Pages

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

When You Want It Done Right, Call the CCC’s

Rain.  All day.  Rain.  And in the off-leash dog park at El Chorro Park, piles of mulch and wood chips. all generously donated by Davey Tree Service, Greenvale Tree Company, Coastal Tree Experts and the County tree crews.  Piles and piles.  Huge behemoths, mountain high piles as far as the eye can see.  All of which had to be spread over the ground of the dog park.

And standing there with a few pitchforks were a handful of dog park volunteers.  Dismayed.  Overwhelmed by the mountains of mulch when, suddenly, the white CCC van pulled into the parking lot.  And out piled 15 young professionals, dressed in bright rain slickers, who unpacked their equipment, and with nary a word started in to work.

CCC at dog park 007

THE CAVALRY HAD ARRIVED!

CCC at dog park 008

Modeled after the original federal Conservation Corps in 1933, the California Conservation Corps was signed into law in 1976 by then-Governor Brown who envisioned the Corps as “a combination Jesuit Seminary, Israeli kibbutz and Marine Corps boot camp.”

CCC at dog park 009

The Corps became a permanent state department in 1983 and the young men and women have been living up to its motto ever since: "Hard work, low pay, and miserable conditions.”

CCC at dog park 006

Which, of course, results in fabulous conservation work all over the state.  Our local Los Padres Corps, with Meggan Gehring as the team leader, is located at Camp San Luis and is constantly involved throughout the county in trail rehabilitation and construction, fire hazard reduction, tree and  native plant restoration, park development and watershed work at the Morro Bay Estuary. So, when you see the C’s at work, honk and wave, or stop and say Thank You.  They’re making your public places beautiful.

CCC at dog park 010

By the end of the afternoon, the results were in: 130++ cubic yards of wood chips spread and a total of 110 hours of volunteer time put in to keep the dog park up and running and ready public use for another year.

El Chorro Dog Park was built 11 years ago and is maintained by SLO-4-PUPs and all the wonderful volunteers who do the hard work involved in keeping it so beautiful.  And this workday was no exception, except everyone went above and beyond duty, including Karyn, who replaced some of the damaged boards on the picnic tables, a tricky job even in dry weather.  And our wonderful volunteer mulch hurlers:

CCC at dog park 017Addie

CCC at dog park 018Wes and Valerie
CCC at dog park 019Trevor

And one Inspector General reviewing the work.  The ever loyal  . . . and very wet . . . Lucky

CCC at dog park 013

A big thank you to everyone.  And if you haven’t visited the El Chorro Do Park, stop by.  You’ll see what wonderful things can be accomplished with a whole lot of helping hands.

3 comments:

Caroline said...

I love the C.C.C's and this article
was terrific. Caroline

Alon Perlman said...

The CCC do arrive in mass, they are a pleasure to behold in their heavy brown uniforms, polite and hardworking.

In their hard working conditions is included "regular exposure to poison oak"
On the occasions I met them, I also met their elder leaders. One close to retiring and a barracks overseer (Ray?). I may had not met Meghan. They completed the Rose Bowker Grove at Elfin Forrest, and major cleanups at Sweet Springs preserve. Whenever they are there, the core collects a fee, so it is appropriate to also thank whoever donated and those who dedicate their time to fundraising or to applying for grants.

Churadogs said...

They are a wonderful organization and a great bunch of kids, that's for sure! God bless the C's.