Youth Conservation Corps participants showcase project overviews with open house visitors | Staff archive

The Preservation Trust and the Conservation District’s Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) have collaborated for years to provide a unique blend of outdoor education and stewardship opportunities for students to help improve protected land. But for the first time this August, YCC’s achievements were put on exciting display for the community in collaboration with the Lopez Island Historical Society! 

The Preservation Trust’s Lopez Schoolhouse Preserve, alongside the neighboring Historical Society’s Port Stanley Schoolhouse Preserve, hosted an open house to highlight the stewardship and monitoring projects of the current Lopez YCC cohort. Families, community members, staff from all three organizations, and even the Northwest Representative to Governor Jay Inslee’s office enjoyed a variety of engaging exhibits. 

Highlights included youth study site tours, educational art displays, a silent auction, and frozen lemonade served from a bicycle-powered blender. Most importantly, Lopez Island’s 13 YCC participants were able to share their ecological projects and vast knowledge of Lopez Island’s flora and fauna with the community.

The 2024 Lopez YCC cohort accomplished two ambitious goals this year: 

1) Joined the National Phenology Network to collect seasonal climate, animal, and plant scientific data and observations, 

2) Established 0.1-acre outdoor study plots to continue monitoring seasonal patterns. These sites will be the focus of ongoing biological observations conducted by YCC during the summer and by YCC’s after-school program during the remainder of the year.

Students make frozen lemonade from a bicycle-powered blender | Staff archive

“Not only are these bright, young minds growing their ecological knowledge, but they are also sharing it with their island community in excitement. It is a beautiful thing to see,” says Liz Doane, SJPT’s Education Specialist.

The success of this year’s open house had staff at the Preservation Trust and Conservation District filled with energy and excitement for future YCC open house possibilities. This event was the first of its kind, but certainly won’t be the last!