Marshall, Ind. — The 82-degree heat hadn’t sapped Trey Evans’ optimism.
Neither had the trees, weeds and vines snarled up in the fence row around Turkey Run State Park.
When his supervisors speculated on how soon the crew would finish cleaning up the boundary, Evans insisted they could wrap it up this weekend. They smiled.
The 20-year-old from Parke County is one of nearly two dozen Young Hoosiers Conservation Corps employees working at Turkey Run this summer. Two-thousand YHCC workers will spend four months upgrading facilities and structures at Indiana’s state parks under the program created by Gov. Mitch Daniels. With the state receiving $24 million through the Workforce Investment Act of President Obama’s federal stimulus plan, Daniels re-created a 21st-century version of the 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps.
The Franklin Roosevelt agency created parks across the nation during the Great Depression.
“They will be actually working on some of the CCC’s buildings built back in the 1930s,” said Gary Warmouth, property manager at Turkey Run and its nearby sister state park, Shades.
The CCC’s handiwork included shelters and cabins at Turkey Run.
In a video greeting shown to every YHCC employee, Daniels said, “Your grandfathers and great-grandfathers knew how to build things that last. Your summer will honor their work and create new places of beauty you and your grandchildren can enjoy many years from now.”
Like the old CCC, the YHCC is meant to put people without jobs to work for $8.50 an hour. Under federal funding rules, the Corps employees must be 16 to 24 years old from low-income families. The state chose to place an emphasis on hiring veterans and people currently receiving unemployment benefits.
On Thursday afternoon, Evans finished cutting through a stump in the fence row and voiced his enthusiasm for his new job. He’d been laid off from his construction job since November.
“It’s a great opportunity,” he said, lifting his hard hat to rub his sweaty hair. “Work’s really hard to find. I was searching for so long. I was on unemployment for the longest time.”
The YHCC crew includes several twentysomething workers who’ve lost jobs during the current recession as well as military veterans.
Zach Norman, a 22-year-old National Guardsman from Rockville, heard about the Corps from a friend and applied quickly. He’d grown up around Turkey Run’s scenic 2,382 acres of streams, rocks, trees and wildlife, but he’s learning more about the park as a Corps employee. “I found things out about the park and [nearby] Raccoon Lake that I didn’t know, and I’ve lived here all my life,” he said.
The job, which park maintenance supervisor Kyle Laney called “very hard work,” suits Norman just fine.
“I enjoy what I’m doing, every bit of it,” Norman said. “I like working outside.”
The program, which could resume in 2010 if this summer’s efforts are successful, should strengthen the YHCC workers’ future employment possibilities, said Marc Lotter of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. The jobs help “raise people up one level,” he added.
They receive training for a variety of tasks, including upgrading trail infrastructure, removing invasive plants and repairing park buildings and shelters. On the agenda around the state are improvements to some historic structures, including the Lieber Log Cabin at Turkey Run. That cabin, built in 1848, now serves as a museum and is named for Col. Richard Lieber, Indiana’s first state parks superintendent.
At the rugged but breathtaking Shades State Park, the YHCC workers will rebuild an overlook at its famous Lover’s Leap vista. Visitors will enjoy those young workers’ upgrades to the site for decades, Warmouth said.
“That’s something that will be there for [at least] 20 years,” he said, minutes after the YHCC crew ended its day.
Mark Bennett can be reached at (812) 231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.
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