Youths get outdoor experience through program

A summer job can sometimes be a bridge to more permanent employment, and that could certainly be the case for members of the Youth Conservation Corps, which made an actual bridge in Lolo National Forest last week about 15 miles west of Plains.

Two boys and two girls - Jody Detlaff, 18, Faith Palmer, 15, and Tyler Battles, 17, all of Thompson Falls, and Jim Hanson, 15 of Plains - were the only YCC participants this year, a much smaller group than usual, according to Marie Errecart, who headed the program at the Plains Ranger District this year, assisted by Claire Pickler of Drummond. 

The YCC is an eight-week summer employment program that provides work experience and natural resource management education to local youths from 15-18 years old. The program is a combination of hands-on work and education. The program started at the Plains Ranger District in 2007. One goal of the program is to introduce the teens to job opportunities of the Forest Service. "It is a great gateway program for kids who want to get into the Forest Service," said Errecart, who's headed the program for three years and was the assistant for one year under team leader Kim Earhart. There was no YCC program at Plains last year due to the COVID pandemic, but Battles participated in a YCC program in Trout Creek last year. 

The group this season began June 7, performing an assortment of projects in the near two months of work, ending with the building of a 30-foot bridge over Dee Creek. Members of the Montana Conservation Corps, another nonprofit group, worked on the same trail, erected a ramp at one end of the Dee Creek bridge, and made a horse trail next to the bridge. 

It took four days for the crew to construct the bridge, finishing the job Friday afternoon. The group had help from "Lady" and "Bullet," mules owned by John Errecart, Marie's father, a member of the Wild Horse Plains Back Country Horsemen and a retiree from the Forest Service after 35 years. His wife Carrie, retired from the Forest Service after 31 years and Marie's brother, Kyle, is presently a firefighter with the Forest Service. John Errecart said the Wild Horse Plains Back Country Horsemen group has helped the Forest Service and YCC with summer projects in the past. He said that once they packed in ice cream and sticky buns for the kids.

"I thought the kids did very good on the bridge project. It came together rather quickly and they had to stay really focused to get it done," said Marie Errecart, who has been a seasonal employee with the Forest Service for 13 years and a teacher at Plains School for 12, and this year is the high school athletic director. She believes her teaching skills have helped her lead the YCC groups, especially when it came to the PowerPoint presentations. Errecart said the bridge is nice and sturdy for hikers and bikers.

It took five trips for John's mules to haul lumber three-quarters of a mile to the site. His pack animals were also utilized to retrieve about 300 pounds of unused lumber on Friday. Forest Service workers previously felled three trees for the base of the bridge. The YCC crew peeled the bark and put the 1,000-pound trees in place. Hanson and Battles also erected a new trail sign at the bridge. Both are considering becoming Forest Service smoke jumpers, and all four are thinking about careers with the Forest Service. 

The Smokejumpers Visitor Center in Missoula was one of two field trips the group took this year. They also visited the Traveler's Rest State Park, just south of LolO. It was a stopping off point by the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805 and 1806. 

The crew spent two days looking for new cones on white bark pine trees on Pat's Knob, Baldy Mountain and Graves Creek. The Forest Service cages white bark pine cones each year and collects them for their nursery. The YCC'ers also cleared grass and weeds from the white bark pine trees at the Forest Service's Plains Tree Improvement Area west of Plains. 

The YCC crew worked eight hours a day Monday through Friday. They also spent days clearing trails, replanted a bridge at Breen Creek, marked trees destined for timber sales, helped do surveys for future logging roads, spent three days digging a mile-long fire line for an upcoming prescribed burn, and had a daylong Stock Packing Class on how to properly pack a horse or mule for transporting supplies to sites in the field. John Errecart, one of the primary instructors for Stock Packing Class, said he'd like to see the class given earlier in the summer so the kids could have the chance to utilize what they learn when the horsemen club assists the YCC. Hanson and Battles had that opportunity when they loaded the mules with leftover wood Friday.

The crew also had archeological excursions, where they searched for items at two sites, one at Clark Mountain and the other at Eddy Mountain Lookout. They found old coffee and tobacco cans and a Campbell's soup can from the 1950s at the lookout, and telephone wire from perhaps the 1930s to 1950s at Clark Mountain. The Forest Service fish biologist normally provides the YCC participants with a project of catching and measuring fish, but it was canceled because of the fires, said Errecart.

"The kids did great," said Errecart. She also said the team members were highly motivated and had a great work ethic. The teens were evaluated on working together, communication, leadership, arriving to work on time, using personal protective equipment, listening and following directions and properly using equipment, according to Errecart, who added that the work was sometimes physically demanding with a lot of hiking and working in hot conditions. She said the group worked well together, communicated well with each other and improved greatly during the eight weeks, especially in their leadership skills.

"I really enjoy leading this group. It is a lot of fun to watch them grow and learn about the different departments," said Errecart. "I also feel like my Forest Service background helps clear up some confusion and adds some clarification on why they were doing some projects."