Through a cooperative effort with the Malheur National Forest, the Grant SWCD provided summer empolyment to five local high school students.  This program allowed these area youths to gain work and educational experience while partipating in multiple areas of natural resource managment.  Lead by Forest Service Professionals, the crew spent time working on projects associated with range, wildlife, fisheries, silviculture, hydrology, and recreation management.. 

The Youth Crew gained skills and work ethic while, removing and replacing water troughs and over flow piping, scattering material and building fence, placing woody debri in streams to raise water levels and removing 5+ year old exclosures that had, at one time, protected riparian plantings but where now smashed into the ground with grass and plant roots growing though the netting wire.  They gained knowledge as they learned how meadows are supposed to function and why they are so critical to the health of the surrounding environment, how Beaver dams are also critical to healthy forests and surrounding land by helping to rais the water table and why it is important to manage our forests for fire surpression and tree health.

They spent time with wildlife experts and were able to spot a Bald Eagle nest with 2 hatchlings and spent time trying to locate a known Goshawk to see if it was still in the area.  They also retreived motion cameras from an area where there might be threatend and endangered spieces.  Unfortunately there were not any in the pictures but there was a bear and some squirrels.  They replace the cameras and added some more bait to lure in more animals.  They also learned the importance of aspen, how the wildlife relies on them for forage during the winter months and why we want to preserve failing stands. 

They went to the Dixie fire lookout (What a view) and learned the history of the lookout and how the staff pin point fires and how they are reported.