This summer, Ramsey County Parks & Recreation and Workforce Solutions partnered with Tree Trust, a non-profit that helps teens and young adults build sustainable careers with training and hands-on experience in skilled trades and green career pathways.
As a contracted partner for the county’s Young Adult Employment Program, Tree Trust recruited and hired two crews of eight workers between the ages of 14 and 20 to work on several projects throughout the Ramsey County parks system.
In addition to planting flower plugs and other plants, removing invasive plants and clearing overgrowth, the crews:
- Planted green beans with strawberries in the garden at Tamarack Nature Center to gain knowledge about nitrogen fixation.
- Completed a dragonfly survey.
- Constructed a staircase in the garden at Tamarack Nature Center.
- Observed osprey chicks being handled.
- Built bluebird houses.
- Beautification of trails, schoolyard and nature classroom at Tamarack Nature Center.
- Completed a career assessment and participated in a networking workshop.
At a recent end-of-summer ceremony, crew members shared their experiences and memories of their work. All agreed that working outdoors in the heat with the help of homemade popsicles was a lasting memory. Many individual crew members mentioned valuing the experience of working on projects from planning to completion as others identified observing and working with wildlife, bringing the knowledge they gained to projects at home and receiving their first ever paycheck as highlights of the experience.
The results of the crew’s hard work can be seen at Long Lake Park, Beaver Lake Park, Tony Schmidt Park, Trout Brook Trail and Tamarack Nature Center.
Original source can be found here.
