AMERICORPS: IN ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE.

To a soundtrack of squeaking wheelbarrows, the scrape of shovels, and the thud of falling soft, a partnership between the environmental community and thousands of young adults is getting things done across the U.S. Unlike its ancestor, the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps is an idealistic army in domestic, not international, service.

In its five-year history, AmeriCorps has put more than 100,000 high school and college graduates to work in service programs ranging from public safety to education and unmet human needs. One division, the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), lends particular power to nonprofit environmental organizations.

A residential program headed by the Corporation for National Service (CNS), NCCC organizes its volunteers in teams to fulfill their pledge to "get things done." Last year, volunteers worked in 47 states through 554 community service projects, 33 percent directly addressing environmental problems. In exchange for a 10-month commitment, members receive a $4,725 educational award, which many use to begin a college education or pay back existing student loans.

"It used to be the only way you could serve your country was the military. This is another option and it's a great program," says Gary McNeill, regional habitat manager for the Idaho Fish and Game Service. He recently sponsored a team that, in eight weeks, built boundary fences to protect riparian habitat and planted 7,500 ponderosa pine seedlings--work that never would have been accomplished with his regular two-man crew.

Tim Jenson of the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District in California agrees, and has told his congressman as much. His teams have been building a five-mile public access trail in a newly acquired redwood preserve. Jenson adds, "Their work is invaluable to us. I'm hoping AmeriCorps will be around as long as I'm working here."

AmeriCorps' funding is decided in an annual appropriations battle on Capitol Hill. CNS Chief Executive Officer Harris Wofford says, "The members' accounts of what they do is the most persuasive power we have." Last year alone, NCCC teams planted 25,000 trees, built 325 miles of hiking trail, removed 250 acres of non-native vegetation, constructed 175 footbridges, initiated 15 recycling programs and protected 11 miles of shoreline from erosion.

As a corpsmember, Jason Castleberry of Little Rock, Arkansas contributed to those numbers at elementary schools, city parks, Habitat for Humanity sites and, for three months, Nature Conservancy preserves in Oregon. He says his experience "taught me that volunteering is something everyone should do, something I want to dedicate my life to," and has returned to lead a team of his own. CONTACT: AmeriCorps, [phone]/http:// www.americorps.org.