California Conservation

Background
You will be working to improve the ecology of California’s lands and rivers through environmental conservation near the San Francisco area.

The Programme
You can participate in the California Conservation for 4 weeks. You will need to arrange your flights into San Francisco International Airport. We will pick you up at the airport and transport you to the first of two project sites. We can assist you with booking your international flights if you need help. You will be based in Northern California. This year our volunteers were based in Ukiah and Lake Tahoe California. During the weekends we will try to arrange excursions. Alternatively you are free to organize independent travel and time away from the camp.

Ukiah
The Ukiah Center is located on the East side of the Ukiah Valley at the base of the Mayacaama Mountains. The Ukiah Center opened at its current site in February of 1988. The Center is located on 6.7 acres. The Center was designed by Ukiah Conservationist Staff and constructed by volunteers supervised by Ukiah Conservationist staff. The Ukiah Center has had a long proud history of integrating the volunteer work experience with education.

Ukiah staff members are credentialed instructors in Natural Resource Technology, Building Construction, Carpentry Trades and Culinary Arts. The Ukiah Center hosts 57 residential volunteers and an annual average of 15 non-residential volunteers. The Ukiah Center also administers a Youth Program for local high school students each summer.

Work Projects / Partnerships
The Ukiah Center has active partnerships with State and Federal agencies including the CA Dept of Fish and Game, CA Dept of Parks and Recreation, the Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, NOAA. These partnerships provide excellent training opportunities for volunteers assigned to Ukiah.

Approximately 75% of the projects at the Ukiah Center relate to watershed enhancement. Ukiah volunteers also work on trail construction projects for the Bureau of Land Management and CA State Parks. The Ukiah Center construction crew has constructed volunteer housing, State Park visitor centers and cabins, miles of elevated boardwalk, baseball dugouts and over a dozen bridges that are 40 or more feet in length spanning creeks in Mendocino and Lake County.

Housing and Facilities
The Ukiah Center has a large community dining room, modern kitchen, two classrooms, a computer lab, a TV room, a recreation room, a state of the art weight training room, a basketball court and a softball field.

The Ukiah residential volunteers live in three room cabins designed for a maximum amount of privacy. Each person gets his or her own room. There are 18 cabins arranged along a boardwalk that leads to men's and women's restroom and shower facilities.

The volunteers have a laundry building with hook-ups for four washing machines and four dryers. The Ukiah Center has a 6,000 square foot woodshop that is used for construction projects and volunteer activities.

Projects
Team activities will include the Salmon Restoration Program along Mendocino coast and the Russian River Watershed trail construction at Van Damme State Park. You will possibly take part in a remote camping experience at Angel Island assisting with historical building renovation.

Tahoe
The Tahoe Center is located next door to Tahoe Paradise Golf Course and immediately behind Lira’s Supermarket. Center facilities include residential space for 84 volunteers, dining hall, 2 recreation lounges, classrooms, computer lab and administrative offices. The Center is planning for expansion construction, which will result in a new dining hall, gymnasium, classrooms, and new volunteer dormitory.

Work Projects / Partnerships
The Tahoe Center is actively involved with resources projects both inside and outside the Lake Tahoe Basin. These projects include hazardous fuels reduction in a partnership with the Lake Tahoe Conservancy and the California Department of Forestry, trails construction and maintenance in a partnership with the California Department of Parks and Recreation, revegetation working with the California Department of Transportation and park development/construction working in partnership with El Dorado County. All of these resources projects are conducted within the spectacular vistas of Lake Tahoe and surrounding mountains.

Housing and Facilities
At the Tahoe Centre volunteers will be accommodated in dormitories for men and women. Volunteers usually share rooms with several others.

Meals are served in the dining hall, with a good variety of foods available, including a vegetarian menu. Professional cooks assisted by volunteers and CCC volunteer specialists prepare the meals. On weekdays, you eat breakfast and dinner in the dining hall, and usually pack a bag lunch to take to the work site. On the weekends, the centers offer two meals, brunch and dinner. Special banquets are arranged for holidays and other center celebrations; in summer, outdoor barbecues are often planned.

Tahoe common areas include a library/lounge and recreation room. Many centers also have exercise rooms, large-screen TVs, pool tables and other amenities.

Projects
Typical projects include park development, tree planting, trail building, assistance with freeway landscape maintenance, fire hazard reduction, flood prevention work, non-native plant removal, minor construction, erosion control efforts, fish habitat restoration, and irrigation system installation.

Please note that exact project details and work locations vary from year to year, so be aware that you may experience differences to the details we have outlined.

Recreational Activities
It is foreseeable that the staff at CCC will make recreational activities available to you, please note that any expenses relating to these recreational activities are at your own expense e.g. shopping trips, visits to amusement parks or meals outside of breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Recreational activities which have been suggested although not guaranteed are visits to San Francisco, the Mendocino coast, Redwood Forest, Lake Tahoe, Point Reyes, Yosemite National Park and Old Sacramento Historical Park.

Health
Participants need to be reasonably fit. You will be expected to walk distances, ranging from 5 to 10km. Some activities will involve lifting, bending, kneeling, and handling heavy items. Any medical conditions that may affect your participation need to be disclosed at the time of booking. This includes mental illness such as depression, or anxiety disorders.