National Park Service press release
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
DENVER — Question: How can inner city youth make a difference regarding the future of some national parks in Colorado involving light bulbs?
Answer: Six motivated young people from urban Denver, on a mission, through four Colorado national parks in June that is part “green” activism, part outdoor adventure, and part American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) economic “stimulus” work.
The Green Renewable Energy Efficiency Network, or GREEN Project, is a joint effort of the Intermountain Region of the National Park Service (NPS) and the Greening Youth Foundation (GYF) of Atlanta. GYF works to develop awareness and appreciation of the natural environment, including national parks, among urban and minority youth. The foundation sponsors youth-outdoors events and helps young people find internships and jobs in the field.
In this case, six young adults from the Denver area will replace thousands of less-efficient incandescent lamps in the parks with fluorescent and compact fluorescent lights. The GREEN Project is a pilot venture that GYF hopes to repeat elsewhere in the country to train, employ and inspire more young people.
The $155,000 project ($116,000 funded through the NPS and $39,000 in matching grants from GYF) is being paid for with some of the more than $750 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds being spent this year and next on national park work projects across the United States.
This month, the corps of young adults (Sabrina Roy, Chic Dion Salibellas, JHarmon Smith, Michael Garza, Traemon McCabe and Raymond Bowels) have begun swapping out conventional incandescent light bulbs and older fluorescent components for more energy-efficient ballasts and lamps at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and Curecanti National Recreation Area, with joint headquarters in Gunnison, CO.
Once they finish their initial work there, the GREEN Project team will head to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve outside Alamosa, CO, to do the same thing. From there, it will be on to Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction, CO.
Toward the end of the month, project organizers expect the team will have enough time to return through the parks a second time to finish any buildings and other locations they could not get to the first time.
Along the way, the six will learn more about the National Park System in a hands-on laboratory environment. On the weekends, the youth corps members will camp out and hike in the parks, learning “Leave No Trace” land stewardship principles for protecting the natural resources of the outdoors.
This success story is one that has the potential to change the future of many national parks across the entire National Park System by training and employing urban youth from different metropolitan areas and giving those individuals a unique exposure to the wonders of their National Parks,” said Kim Sliniger, ARRA manager for the Intermountian Region of the National Park Service.
“Greening Youth Foundation is excited about its partnership with the National Park Service for the Colorado GREEN Project,” said Angelou Ezeilo, executive director and founder of the foundation. “The GREEN Project will provide 21st-century job skills training to these young adults and expose them to four different national parks. Simply put, this project epitomizes the very reason Greening Youth Foundation was founded: To provide access for diverse youth across the country to the many opportunities that exist in the environmental field.”
Changing light bulbs on this scale – more than 3,000 new ballasts and lamps – is no joke. Before leaving in June for their first stop, the young people spent most of May in the Denver area, where they trained in various OSHA safe-workplace procedures, Operational Leadership and other work skills. Much of their labor will involve climbing ladders and working in tight quarters. In May, the team visited Rocky Mountain National Park outside Estes Park, CO, to do a “dry run” for the lamp-changing project.
The six were chosen from more than 60 applicants in the Denver area and are supervised by two youth corps leaders.
CONTACTS:
– James Doyle, National Park Service: 303-969-2321; 303-594-9309, james_doyle@nps.gov
– Nick Chiles, Greening Youth Foundation: 404-254-4827; 678-333-1424, nchiles@gyfoundation.org
