Green Crew Update

After our project in Wagon Mound ended, the Green Crew had a summer intensive training week which consisted of: hauling and splitting wood; camping and hiking at the Great Sand Dunes National Park; visiting a solar array in Southern Colorado; visiting the Earthship Biotechture visitor center; learning about indoor air quality risks; and Wilderness and Remote First Aid training. Through these trainings and field trips we learned quite a bit about nature, alternative energy, off grid housing, toxic chemicals and head/neck/spine injuries.

Last week Green Crew partnered with Taos County Housing Authority. We've been working with recycled newspaper insulation. It has been hard but rewarding work and its nice to work with non-toxic materials. We have to break down the insulation into fluffy pieces and feed them into the insulation blower machine. Two people must go into the hot, cramped attic spaces and blow a few inches of insulation over the existing insulation. This will save the home heating and cooling energy by increasing the R-value of the insulation. Even though the materials are non-toxic, we have to wear goggles and face masks to prevent the tiny particles from getting into our eyes and lungs. Wearing proper gear does add to the heat factor and makes it little harder to see and breathe. This work definitely makes for a good night's sleep and a clear conscious!

Today is day two of Education Block. Ed Block is one week of intense education and training for all corpsmembers. Yesterday consisted of preparing for life after RMYC, like learning proper interview techniques and setting up our AmeriCorps online accounts to access our scholarships after graduation. My $2700 will go straight towards my existing student loans. Some RMYC graduates will be putting their scholarship towards their first years in college or vocational training. We also discussed the preparation needed for our Presentations of Learning (POL) that we do at graduation. POLs are five minute presentations we do as individuals to explain our experience and growth during the program and to share what our next steps are.
The rest of the day was held at UNM-Taos' campus where we played some icebreaker games, received a self-defense lesson from IMPACT Personal Safety out of Santa Fe, and chose from several breakout sessions like "The Roots of Violence", Media Literacy and a Parenthood Panel. The day ended in the computer lab where we prepared and printed resumes and cover letters.

Stories From Questa

A month and a half into our AmeriCorps term, Crew 11 is working efficiently and steadily towards our summer goals. We have finally reached the bottom of La Junta Trail at Wild Rivers! Awesome, right?! We continue moving rocks and clearing the trail to help hikers navigate a little easier. Looking back on the beginning of the program, we have improved significantly in our communication and teamwork. We're even having more enjoyable conversations with the hikers using the trail than we were at the beginning of the program. We are now a well-oiled machine who also has fun at work!
I'd like to share a couple of stories, one of which is frustrating, another which is hilarious. The crew was all really disappointed the day after we did some cement work on the trail when we found a vandalized inscription, "OSU 2011" etched into the fresh cement. It was really not cool, considering how hard we work! On a lighter notes, one of our fellow crewmembers, Micaela, learned an important lesson when she left her lunch out one afternoon and found that a squirrel actually chewed THROUGH her bag and stole all of her candy!
We continue to grow as a crew and as individuals and continue to make an impact on our community and the environment. One good word that sums up our experience so far: BOOYAH!

MariaElena Martinez, Crew 11, Questa

Fun. Friends. Future.

As the past few weeks have gone by, Questa Crew # 11 have done excellent work on the La Junta Trail. We've been fixing and preparing the trail for the summer hikers to walk down to the river and see the natural beauty of nature. We've installed six water bars, built rock walls and steps along the trail, removed large rocks and smoothed out the trail and making the slope less steep. All of this is to make the trail easier to walk down. The crew has put strength and energy in the creation of this trail and we'll continue to use our skills and teamwork to make it a safe and easy trail. We are making a difference!

Crew 3 Blog 06-30-2011

For the past two months our crew has been in the heat of the Tijeras mountains. We spent our time breaking through solid rock to install ATV barricades and giant information kiosks, as well as putting up thousands of feet of fencing. When we finished with digging holes for 10 hrs. a day we began work on cutting corridor for biking and hiking trails. YIPEE chain saw work again!!!
Finally this week we were once again slaying the White Fir dragons, in their unusually dry dwellings up in the La Jara mountains. Due to fire restrictions we ripped our selves out of bed at 4:00 AM so we could start sawing at first sunlight. We had to shut down at 10:00 am. After sawing in the morning we were able to eat lunch, take a nap, do a training and cook dinner. Thanks to Justin we where able to cook meals in his families cabin near by. Cutting would start at 6:00 pm and go until darkness once again fell on the land.
Unfortunately due to wild fires across New Mexico, Carson national park instituted stage III fire restrictions starting 12:00 on Wednesday night. This means all forest roads are closed and no chain saws in the mountains. So our future work schedules are in the wind. We will keep you in the loop as future projects present themselves.

Green Crew Blog 2/23/11

After the end of our project in Wagon Mound, the Green Crew had a summer intensive training week. The week consisted of hauling and splitting wood, camping and hiking at the sand dunes, and visiting a solar array. We also visited the Earthship visitor center, had a lecture about indoor air quality, and learned wilderness and remote First Aid training. Through the trainings and field trips we learned quite a bit about nature, solar energy, off-grid housing, toxic chemicals, and head, spine, and neck injuries.
This week the green crew is partnered with the Taos County Housing Authority. We've been working with recycled newspaper insulation. The work has been hard and rewarding. Working with non-toxic materials is nice. We have to break the insulation into fluffy pieces and feed them into the insulation blower machine.Two people must go into the hot, cramped attic spaces and blow a few inches of insulation over the existing insulation. The homes will save energy on heating and cooling because of the increased R-value of the insulation. Even though the materials are non-toxic, we still have to wear goggles and face masks to prevent the tiny particles from getting into our eyes and lungs. Wearing the proper gear does add to the heat factor and makes breathing and seeing harder. The work definitely makes for a good night sleep and a clear conscience.

June 20, 2011 - June 23, 2011 Blog! Crew #13

The first day of the third week was freezing cold. Everyone had the chills but at least everyone had a sweater to keep warm. In courtyard number two, we had to finish putting 3 yards of crusher fine. So, Ariana delivered two truck loads of crusher fines and we started to level the crusher fines. We were moving all of the excess dirt to the sagebrush and finished up moving all of the dirt. We started with courtyard number one and we were in teams laying and leveling pavers inside courtyard one. We took the pavers from the helipad area and transported them into the courtyard. Damian, Estella & Amber got plants and weeds from the hospital to decorate and put around the excess dirt. While we were doing our daily PT, a dog named Charlie took and ran off with Joe's lunch! Charlie from Crew #12 ran after the dog. But at least the dog only yook the sandwich bread. Estrella came up with a joke everyone enjoyed. When we can't find an answer or we're stuck at some point, Estrella simply says, "phone a friend, need a lifeline." As soon as we finished courtyard number one, we started in courtyard number three by pulling out weeds and digging a hole for the pond. We dug 6 feet wide and 2 feet deep, but unfortunately the people at the hospital don't want a pond anymore. So we filled up the pond with dirt and made it into a flower bed. We started to plant trees, shrubs, plants, and flowers as well.

TJ - Penasco Crew

In the last 2 weeks I've met new people, along with my crew members meeting new people. I have learned new tools and how the tools work. I have also learned about working as a team. We have been making and cleaning trails for people in and out of the community to use. Our work impacts the community because it makes some outdoor activities like hiking possible for people.

We have come across some challenges like deciding on one idea and a certain way to do something. There has been very very few miscommunications between crew members. We have overcome these kind of things. I am excited about working on new trails and making more paths possible for hikers.