liaison with the Army, so the job was a natural for him.

“We’re currently overseeing three crews of eight members each,” Lawrence said. “Two are working as sawyer crews on the San Juan National Forest, the other as a trail crew on the Rio Grande National Forest.”

The sawyer crews are currently hand-thinning dense forests adjacent to private property and recreational sites near Pagosa Springs. SCC provides the equipment and supplies, while the U.S. Forest Service administers the projects. Crews camp in the national forest near their job sites.

“Several have inquired about jobs in the Forest Service, and this is good experience if they do have an interest in a government career or similar type of work,” Pagosa Ranger District Fuels Forester Scott Wagner said.

Wagner said the crews have been invaluable in areas where he can’t use prescribed fire or mechanical equipment to reduce fire danger because of proximity to recreational use, homes or archaeological sites. In other areas, steep topography and rocky terrain make the hand crews a necessity.

“They’re very safety conscious and have a positive attitude,” Wagner said.

Crew leader Ray Curry, 25, served as a Marine in Iraq and later worked for mortuary affairs during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. A native of Maryland, he hopes to spread the word about the Veterans Green Corps to other vets.

“The part that really sticks with me most is the empowerment of vets. It makes a big difference coming back from combat into the civilian sector,” Curry said.

“They give us the tools and skills to work in environmental sustainability fields.”
Crew leader Josh Sherrock, 28, of Missouri, served as a Marine in Iraq and Kuwait. After graduating with a degree in economics, he worked for the Veterans Administration (VA) but longed for a career in the outdoors.

“It was a lot of sitting inside working for the VA, which didn’t sit well with me,” Sherrock said. “I like working with chainsaws – it makes the day go by fast.” 

Crew member Nick Morgan, 25, of West Virginia, served in the Army Reserves for four years as a heavy equipment operator and engineer before being stationed at Baghdad International Airport clearing transports. Through Veterans Green Corps, he has worked on both trails and sawyer crews.
“I like the backcountry experience,” Morgan said. “Although I have a degree in business, I enjoy hands-on work in the outdoors; I don’t like to sit still.”

Amy Foss, SCC director of operations, said that federal ARRA dollars are funding 60 weeks of work for sawyer crews on the San Juan and 60 weeks of work for trail crews on the Rio Grande this year.
“In 2010, ARRA funding will allow us to hire four sawyer crews and four trail crews with each assignment lasting 12 weeks,” Foss said.

“We expect funding for the Veterans Green Corps crews to continue until 2011.”
 Ann Bond is the public affairs specialist for the San Juan
Public Lands Center.