Description
Description of Program and/or Project a. Background: The Tucson Field Office BLM has engaged young adults through Public Lands Corps programs for 6 consecutive years in support of Operation Reclaim Our Arizona Monuments (ROAM). ROAM addresses cross-border smuggling activities (immigrants and drugs) and related impacts to resources on BLM lands in Southern Arizona. Involving youth in on-the-ground restoration stimulates their development and career skills in Natural Resources, Recreation and Visitor Services, Biology, and Environmental Sciences. Participants in the programs have developed skills in site restoration, installation and maintenance of barriers and signs, erosion control, multiple resource monitoring, educational outreach, trail maintenance, and invasive species control and management. Participants also developed skills in team leadership, project coordination (office and field based), database development/reporting, data quality control, field logistics management, field project layout/design, application of land restoration/reclamation techniques, facility maintenance techniques, and volunteer management. Partners include state and federal agencies, NGOs and private landowners. b. Objectives: The principle purpose of the program is to develop collaborative partnerships with organizations to provide internships and Public Lands Corps opportunities for young adults and recent college graduates in order for them to develop and practice resource and recreation management skills such as: 1) Procedures for arid lands restoration. 2) Procedures to implement wildlife, range, and recreation management projects within the BLM. 3) Methods for improving resource management through cooperative efforts. 4) Enhancing management of natural resources. 5) Meeting national expectations for conserving, protecting, and restoring ecosystems and for protecting landscape qualities on National Conservation Lands and other public lands managed in the public trust by the BLM. 6) Understanding of government agency policies and procedures, data collection and management, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS). 7) Methods of inventory and monitoring for natural resources including fish, wildlife, plants, water resources, rangelands, and recreation. 8) Methods and skills for public outreach and education. 9) Risk management: safety assessments and mitigations of risk 10) Skills in developing project plans and implementing management practices The BLM seeks partners for collaboration whose interests are to provide individual placement internships and youth crew Public Land Corps opportunities for young adults to gain work experience in natural and recreation resources management throughout the Bureau of Land Managementâ¿¿s Tucson Field Office, Arizona. The internships would have particular focus on border resources restoration and rehabilitation, (including wildlife habitat restoration) and border cleanup, with additional workload in natural and recreation resource monitoring / data collection and educational outreach. Crew work would focus on specific projects such as fence maintenance or trash cleanups. This collaboration would provide an opportunity for young professionals to obtain training and practical on-the-ground experience in, site restoration, herbicide application, fence construction and maintenance, team leadership, multiple resource monitoring, data collection, data analysis. This collaboration would also provide opportunities for young professionals to work together on specific projects with partners including state and/or federal agencies, NGOs and/or private landowners. The main project consists of individual placement interns patrolling areas subject to illegal smuggling activity to document associated resource damage, and addressing such damage in remote, undeveloped and in urban environments. Youth crew projects would not include patrols; the project work would be specifically defined for the crew beforehand. Activities may include, but are not limited to: detailed and precise documentation of resource damage; developing and implementing plans to address the damage; risk management assessment and mitigation; trash cleanup; installation or repair of barriers, fence, cattle guards; rehabilitation of unauthorized roads; erosion control; installation of signs; project management; coordination of volunteer groups; herbicide application; document and maintain accurate database of accomplishments. Additional workload activities may include, but are not limited to: re-establishment of native species, removal of non-native species, educational outreach public presentations, recreation monitoring, trail maintenance, wildlife monitoring, and weed inventories. Project outcomes may include inventories, reports, complete databases, maps, and ArcGIS shapefiles. Projects take place in desert, riparian, grassland, Wilderness, urban and remote undeveloped environments. For individual placement interns, funds will cover opportunities for external training and certifications (tuition, travel, fees) related to the work (such as Wilderness First Aid, state herbicide applicatorâ¿¿s license, etc.) and Hepatitis immunizations.