Job Corps, HistoriCorps partnership preserves historic Longbow Organization Camp

COLORADO – Through a unique partnership funded through an agreement with the Forest Service, the Job Corps program is collaborating with HistoriCorps to improve national forest recreation sites through hands-on preservation training. Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center students will work with HistoriCorps’ seasoned professionals to learn preservation skills and put those skills to work saving these historic places.

Over three weeks in April, Angell and Wolf Creek Job Corps students in the carpentry, bricklaying, masonry and facilities maintenance trades completed work at the Longbow Organization Camp, constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, on Willamette National Forest. The camp consists of sleeping and cooking facilities and an outdoor amphitheater. Timberlake Job Corps staff provided additional oversight of the project.

“This partnership will give students the opportunity to build skills in historic preservation while saving long-loved recreational facilities in our national forests across the country,” said Jason Whitehead, director of operations at HistoriCorps.

Using hand tools such as drawknifes and sourcing building materials from the local woods, students learned traditional methods to repair and preserve Longbow’s log structures. The crew also cleared vegetation, repointed a fireplace, constructed a fire ring using rocks for a nearby river and conducted general maintenance work.

Not only did the students learn construction techniques and preservation skills, they also developed their project management skills. “The day we assembled and erected the Longbow sign was probably our most satisfying day of work,” said carpentry student Andie Beltran. “The hard part came when we needed to lift over 300 pounds of log with short people. We couldn’t hoist it or pull it due to not having a high point anchor.” After scratching their heads for an hour, the team came up with the idea of digging out the post holes to a 45-degree angle that allowed the post to slide in. They hoisted it up using the momentum. Their creative problem solving allowed them to overcome their physical limitations and accomplish this feat on the first try.

The Longbow project is the first of five projects that HistoriCorps and the Civilian Conservation Centers will embark on this year. In addition to Longbow, in the coming months, Job Corps students will help restore the Teppee Work Center on Black Hills National Forest, Santiam Pass Ski Lodge on the Willamette National Forest,International Order of Odd Fellows Cabins on Deschutes National Forest, and the Forest Lodge on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

These historic preservation projects are another example of how Forest Service Job Corps students support and conduct work that enhances the nation’s public lands while providing leading-edge social, educational, and conservation training and pathways to prosperity for youth. Their efforts directly support Forest Service out-come oriented goals of delivering benefits to the public and excelling as a high-performing agency while sustaining our nation’s forests and grasslands.

Angell Job Corps brick masonry student Eric Avalos constructed a traditional fire ring from river rock sourced from a nearby stream at the Longbow Organization Camp on the Willamette National Forest USDA Forest Service photo by Susan Mann.

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