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(2008-07-24)
GUNPOWDER FALLS STATE PARK, MD
(wypr) -
Maryland has a string of state parks around the Chesapeake Bay. And most of them have maintenance backlogs that reach into the millions of dollars. In this edition of Chesapeake Summer, WYPR's Joel McCord takes a look at one effort to ease that problem.The hiking trail along the Little Gunpowder River had become muddy and a bit of a mess when the middle school girls from Baltimore took it on a few weeks ago. Now, it's starting to look a lot better, with new steps at one spot and rocks and gravel reinforcement at others.
We, like, went through the trails and dug up rocks and like put them together to see which ones fit the holes, kind of like a puzzle. So, we went up and down the trail and in the woods to find rocks. 02:02
La-Shawna Weston is among 145 Baltimore teen-agers working at Gunpowder Falls and Patapsco state parks as part of the Civic Justice Corps, a one million dollar expansion of Maryland's Civilian Conservation Corps. She said it has opened a new world for her.
You might think it's bad to work outdoors in the hot sun and the heat and the little mud and stuff, but it's actually fun to get on your knees and really do something in the in like the, what's it called (Nature?) Yeah, nature. I wanted to say that, too. It's actually kind of fun. 07:42
The program, in its first year, is designed to help clean up the parks and connect city kids to the natural world as well as give them some self-esteem and a pay-check.
Peyton Taylor, who runs the Conservation Corps for the state Park Service, says these are kids on the cusp.
They're at a point in their life where they need to make a decision which way they're going to go in their life.
The park service recruited at job fairs, in the city schools and the Department of Juvenile Services for youngsters who might fit into the program; like Daniel Heggie, a 15-year-old from Northeast Baltimore.
I got into a little bit of trouble, but I'm trying to make things better. But my probation officer offered to give me this job. 00:21
Daniel was among a group of boys learning to use a chain saw to clear fallen trees from park trails. He said he thought the program would be a bore, but he admitted it's been fun.
It's something to occupy your time to where you don't have to be outside doing something you don't have no business. And it's just have a nice time, have fun, meet new people.
As part of the application process, the youngsters are required to write short essays on why they want to be involved in the corps. Taylor, who was driving reporters to different sites around the park, said the answers ranged from hilarious to poignant.
And one kid will say I want to be a good driver, get a dog and get a bubble gum company. (Laughter) And then the next one will say I say want to get my grandmother out of O'Donnell Heights projects, I want to help my mother pay the bills. 01:27
In addition to teaching some skills and maybe nudging these kids toward careers in natural resources, Taylor says they also hope to help them establish more of a connection to the natural world than they might get in the city.
Anae Adams and Jasmine Fuller, friends from North East Middle School, say they've learned some things about daddy long-legs spiders, poison ivy, ferns and raspberries.
We actually know what raspberries are. We picked raspberries and different kind of plants. We learned how to build steps and land bridges and (what was the plant we learned?). Oh, the fresh lemon plant, the spice plants, which smell like lemon. 01:17
And because they cleaned up about 46-hundred pounds of trash from the Little Gunpowder, they carried away another lesson, said crewmate Sara Piazza.
And we learned a lesson like never to litter again. (laughter).
The park service has plenty of programs that suburban kids can easily get into, Taylor said, but inner city kids need to be involved as well.
Without advocacy and without these kids being brought into that equation somehow, it really scares me what we're looking at in terms of environmental stewardship down the road, environmental awareness, and everybody needs to be brought into that. 03:00
The way to get them into the equation is to get them into the parks and show them what they're missing, she said. As Daniel Heggie said, you hardly hear any birds around his place.
I'm Joel McCord, reporting at Gunpowder Falls State Park, for 88.1, WYPR.
You can hear the series Chesapeake Summer every Friday during Morning Edition. © Copyright 2009, wypr
