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Happy & Proud

Conservation champions

At Al Kennedy High School, students that work with Kennedy Conservation Corps [KCC]  have worked at Quamash Prairie every Wednesday in the school year since 2010. Quamash Prairie is Lane County Waste Management’s wetland mitigation site. It was created to replace wetlands that have been destroyed due to the construction of Short Mountain Landfill and other county developments. At Quamash Prairie participating students learn the three basic functions of a wetland, how Lane County manages its landfill, how Lane County complies with the Clean Water Act and they assist in the practical aspects of managing a wetland and lowland hardwood forest. Students are employed there on a service learning grant, and earn an hourly wage, along with earning credit.  

We are currently burning the trees brought down by last year’s ice storm in kilns to create Biochar to be used to increase the amount of carbon in the wetland soils. There are two more branches of Kennedy Conservation Corps at Al Kennedy High School.   One  works for three hours on Fridays at the school maintaining the school grounds and garden. The other crew works for a full day on Fridays on projects off site. These projects include restoring native prairie ecosystems, for the Army Corps of Engineers, by planting native wildflowers and eradicating noxious weeds in places like Bake Stewart Park. KCC manages the vegetation on the Bureau of Land Management's section of the  bike path. Periodically KCC has worked to manage the grounds at Great Days Early Learning Center.

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