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Youth group celebrates 25 years of public land projects

Jun 24, 2024

CODY, Wyo. – The Bureau of Land Management Cody Field Office hosted the Conservation Outdoor Recreation Education (CORE) youth group for another rewarding week of public land stewardship projects in the northern Bighorn Basin.

For a quarter century, the BLM has maintained a partnership with the non-profit Self Help Center of Casper. The goal of the Center’s CORE program is to connect disadvantaged, at-risk and special-needs youths to the outdoors through volunteerism and teamwork at recreation sites. For most participants, a tour with CORE is their first time hiking, camping and disconnecting from technology for an extended period of time.

A group of about 20 kids and adults gather for a photo in front of scenic steep cliffs and green trees. — The CORE group and BLM Cody Field Office staff gather for a photo at the Five Springs Falls Campground.

Victor Orr, Violence Prevention Coordinator for the Center, leads the group of 8–18-year-olds throughout Wyoming, tackling important projects with the BLM, U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service to improve federal lands. Orr was impressed with this year’s group.

“I see changes in these kids over the course of one week,” said Orr. “It’s neat when they pull together and get things done. And it’s not easy.”

The group set up camp at the BLM-administered Five Springs Falls Campground east of Lovell. While there, the kids expanded and improved a group campsite, removed dead trees, cleaned out fire rings, sanded and painted trashcans, trimmed vegetation, cleaned the vault toilets, and resurfaced campsites and trails with gravel.

Two people use a drill to attach a campsite number to a wooden post. — The CORE kids assisted the BLM with many campsite improvements, including adding wooden post with campsite numbers to the campsites.

Eleven-year-old Dyllon was inspired by his mother who was a previous CORE participant.

“The best part about it is working with all the people we get to work with,” said Dyllon. “It’s fun and I wanted to do it again.”

A person wearing gloves, sunglasses and a ballcap crouches on the ground as he works to place a wooden post, or ballast, along the perimeter of a campsite. — The CORE group expanded and improved a group campsite at the Five Springs Falls Campground.

In addition to the work at Five Springs Falls, the CORE kids were able to conduct an official paleontological survey at nearby Rainbow Canyon. Walking slowly and trying to stay in a line, the group surveyed about fifty feet on either side of a centerline, looking on the ground for anything that might be a fossilized bone or tooth.

“While the kids found lots of things that looked like fossils but weren’t, they did find trace fossils, ripple marks and other cool sedimentary structures,” said Cody Field Office Geologist Gretchen Hurley, who led the survey.

The find of the day was a large, fossilized branch or root encased in an ironstone concretion.

“It was great to have their help surveying the trail, and excellent to meet the kids and their trip leaders,” said Hurley.

A child and an adult point to something they see on the ground in an open landscape with scenic mountains in the background. — New this year, the CORE kids were able to conduct a paleontological survey on public land at Rainbow Canyon, just west of the Five Springs Falls Campground.

For more information about the CORE group, or volunteering on public lands in the Cody area, please contact the BLM Cody Field Office at 307-578-5900.

Story by:

Sarah Beckwith, Public Affairs

Blog Topic:

Youth and Educators

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