Conservation Legacy

🐟 Meet Blake Tran, a Conservation Corps New Mexico Individual Placement with the New Mexico Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office!

Blake’s service has included rescuing endangered Rio Grande silvery minnows from drying river sections, monitoring Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker populations, helping move fish above natural barriers so they can spawn, collecting fish data through electrofishing, and confirming the presence of Rio Grande chub at two wildlife refuges.

And he’s picked up plenty of new skills along the way, including fish tagging, research and monitoring, and, perhaps most importantly, successfully backing that trailer into a very tight corner in ONE motion. As Blake put it, “I was really proud of that.” 😂

Now, Blake is sticking around for another six months, with some big projects ahead, including tagging roughly 150,000 Rio Grande silvery minnows and continuing native fish monitoring across the region.

He’s also using his education award to take an ichthyology class and brush up on biostatistics, all while building toward a career in native fish conservation.

We’re excited to see where the next six months take you, Blake!

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

It's and we want to celebrate our participants and partners who are working hard to improve their corners of the country. Thank you for all you do 👏

One effort we want to highlight comes out of Whiskeytown, California. In 2026, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area Whiskeytown National Recreation Area with the support of Stewards Individual Placements and the National Park Foundation, hosted three Wildfire Recovery Assistants.

Individual Placements Brynn Messersmith, Stella Mercer, and Sam Paker have played a critical role in Whiskeytown’s habitat recovery following the 2018 Carr Fire, which burned 97% of the National Park Unit. Their work has included invasive species management, native seed collection and restoration, historic landscape and orchard restoration, and fuels reduction.

With service continuing into 2027, the trio has completed 18 invasive species surveys and 118 treatments, mapping 136 populations across more than 60 acres of bulldozer lines, handlines, fire scars, and other areas impacted by wildfires over the past decade.

Thank you, Brynn, Stella, and Sam, for your continued effort and the lasting impact you’re making on habitat recovery at Whiskeytown!

🎉 The Conservation Legacy Story Contest is BACK for 2026! 🎉

Got a hitch story you still think about? A service experience that changed you? A journal entry, poem, song, sketch, photo, video, or other creative work that captures your time with Conservation Legacy?

We want to see it!

The Story Contest is open to current members, alumni, and staff, and last year we received more than 25 entries from across our community. We’re excited to see what you create and share this year!

Prizes from our friend at Parks Project for first, second and third place entries! 🏆

🗓️ Contest opens October 1st and runs through December 1st. Send your submissions to: [email protected]

Start digging through those old journals, camera rolls, and field memories now! 👀

WE ❤️ PUBLIC LANDS

Whether we’re serving or recreating, we’re lucky to spend time in the beautiful places we all share. So this we hope you get outside, take the scenic route, and enjoy a little time on our public lands. 🏔️

Massive shoutout to the real MVPs: our members and partners who show up every day to care for, protect, and support these special places. 🌎


National Environmental Education Foundation - NEEF

As we approach September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, we invite you to honor the day by finding a way to serve your community—whether that’s through a local cleanup, supporting neighbors, helping veterans, or volunteering with an organization near you. Moments of service create opportunities for people from all backgrounds to connect, work alongside one another, and make a positive difference together.

Find a volunteer opportunity near you at the 911day.org website and join millions of people coming together through service and remembrance.

9/11 Day, AmeriCorps

Celebrating our Summer Associate VISTAs!🌟

This summer, five AmeriCorps VISTA members supported Conservation Legacy and our programs across the country, bringing their creativity, skills, and passion for service to a variety of projects.

From sharing corps member stories and building communications resources, to creating professional development tools and gathering alumni insights, Elena DeWees (Conservation Corps New Mexico) Alayna Moore (Conservation Corps North Carolina) Wei Lambert (Southwest Conservation Corps) Matthew Bennett (Stewards Individual Placements) and Julianne Hudson (Conservation Legacy) each made a meaningful contribution during their service.

A huge thank you to these VISTAs for their dedication, energy, and commitment to strengthening our programs and communities. You truly left our organization better than you found it!

When wildfire changes a landscape, recovery takes time, teamwork, and dedicated hands.🌲

In the aftermath of the Dragon Bravo Fire, Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps crews are working alongside land managers to help restore North Canyon on the Kaibab National Forest—building erosion control structures, protecting waterways, and supporting the long-term recovery of this unique ecosystem.

Learn more about the restoration work and the crews helping this landscape heal: https://ow.ly/NU4R50ZIgvS

📸 Photos by Mark Henle/The Republic

azcentral, U.S. Forest Service

What happens to wood that can’t be sold after a forest thinning project? Through Wood for Life, it can become a critical source of heat for Native families across the Four Corners region (AZ, NM, CO, UT).

The Colorado Sun recently highlighted this incredible program, including the work of Southwest Conservation Corps crews who help collect and deliver firewood to tribal communities. Last year alone, Wood for Life sent roughly 2,100 cords (a measure of cut wood) from the San Juan National Forest to tribal members in the region.

We’re proud to be part of a partnership that connects healthy forests, wildfire mitigation, conservation crews, and community needs.

Thanks to The Colorado Sun for telling this story!

National Forest Foundation, Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps