It was 1994, and I was sitting at my desk in Huntsville, Alabama, for the last time as Command Sergeant, when a news reporter asked me what I was going to do in my retirement from the U.S. Army. I had served in more than 10 countries around the world, and witnessed at least as many major shifts in the global political scene; I had joined the Army out of an Oregon state camp for youth offenders; I had come a long way from Klamath Falls, Oregon, where at one time my name in the paper was most likely an indication of another kid in trouble.

In answer to the reporter’s question about my future, I told him that was easy, “I am going home to Oregon to work with kids.”

When I got back to Oregon, the logistics became a bit more difficult. While working with kids on probation and in detention, I began to feel that the system was missing something. My Central Oregon office boasted magnificent mountain and grand forest views. In my spare time, I hiked the hills and fished the rivers. But the kids I was working with had never been on a hike and couldn’t seem to look up from their daily strife long enough to admire the view.

In 2000, some colleagues and I took a chance. We believed that the ancient connection between human beings and their environment could be a pathway out of crime and delinquency for some kids. So, we founded Heart of Oregon Corps (HOC), a nonprofit agency that works exclusively with youth to connect them to our region's natural resources and beauty, and give them incentives to use their time productively in the service of others.

With the help of foundations across the Northwest, including the National Forest Foundation (NFF), HOC re-enrolls dropouts and other youth in an alternative school and provides the kids with work and learning opportunities in the natural environment. Such experiences range from fuels reduction projects to riparian and trail maintenance in a number of area National Forests. Youth earn minimum wage and school credits in our “work, earn and learn” program. We operate three youth ‘crews’ year round, including a special summer program that served 130 kids in the summer of 2004. One important aspect of this program is building youth crews comprised of both at-risk youth and peers considered to be good students who are also pursuing vocational goals in environmental fields. By creating these blended crews, there is an opportunity for at-risk youth to be mentored in age-appropriate behavior and goals.

For those suspicious about the benefit of putting hundreds of at-risk kids in our National Forests, the Crooked River National Grasslands project, supported for three years by NFF, should change your mind.

The Crooked River National Grassland, adjacent to both the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests (comprising 2.5 million acres) represents the majesty and fragility of Central Oregon_s rich natural habitat, wildlife and recreation. Quail, antelope, and deer roam the grasslands. People come here to hike, fish, camp, watch wildlife and horseback ride. Two Wild and Scenic Rivers -- the Deschutes and Crooked Rivers -- also weave their way through parts of the Grasslands.

In 2001, the Grasslands and HOC formed a partnership to protect, preserve and strengthen the area, as Ochoco National Forest funds were insufficient to complete the necessary work. Together, the partnership managed the proliferation of Juniper trees that encroached on sage habitat; reduced noxious weeds; maintained water guzzlers and troughs for migrating and roaming wildlife; built and maintained fences for riparian enclosures, and performed general site stewardship‹recording, photographing, monitoring for vandalism, etc.

Where federal funding was scarce, central Oregon’s youth helped to fill the need. In 2003, the project employed and trained 23 youth, with 22 completing the project. These youth piled approximately 200 acres of eradicated juniper, pulled 150 bags of noxious weeds, removed protective sapling tubing from more than 50 acres, improved five miles of fencing to provide better winter antelope access, collected seeds and measured and recorded water levels and wildlife sightings.

The contribution of this work in the hundreds of hot, summer hours spent by regional youth, and the adults that mentored them, is self-evident. Maintaining this project is necessary if we are to continue to provide recreational and environmental needs in our community. What makes the Grasslands project all the more remarkable is that it was completed by some kids not formerly viewed (by themselves or others) as productive community members. It is only when youth themselves become stewards‹actively protecting and joining others to protect the community -- that success is achieved in breaking the delinquency cycle.

During the past three summers, there were many opportunities for youth working on this project to quit and return to the nearest couch and television. Digging, dragging, hammering and shoveling in 90-plus-degree heat is a lot to ask. The true reward is seeing these youth complete these tasks willingly, with faces shining equally of sweat and awe, realizing that this opportunity was in their backyard all along. When I work with these kids, I know I am looking at the next generation of outdoor stewards.