Partnership Award (Level 1)
The SCA and the National Park Service
The Student Conservation Association (SCA) would like to self-nominate for the partnership between SCA and the National Park Service (NPS).
SCA and NPS have been partners in the Washington, DC area for 19 years. NPS is SCA’s most significant partner in terms of the volume of activity over the years. Since August 2012, the NPS has hosted 25 SCA crews and more than 300 volunteers in parks across the Metro D.C. area. Crews involved in trail reconstruction or maintenance engaged youth aged 15-25. Working closely together SCA and NPS have been able to maintain and reconstruct trails, close unofficial trails, remove tons of invasive plant species and design, install and restore structures to prevent erosion. In the Metro DC Area SCA has worked in the following National Parks: Rock Creek Park, Anacostia Park, Fort Washington Park, Greenbelt Park, Great Falls Park, Fort DuPont, the National Mall, Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and C & O Canal.
As the largest park in DC with over 40 miles of paved and natural surface trails, Rock Creek Park provides DC residents with various recreation opportunities and access to natural areas. SCA celebrated its 15th year working with the National Park Service to maintain trails in Rock Creek Park. SCA crews completed projects designated in the Rock Creek Trail system with an emphasis on providing safe and well signed access to park trails for residents in neighborhoods surrounding the park, installing erosion preventive structures, removing thousands of square feet of invasive plant species and working to maintain trail surfaces. From August 2012 to July 2014 Rock Creek Park has hosted 79 members from SCA’s community program. Members have maintained close to 5 miles of trail, cleared over 25,000sq ft of invasive plant species, installed 70 check steps, installed 194ft of retaining wall to stop erosion, built over 150ft of turnpike in trails in flood areas and resurfaced and corridor cleared over 3,000ft of trail.
The SCA DC Program teamed with the National Capital Parks East (NACE) to develop the NACE-hired SCA community crew called the “Anacostia Ambassador Crew.” This crew consisted of five high school crew members and one adult crew leader. Two of the crew members were alumni and three were new to SCA programming. The crew was integrated into SCA’s existing Urban Tree House Program. The Urban Tree House environmental education center is located in Anacostia Park in Southeast Washington, DC – a site generously provided by National Park Service’s National Capital Parks – East. For over 16 years, SCA Staff has provided free environmental education programs and activities for DC Area K-12 youth on a number of topics, including: urban ecosystems and watersheds, waste and recycling, conservation and sustainability, environmental ethics, wildlife, and ecology. NACE and SCA agreed that together, the two teams could more effectively and efficiently tackle their common goals of educating local youth about the Anacostia Park and watershed - and its importance to the community and to wildlife. Over 770 youth (age 5-18) participated in environmental lessons taught by Anacostia Ambassador Crew during the summer of 2013.
SCA DC’s Greenbelt Park Crew worked in Greenbelt Park, which is located in Greenbelt, Maryland. Greenbelt Park offers a variety of recreational activities including 9 miles of hiking trails, 3 picnic areas, playgrounds, and both tent and RV campsites open year round. The SCA crew worked on a variety of projects including: maintaining 5 miles of trail, spreading and tamping gravel on close to 3.5 miles of trail, corridor cleaning throughout the entire park, 2,180 yards of gravel/material spread for resurfacing of trail, the assembly of 3 picnic tables, and drainage repair on 1 playground and a picnic area entrance. The crew consisted of 12 members during the 2012 DC Summer Community Crew Program.
SCA has worked in Fort DuPont Park for years. SCA has focused work alongthe parks Hiker-Biker Trail, International Mountain Bicycling Association Loop and trail improvements include a variety of work projects along the 9 mile mountain biking and hiking trails in the Civil War Defenses of Washington and to the Fort DuPont Park trail system. As part of the park’s continued efforts to improve trail conditions and usage in Washington D.C., NPS and SCA partnered together to create trail crews for the Civil War Defenses of Washington Hiker-Biker Trail and trail systems in Fort DuPont Park. Crews improved existing trails, reduced environmental impact of visitor recreation and removed exotic species from park resources. As of August 2012, Fort DuPont Park has hosted 74 members that have completed maintenance on over 6 miles of trail, constructed close to 400ft of new trail, constructed a 50ft turnpike, installed over 100 check steps and maintained over 175 drainage structures.
Built to defend the river approach to Washington, DC, Fort Washington has stood as silent sentry for over 200 years. As technologies advanced so did Fort Washington, from the brick andstone of the 19th century to the concrete and steel of the 20th century. SCA has worked on and off at Fort Washington Park for the last few years completing a multitude of projectsinFort Washington Park, Fort Foote Park, and Piscataway Park.Since August 2012, Fort Washington has hosted 12 members that maintained 2.2 miles of trail, repaired 75ft of dilapidated bridge, removed 620sq ft of invasive plant species, and closed 1,270ft of unofficial trail.
The Student Conservation Association and National Park Services’ partnership is meaningful and impactful to the area. The two come together to change the lives of children, students, volunteers and community members as well as the trail systems running throughout the Metro DC Area.