SCA Massachusetts AmeriCorps is a group of 26 corps members completing EE in the winter and Conservation projects in the summer. Based in the Berkshire region of northwestern Massachusetts, the Student Conservation Association’s (SCA) Massachusetts AmeriCorps program is a residential community of emerging leaders who devote 5 or 10 months to full-time educational and conservation service. Each year 26 college aged members come from across the U.S. to provide over 36,000 hours of direct service to the lands and people of Massachusetts, by mentoring local youth through in-school and after-school environmental education programs, serving as interns in local conservation organizations and state programs, and carrying out significant natural resource protection and conservation projects throughout the commonwealth. Celebrating its 18th year of service, the SCA Massachusetts AmeriCorps program is a partnership between the Student Conservation Association, the Massachusetts Service Alliance, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Corporation for National and Community Service.
SCA Massachusetts AmeriCorps members live and work from a base at the Kenneth Dubuque Memorial State Forest. Their service term is divided into two primary components: the Education Service Season in which corps members provide direct environmental education and mentorship at local schools during the winter months, and the Conservation Service Season in which the corps members divide into crews and render conservation service at sites throughout Massachusetts in the spring and summer.
During Conservation service season, SCA Massachusetts AmeriCorps will send four crews of five members and one crew of six members into the field to complete conservation service projects on public lands for fifteen weeks. Projects will include trail construction and maintenance, trail closures, invasive species control, erosion prevention, habitat restoration, and historic structure renovation. SCA Massachusetts AmeriCorps has successfully fielded conservation crews in Massachusetts since 1996.
SCA Massachusetts AmeriCorps member complete these trainings: Chainsaw, Griphoist/rigging systems, Advanced Carpentry, Wilderness First Responder, Stone Staircases, Bridges (native and dimensional), Tread and Drainage, New Trail Construction, Leave No Trace.