Environmental justice: moving forward in the 1990s.

Two Murders. A common occurrence in Washington, DC. But the deaths of Gerald "Tink" Hewlitt and Benjamin "Bennie, Jones are more than just losses for a city plagued by crime. The world has lost two environmental pioneers. Both Tink and Bennie were founding members of the Eagle Corps, a program run by the Earth Conservation Corps (EEC) of Washington, DC. Both members participated in river restoration projects in their urban communities and worked to reestablish the Bald Eagle in the local ecosystem. Both worked on getting more education and making a better life for themselves. They, with other Eagle Corps members, shared a common dream: to improve their communities through environmental restoration projects, therefore improving their lives.

An innovative organization known as the Earth Conservation Corps addresses the needs of inner city and rural youth through environmental action. This environmental justice initiative focuses on changing welfare recipients, habitats for wildlife, as well as the workforce of the future. It brings young adults out of poverty and off the streets. ECC works with urban youth in Washington, DC as well as rural young adults on five Native American reservations.

The goal of environmental justice is to balance the damage done to the environment and to restore areas that have been over-polluted. These areas are usually in the neighborhoods of the poor and dis-enfranchised, which over the past few decades, have had more than their fair share of pollution.

ECC released four eaglets last June in the National Arboretum in Washington, DC with the goal of creating nesting pairs of eagles and to return the nation's symbol to the nation's capitol. It proved to be a successful campaign for the eagles and the corps that helped them.

But even hard work and progress cannot stop random and senseless acts of violence. Tink was murdered for $10, and Bennie was beaten to death with a lead pipe in a case of mistaken identity. These tragedies have affected the corps, but have not stopped their efforts. The corps will continue, and plan to train more young adults from Washington's inner city neighborhoods.

About ECC

The Earth Conservation Corps mission is to restore two of the country's most threatened resources: the environment and our disadvantaged young people. The program provides challenging opportunities for young men and women to work toward restoring our natural environment, while working toward their future goals.

The ECC's three-pronged mission is simple: 1. To restore the environment with the strong arms and minds of Earth Conservation Corps members. 2. To educate and train Corps members, inspire them and open doors to future employment. 3. To strengthen communities by improving economic opportunity, increasing civic awareness, and restoring pride of place.

The Earth Conservation Corps gives young adults with limited opportunities, from DC public housing communities and Native American communities, the chance to make something of themselves in the face of uncertain futures. ECC volunteers devote their time and energy into cleaning up the environment. What they get in return is a sense of responsibility and pride, an opportunity to learn and the promise of a real future. In the words of the late Dian Fossey, "It's not talking about conservation, its acting! Conservation begins with the boots on your feet." Ms. Fossey's reflections have become the motto for ECC.

Based on the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s, the ECC is working with local community leaders and environmental groups to build the natural partnership between youth and the environment. In addition to the volunteer work experiences, corpsmembers benefit from weekly training and educational days that teach them about subjects like nature, science, art and history and expose them to environmental mentors from ECC partners and the community. Corpsmembers work toward their GEDs and participate in First Aid and CPR courses, receive training in leadership and diversity skills, and receive hands on day-to-day experiences on restoration projects.

The ECC works in partnership with governmental, environmental and community organizations to identify areas where both young people and the environment need help. Through partnerships with AmeriCorps and others, ECC is able to offer members education scholarships after they have completed 1700 hours of national service, as well as a small weekly stipend.

ECC also focuses on developing a viable workforce for the future by encouraging minority youth to enter the environmental workforce. Development objectives include improving reading, writing, computation, problem solving, and reasoning skills and applying them in the workplace. Participants acquire career related skills in the natural resource field and acquire pre-employment and work maturity skills. Participants are taught to write personal journals, resumes and cover letters, are introduced to interviewing techniques and professional behavior skills and are given instruction on time management and communication skills.

They also learn more about the natural environment. Eagle Corps squad leader Karen Stepney "never knew how bad of shape the Anacostia River was in" before joining the Eagle Corps. The members of ECC programs learn about the environment on the job. "Putting on my waders makes me care more and think more about trashing the sidewalk and rivers" comments Janet Furtrelle, a member of the Eagle Corps.

The ECC has many different programs, including Eagle Corps, Salmon Corps (an AmeriCorps Program), and Wood from the Hood. The corps work on an annual cycle, and members have the opportunity to work on many different projects.

Eagle Corps

In the Washington, DC Eagle Corps, corpsmembers work on habitat restoration where the Anacostia River flows through their community. These activities include planting gardens and trees, education and training events focusing on the outdoor environment within the community, and drug education presentations. Ninety percent of the Eagle Corps members live in public housing. Eagle Corps currently is supported by a grant from the DC Housing Council through HUD which provides members with stipends.

Members receive career training experiences in habitat restoration and exposure to career opportunities such as environmental leadership and management. Corpsmembers work with local school children on environmental projects and volunteer in their own communities to help improve local conditions.

Seven young men from Anacostia worked on the original ECC eagle restoration effort. "It's been good working with the eagles everyday and watching them grow and wanting them to fly. They're our national bird," said William Coates, 24 a past ECC squad leader from Southeast DC.

"The eagles will be a symbol of the promise of habitat restoration and the can-do spirit of our young people," said ECC Executive Director Robert Nixon. "Thanks to the efforts of these young men and women, the eagles are now ready to fly free, or at least to the nearest large branch." Nixon is a Hollywood film producer, five time Emmy winner and Academy Award nominee who has sold his home in Malibu and now focuses his productive efforts on the ECC.

Eagle Reintroduction Project

Bald eagles generally lay a pair of eggs, but occasionally, they lay three. If there are three chicks, the last to hatch -- called a "terminal" eaglet -- is almost always killed by its older sibling or kicked out of the nest. This would have been the fate of four seven-week-old bald eagle chicks donated by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources last year. The formerly "terminal" eaglets were then confined to a giant plywood crib 60 feet up in a cottonwood tree in the National Arboretum for one month. Food and water were lifted to the eaglets by pulley so they did not become accustomed to, and dependent on, human contact

Later, the eagles were released into habitat that overlooks the Anacostia River in an inaccessible part of the U.S. National Arboretum. The acre Arboretum represents portions of undisturbed native habitat for bald eagles that will continue to be accessible to them when the eagles reach breeding age in four years. The plan for them to return to this area is enhanced by local restoration projects of the Eagle Corps.

"The ECC is about action and getting things done," says Nixon. "We felt it was unacceptable not to try to return our national symbol to our capital city. An inspiring number of people at the Arboretum, in the community, the District Government, and private sector have worked to make this possible. Secretary of Agriculture Glickman personally participated in the release of the eagles."

Specific restoration activities related to enhancing the eagles habitat include repairing stream banks, providing fish passage around small dams, installing foot bridges and repairing fences along local tributaries of the Anacostia River. Volunteers use a bald eagle reintroduction model that involves feeding and monitoring eaglets as well as caring for their surrounding habitat in the National Arboretum and along the Anacostia River.

Salmon Corps

The Salmon Corps, an AmeriCorps program, was started in 1994 with the goal of involving Native American youth in the repair of disappearing salmon habit tats of the Columbia River Basin in the Pacific Northwest This approach serves a dual purpose by rehabilitating both the salmon and the young people from the tribal communities of the are -- many of whom are facing serious social and economic challenges. Five tribes in the area participate in Salmon Corps.

The Salmon Corps Partnership is a cooperative effort with direct participation from many groups, including the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Nez Perce Tribe, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC), AmeriCorps, the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Departrnent of Agriculture, and various corporations. The Partnership has three primary environmental objectives: to enhance salmon habitats in the five tribal areas with in-stream structures, riparian vegetation and stream channel restoration; to restore riparian habitats by erecting pole fences to restrict livestock access to salmon habitat, and to remove trash and debris from all salmon habitats.

An important element in the Salmon Corps' success is that the members are implementing tribal priorities to restore native salmon runs within the Columbia River watershed, an extensive and vital ecological system encompassing 160,000 square miles. In addition to gaining valuable skills in habitat restoration, Salmon Corps volunteers build community awareness and produce visible improvements to the environment.

The corpsmembers also contribute to and benefit from the local community. Community members provide technical, vocational and educational support. The range of support has included native language training from tribal elders, aboriginal life skills training, and native vegetation green house activities. Corpsmembers work with local farmers and schools to support native plant nurseries. Salmon Corps members have helped build local baseball fields, assisted in the development of a Veterans Memorial, and have volunteered time to work in tribal Head Start programs.

Ted Strong, executive director of CRITFC, sees an important connection between the Salmon Corps' and the tribes' long-term goals to restore the salmon stocks in their traditional waters. "We look at the restoration of the salmon as a process that will take many decades. Currently, each tribe has a large fishery staff, almost all of whom are non-tribal members. What is exciting and promising about Salmon Corps is that our tribal young people are doing the hard work on the ground that needs to get done, while preparing for future natural resource careers with their tribes. I think of them as our farm team that we are arming with both work experience and an AmeriCorps scholarship."

The result of all the hard work has been the release of over three million young salmon into the streams and rivers, but more importantly, the restoration of over 120 miles of vital spawning creeks. By involving Native Americans in traditional conservation stewardship practices, the tribes and surrounding community will grow both economically and culturally in the future.

Many areas in the Pacific Northwest have been ravaged by early spring floods. Salmon Corps has focused on repairing some of this damage through the following projects.

Salmon Corps-Warm Springs

The Salmon Corps at Warm Springs is busy using GIS maps to look at plant growth along the river. They also worked on the Morrison Fence Projects where they rebuilt fences to keep livestock from damaging the stream banks of the Warm Springs River. The corpsmembers assisted the Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery in moving approximately 469,750 juvenile Chinook salmon to an outdoor acclimation pond, and set up migratory screw traps along tributaries of the Columbia River to monitor salmon movements.

Salmon Corps-Umatilla

Ten in-stream structures were placed over Fox Creek, located on the Oregon-Idaho border. With the structures in place, resident fish were able to return to streams culturally significant to the tribes. An oral history of the significance of their contribution to the restoration project was presented as members worked on the project. Members also worked on excavation projects and planted over 2,700 native trees along numerous tributaries.

Salmon Corps-Shoshone-Bannock

At Fort Hall, the Shoshone-Bannock tribe is using discarded refrigerators as incubators to increase the hatch rate of the Chinook salmon. By burring the refrigerator into the stream bank and using an outflow pipe, the Chinook are protected. Thirty refrigerators were used, resulting in a 98.5% hatch rate; the natural success rate is 15%.

The corps also participated in community service projects. They hosted a junior basketball tournament for youth, which was an alcohol and drug alternative event and helped in yard and park clean-ups.

Salmon Corps-Nez Perce

Salmon Corps at Nez Perce worked with the Department of Fisheries, Nez Perce Tribe and the U.S. Forest Service to remove and build barbed wire and jack/rail fences at Piscoe and Macomas meadows in west central Idaho. These projects protect watersheds that are critical to providing clean, cool water to tributaries which support salmon habitat. Fish counts, weighing and tagging projects were also conducted on two tributaries of the Clearwater River.

Field Director and former Salmon Corps member Noreen Allen-Broncheau -- also a mother of seven -- reflects on her crew, "For many, this is their first job. They gain confidence, and then can move on into other areas." Corpsmembers have also cleared an area for the construction of a two-layered fence to hold wolves as part of a wolf reintroduction project just outside of Winchester, Idaho on the Nez Perce Reservation.

Salmon Corps-Yakama

Working on the Department of Energy's Hanford Nuclear Facility near Richland, Washington, corpsmembers monitor and feed salmon, set pen holds, net and transfer fish, and construct siphon pipelines to help in the acclimation of Chinook and Coho salmon. They also worked with the U.S. Forest Service and Naches Ranger District in tagging and stabilizing large woody debris on the Little Naches River for the protection of salmon habitat. They also removed old water bars and replaced them with new ones.

Wood From the Hood

This ECC program works in collaboration with the National Park Service in Washington, DC. Mature hardwood trees that have been blown down in storms on Park Service land are delivered to ECC instead of being dumped in local landfills. Eagle Corps participants use the logs to make blue bird and wood duck boxes, which are then placed in the restored areas along the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. Training for this project is provided by living Classrooms in Baltimore, Maryland.

Future projects include selling the bird boxes to public and private organizations. Corpsmember will learn skills in banking, marketing and advertising as they establish their own corporation. Computers and the Internet will also be involved in the production and sale of the bird houses.

Success

Salmon and Eagle Corps graduates have been extremely successful. Since its inception in 1992, 150 young people have completed the ECC program. Seventy-one percent of corpsmember -- who are traditionally at-risk youth -- have completed their GED as part of the program; 20% of them have gone on to advanced education and college. While the corps instills values like self confidence and work ethic, it also instills an appreciation of nature and concern for conservation. This environmental ethic is evidenced by the 30% of corpsmembers who go on to full-time jobs in conservation. Many participants have been hired as local fisheries technicians and cultural resource technicians from their own tribes.

Success is measured in more than numbers, it can also be measured by self-esteem. "I consider myself a hero, not a zero," exclaimed Steven Harris, a 19-year-old African American male from the Carrolsburg public housing project in Washington, DC, when referring to his conservation work along the Anacostia River. Values are also changed through the program. Corpsmember Lamont Johnson comments, "I don't want to take dirty money, I can now earn it the clean way."

Future Projects

One of the ECC's major campaigns is to renovate the old "Capitol Pumphouse" and turn it into the "The Earth Conservation Corps Center." The pumphouse was built in 1906 to pump Anacostia River water into steam generators to heat the Capitol, House and Senate office buildings, and the Library of Congress. Abandoned in the 1950s, the building is now leased from the city by ECC, who believes that training the next generation of conservationists will motivate their communities and the children of their housing projects to roll back environmental degradation. This new generation will promote responsible and sustainable development of our precious natural resources, all the while moving welfare recipients to work, many in the conservation field.

The ECC center will involve partners in the community who will advance the values of self-determination, citizenship and leadership that are central to the ECC philosophy. The center win also serve as a gateway to both the river and a better future for the entire community; the chance for an amazing partnership between people who care and those who soon will, using a building abandoned by our government and rebuilt by the local community.

The center win provide opportunities for local youth and ECC participants to gather and learn more about the environment and themselves. The Southeast DC location will allow members of the community a unique opportunity to explore their local waterfront and learn more about their natural resources. A library, education resource center, computer room, aviary, fish hatchery, and science lab are just some of the amenities planned for the center.

Future environmental education and training centers are being planned. Historically underutilized Bureau of Indian Affairs buildings on tribal lands are available to turn into education centers, as well. With enough funding, ECC can expand their corps and provide opportunities for more urban youth. The ECC helps young adults with limited opportunities learn to take pride in themselves and their community through this important conservation work and training.

A True Story

Antoine Woods is currently working with the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Warm Springs, Oregon. Antoine, or Twan as he is known, did not always have such an optimistic outlook on life. He grew up in southeast Washington, DC, far away from the outdoor life he now leads. Throughout his childhood, he was surrounded by drugs and the violence and mayhem that make up inner city life. At the age of 18 he was selling drugs on the streets of DC. He was constantly in trouble with the law, with gangs and with himself. After his 1994 release from prison, Twan lived in a half-way house and, although he was a high school graduate, had a very dim outlook on life.

All of that changed when he became a participant in ECC's Eagle Corps. "When I first started caring about the eagles, I started caring about me, and what was to come," he reflects. "Eagles once face extinction, and I could associate with their cause. I started to realize that there was a real world out there." Twan stopped selling drugs, and started focusing on his future. He still lived in a half-way house, but received a small stipend, and started focusing on his work with Eagle Corps.

When he first learned of Salmon Corps, he thought ECC was crazy. What was he going to do on an Indian reservation? Two very close friends were murdered in DC within four months of each other and his mother was ill, but Twan was now eager to have new experiences in his life, and he wanted the AmeriCorps scholarship; he got it and was off to Salmon Corps. Finally, his hard work paid off. Although the work is grueling, Twan is excelling in his new environment. He has discovered more than he ever expected. He has learned more about biology, ecology and habitats. He has explored new realms of the Earth. He is now more interested in wildfife, plants and even the weather. "I love the sky. I can see everything so clearly. I am my own weatherman," he exclaims.

In his new environment on the reservation, Twan finally feels love. "People back home (in Washington, DC) do not have love. It is negative," he says. "Here in Oregon, the people are more positive. They want to know who you are. They want to know your last name, and get to know you." Twan is learning more about himself, others and his new environment He is more confident self assured and aware about himself and his place in society. He feels empowered, and upon graduation, he plans to go college and become a sound engineer.

Twan's future has been shaped by Eagle Corps and Salmon Corps. The ECC has given him an opportunity to explore new options and careers he never had thought of before. He is now ready to meet the challenges of a world just recently discovered, and he is excited. "I have a goal now," Twan exclaims. "And I know I can do whatever I want."

The welfare system of the past has been replaced by workfare, so now is a time for innovative solutions such as the Earth Conservation Corps. As environmental disparity increases, solutions need to focus on prevention for the future. Teaching an environmental work ethic can stop poverty within the community, and possibly help to curb random murders. Corpsmembers often reflect on their colleagues who have died. "Tink was the true pioneer," remembers Twan. "We all learned together."

ECC is just starting. The idea of work and community service is not new, but the combination of welfare reform and environmental justice has found a hopeful meeting ground there.