Tree Care Academy Being Used to Train Young Adults in Minnesota

摘要

Anders Oredson was on his way to get a hydrant permit from the city water department when TCI Magazine tracked him down in early April. Oredson manages the Young Adult Conservation Corps, one of the non-profit arms of the Tree Trust located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Tree Trust Landscape Services, a for-profit arm of the Tree Trust, is a TCIA member company.The Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC) helps to maintain a 55-mile-long former railroad corridor that is a popular recreational trail for hikers and bikers in Hennepin County. The clearing is 50-100 feet wide, "so there's lots to do," says Oredson. That includes watering about 1,000-2,000 trees. Hence the trip to get the hydrant permit, in which he succeeded.Tree Trust was created in 1976 to address two problems: the devastation of the urban tree canopy due to Dutch elm disease, and high unemployment and poverty rates for youth and adults. "We began combating these issues by hiring unemployed individuals and training them to plant trees and reforest the Twin Cities," according to their history statement. They have since expanded to offer integrated employment training, case management, community forestry and environmental education programs.