Youth Corps Protects Province's Environment

From creating new fish spawning pools to documenting "green" buildings, it has been a busy summer for members of the Nova Scotia Youth Conservation Corps.

Forty-seven participants recently wrapped up summer work terms on a number of project aimed at protecting and promoting the province's environment.

The Nova Scotia Youth Conservation Corps runs programs co-ordinated by the Department of Environment and Labour and its community-based partners. This year, it employed workers aged 17-24 from June 25 to Aug. 24.

"We employ local youth in rural and urban areas and match them up with concerned community groups to help our young people learn and work toward a better environmental future for the province," said Mark Parent, Minister of Environment and Labour. "These young workers also gain employment skills that will be useful in their own futures."

Youth corps members worked on environmental projects in waste management, air quality, sustainable transportation, water quality and conservation, and energy efficiency.

They helped create better awareness of good waste-management practices at the annual Chapel Island mission gathering of Mi'kmaq in Cape Breton.

In partnership with Clean Nova Scotia, youth corps workers helped co-ordinate public-awareness programs such as Getting the Word Out, which promoted energy efficiency and distributed efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Youth corps participants worked with the Ecology Action Centre
to document 12 "green" buildings in Halifax Regional Municipality. They recorded small and large steps building owners took to make workplaces more environmentally sensitive.

The Atlantic Coastal Action Program in Cape Breton, the Sackville River Association, the Bluenose Coastal Action Foundation, Clean Nova Scotia, and the North Colchester River Restoration Society all employed Nova Scotia Youth Conservation Corps crews in river- restoration projects.

Crew members created river-bed structures from natural materials to help increase biodiversity and create pools for fish spawning.

"Our work crews gained valuable leadership skills while helping to make Nova Scotia a cleaner and greener place," said Helen Smith, Nova Scotia Youth Conservation Corps program co-ordinator.

Thirty-nine workers and three support staff were hired for the youth corps.Five volunteers, in the youth corps' Environmental Leaders Program, travelled to Costa Rica in May to work with community groups in that country.

The Nova Scotia Youth Conservation Corps began in 1989 as a litter clean-up initiative.