Learning to Care for the Land They Grew Up On
In 2025, fourteen local high school students representing nearly every high school in Eagle County joined the inaugural class of the Eagle County Youth Corps. Over two weeks, they learned trail work, teamwork, and stewardship on the same trails they grew up hiking.
For participants, ECYC can be more than a summer job. It provides a first step toward paid work in trails, stewardship, and natural resources. Crew members gain practical experience, work alongside conservation professionals, and begin to see how caring for their home landscapes can become a career.
Their Backyard Becomes Their Classroom
ECYC crew members are not traveling somewhere unfamiliar to complete a service project. They are caring for trails, wildlife habitat, and public lands close to home, the same places they hike, ride, and camp with their own families.
This summer’s clearest example was a project called Our Backyard. Crew members closed and restored unauthorized social trails, informal shortcuts that erode hillsides and disrupt drainage. One trail they closed sat in a participant’s own neighborhood. Nearby residents stopped to thank the crew as they worked, several commenting on how much it mattered to see the work getting done.
A trail a teenager once knew only as a place to hike becomes something different once they understand what holds it together. Trail sustainability depends on drainage, grade, and soil type working together, and when any of those breaks down, a trail widens or splits into new unauthorized paths. Once a crew member understands that, a familiar trail becomes something they have the ability to protect.
“The program was a great way to give back to my community and learn how to maintain nature.”
Anonymous ECYC Crew Member, 2026
Learning Stewardship by Doing It
The Eagle County Youth Corps is a paid, hands-on conservation position, not a classroom presentation or a single volunteer day. Over two 80-hour work weeks in June and July, crew members build these core skills.
- Recognize drainage and erosion problems on a trail
- Repair and construct sustainable trail tread
- Build rock steps and drainage structures
- Restore unauthorized routes, damaged campsites, and wildlife habitat
- Remove trash, old fencing, and invasive plants
- Use professional trail tools safely
They also work through whatever the season sends. This year’s crews built rock steps at Gore Creek, hand drilled logs to build buck and rail fences, created a barrier to close an illegal route through a hailstorm, and pulled hundreds of feet of old barbed wire fencing to reopen migration corridors for elk and deer. Old fencing is one of the more common obstacles to that movement, and clearing it matters directly to the wildlife that depend on those routes.
“It was cool being able to make a lasting impact on trails I already spend time on.”
Anonymous ECYC Crew Member, 2026
The Moment Stewardship Becomes Personal
Hands-on work changes how a crew member sees their own community. At Gore Creek, crew leaders started the week explaining the project to passing trail users. By the afternoon, crew members were having those conversations on their own, without being asked. They stopped simply following instructions and started taking ownership of the work in front of them.
That shift showed up throughout the summer. Crew members watched drainage structures they built hold up during a real storm. They returned to a completed reroute and saw trail users pass through it. They opened a wildlife corridor by pulling fencing and could point to exactly what they had cleared. Seeing the result of your own work is what turns an assignment into something a teenager carries with them.
Building a Pathway to Conservation Careers
ECYC crew members work alongside professionals from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Eagle County Open Space, who explain how they built their own careers in natural resources. That exposure shows up directly in this year’s numbers.
- Self-rated knowledge of natural resource careers rose from 3.67 to 4.58 out of five
- Participants rated their ability to see themselves in an outdoor career at 4.17 out of five after the program
- 11 of 14 participants expressed interest in USFS careers
- 4 of 14 expressed interest in joining VVMTA’s Trails and Stewardship Crew
Young people cannot pursue careers they have never encountered. ECYC puts crew members next to professionals doing the work, using the same tools, on the same trails, so a job in conservation stops being an abstract idea.
| 2026 Impact | Total |
|---|---|
| Hours logged | 1,110 |
| Trash removed | 1,441 lbs |
| Trail tread repaired or built | 1,100 ft |
| Drainage structures built | 24 |
| Social trail closed | 1,800 ft across 11 trails |
| Barbed wire fence removed | 500+ ft |
Turning Experience Into Opportunity
ECYC is designed to connect youth stewardship with future education and employment opportunities. Participants implement real world projects on the ground and leave with practical skills, professional connections, and a clearer understanding of the careers available in conservation and natural-resource management. For local youth, the program can be a first step from caring about Eagle County’s public lands to building a career caring for them.
These trails will need skilled, committed caretakers for generations. Paid positions like the Eagle County Youth Corps make that experience accessible to more local young people, and support for the program provides the tools, training, wages, and mentorship that make it possible. Support VVMTA to help keep this pathway open, or watch for the next ECYC application window to open.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Eagle County Youth Corps?
ECYC is a paid summer position for local high school students ages 16 to 18, run by VVMTA in partnership with the USFS and Eagle County Open Space. Crew members complete real trail maintenance, ecological restoration, and stewardship projects on public lands across Eagle County. Sessions run two weeks each, Monday through Thursday, with pay starting at $18 an hour. Learn more on the ECYC program page.
Who can apply for the Eagle County Youth Corps?
Applicants must be 16 to 18 years old and live in Eagle County. No prior trail work experience is required, just an interest in working outdoors, learning new skills, and working as part of a team. Applications typically open in the spring for two summer sessions. Watch the ECYC application page for the next opportunity to apply.
What kind of work does the crew do?
Crew members build and repair trail tread, construct rock steps and drainage structures, remove trash and old fencing, restore unauthorized social trails, and open wildlife migration corridors. They also spend time with professionals from land management agencies who explain their own career paths. It is physical, outdoor work in variable weather, done as a team.
Can Eagle County Youth Corps lead to a career in conservation?
Yes. Several 2026 participants left the program with a stronger sense of what a career in natural resources could look like, and some now work alongside the Trails and Stewardship Crew as their next step. Working directly with USFS staff and other land managers gives crew members a real look at what those careers involve.
