Stewardship Opportunities with The SCA

The SCA has 8 crews in the Chicagoland area this summer and I was able to meet up with 4 of them to photograph their hard work in conservation. The SCA Chicago Program provides year-round conservation opportunities divided into two seasons: school-year programs (running October through May) and summer programs (running July through August). Student crews work about 28 hours per week and earn as they learn and put conservation into action.

There are students crews and 2 adults crews and the Williams-Powers Crew is a 13 student crew with 3 leaders that was working on transplanting native plants to make a walk way in front of the nature center. They also were learning more about bird surveying later this day and had spent half a day at a museum in Chicago the day before. These opportunities to learn about conservation and wildlife education are what many of the students I spoke to value so much abut this opportunity this summer. The students also showed off a peninsula on the lake they spent 4-5 weeks clearing from evasive buckthorn. “Before we started you could not even see across the water and now you can see everything,” one student shared with pride. The SCA has many partnerships including one with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and seeks to maintain green spaces, learn trail restoration techniques, access educational opportunities to empower the next generation of conservation leaders, and develop leadership skills.

“Our crews are not just about raising awareness but they are for more; teaching young people to feel empowered to engage with green spaces and provide stewardship opportunities to share with others and invite students to be active in conservation,” Diane Ramirez, The SCA Chicago Program Coordinator shared the vision for the good work The SCA is doing with students.

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