[PCA] Invasive plants would celebrate this news.

[TheNatureNut at aol.com]

Here's a link to an article published on the Environmental News Network  
about one of California's premier invasive eradication forces (California  
Conservation Corps) being in jeopardy of elimination due to the state's budget  
crisis. The proposed defunding of this program would be  disastrous for many 
imperiled habitats. I was hoping you could post  the link for your readers.
 
_Governator  Targets the California Conservation Corps: To get the budget out 
of the red, he  wants to expel youth from green jo.._ 
(http://www.enn.com/press_releases/2794?title=governator_targets_the_california_conservation_corps_to_
get_the_budget_out_of_the_red_he_wants_to_expel_youth_from_green_jobs)  
 
Article pasted below. Thanks, John Griffith
 
 
Governator Targets the California Conservation Corps: To get the budget out  
of the red, he wants to expel youth from green jobs 
 
If you ever wanted to speak up for at-risk youth and/or endangered  species, 
right now is the time. A time-tested and highly productive program  called the 
California Conservation Corps (CCC) is threatened by Gov  Schwarzenegger’s 
budget axe. The 32-year-old environmental restoration and youth  development 
program has been responsible for countless trail, habitat  restoration and 
emergency response projects. This month the California  legislature is wrestling 
with an unprecedented deficit and deciding who and what  will be cut to balance 
the budget. The governor has already proposed to the  legislature that the CCC 
be among the programs to be de-funded. So speak up  now--waiting to get 
involved could result in the elimination of a program that  puts youth to work to 
restore the habitats of endangered wildlife, including  salmon and dozens of 
other species of endangered, threatened, and rare plants  and animals. There is 
no trained workforce that could mobilize to fill the void  created by cutting 
the CCC. And many endangered species may not survive the  wait. 
Unfortunately, some people don’t get motivated to support government  
programs. To them they are mysterious money wasters—defined by stacks of white  paper 
scribed in lawyer-speak. But to really understand the California  
Conservation Corps, all you have to do is pick the right time to hike into one  of the 
Golden State’s coastal forests and listen. Between bird songs and the  sound of 
wind weaving through branches you would hear logs being hoisted into a  river, 
shovels slicing into earth, and the excitement of urban youth making  their 
first nature discoveries. The endangered coho salmon’s habitat is being  
restored. 

 



The California Conservation Corps is a state-program based on the Civilian  
Conservation Corps—a federal program created during the Great Depression to  
provide jobs for jobless men and hope for hopeless families. California’s CCC  
was launched in 1976 for young men as well as women between the ages of 18 and  
25. They are encouraged to join to meet modern challenges like preventing  
species extinctions, protecting millions of people from major disasters, and  
restoring ecosystems denuded after a century of destructive land management  
practices. 
For the first time since its creation, the youth of the CCC aren't only  
swinging axes to help California—they're trying to dodge the ax being swung at  
them by California’s governor. In his efforts to close the state’s $43 billion  
budget gap, Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing to eliminate this oldest and 
 largest youth conservation corps, even though the CCC earns enough money 
from  work projects to support 40% of its own budget. Using the cliché that the 
CCC’s  budget isn't even a drop in the state’s deficit bucket would be an  
understatement. The CCC’s budget would be less than a drop; it would be as tiny  
as the mist particles shooting from the clenched teeth of those of us who are  
growling over the governor’s short-sighted proposal. 
Youth and the environment may not be a priority to Arnold, but they are to  
everyone who was encouraged by his rhetoric about creating green jobs and  
preserving our public trust (nature). The CCC was, is, and will be one of  
California’s best investments—not only for its youth, fiscal growth, and  ecological 
sustainability—but for its communities’ protection as well. The CCC  is one 
of California’s premier emergency response forces, with more than 9.3  million 
hours of emergency response since 1976. The CCC has been called out to  
nearly every major natural disaster since that time—fires, floods, earthquakes,  
pest infestations, oil spills, search and rescues, and more. CCC crews can be  
dispatched within hours to anywhere in the state—or in the nation, as they were 
 during Louisiana’s Katrina crisis. A trained youth workforce saves money and 
 lives. If the CCC’s 500,000 corps member hours provided to fire agencies in 
2008  were replaced by fire personnel, the cost to the state would have been 
$20  million. 
While many of us in disaster-prone California appreciate those kinds of  
statistics, people all over the world can appreciate that the CCC employs 3,300  
youth (corps members) each year to restore the habitats of imperiled species.  
Who better to restore the environment than those who will inherit it? While  
doing this essential work, these young people spend evenings working toward  
acquiring diplomas and driver’s licenses (if they don't already have them). On  
many of their weekends, they volunteer in the communities where they live. 
Last  year corps members gave California’s communities 23,000 volunteer hours. 
Upon  graduation from the program, they've earned a $4,725 federal AmeriCorps  
scholarship and another $2,000 state scholarship for college or trade school. 
The CCC does far more than respond to emergencies, provide educational  
opportunities, and restore wild habitats—it restores self-worth in those youth  who 
joined to escape toxic patterns and neglected neighborhoods. It gives them  
the satisfaction of working on a multi-cultural team and sharing in that team’s 
 sense of accomplishment. The CCC restores connections to nature. The current 
 technologically nursed generation needs this more than any previous 
generation.  Through environmental education, wilderness therapy, and months living in 
 landscapes that even the best video game graphics could never create, the 
CCC is  guiding the millennial generation through a rite of passage defined by 
their  motto: hard work, low pay, and miserable conditions. The wilderness may 
be the  only witness to this transformation, but families and society reap the 
benefits. 
California’s legislators won't have time to hike out to where the sounds of  
youth at work in the wilderness can be heard. But they can hear the sounds 
that  you make for those youth. Go to http://www.legislature.ca.gov/ and follow 
links  to find these legislators’ addresses. Write a letter. And do it soon.  
California’s budget is being crafted now. Tell them the future of our youth and 
 the health of our natural environments are nonnegotiable. Remind them that 
the  wisdom of creating green jobs is as relevant for today’s depression as it 
was  during the Great Depression. In fact, ask them to expand the CCC to 
offset the  unemployment and environmental crises. 
Our youth don't need to be hopeless, unemployed, and with idle hands on our  
streets, they need to be engaged in the nation’s economic and ecological  
recovery. They need to be trained and on-hand to protect our communities. We  need 
their labor for vital projects that benefit everyone. And we all need you  to 
help make sure this happens. 
For more information about the CCC (or how to join) go to  
http://www.ccc.ca.gov/ 

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