Teens spend summer working at forest preserves

Beth Gwaltney wasn't about to spend her summer bagging groceries at a local supermarket.

The 16-year-old from Lake Villa wanted to work outdoors in the sun.

So for the past month, she's gotten up each day about dawn and headed to Grant Woods Forest Preserve near Lake Villa, where she and other teens with Lake County's Youth Conservation Corps are building a 100-foot-long, pine boardwalk -- by hand.

And it couldn't be a better experience.

"I love being outside," the incoming junior at Grayslake North High School explained Wednesday during a brief work break. "It's a great way not to waste my summer."

Thirty-six Lake County teens, ages 16 to 18, are participating in the eight-week paid program, which concludes this week. They've worked on more than a dozen construction, restoration and maintenance projects, providing the county's forest district with much-appreciated assistance.

"We try to pick projects that really will make a difference in the forest preserves to the users," forest district Executive Director Tom Hahn said. "It is a big help."

The conservation corps was founded as a federally funded program in 1974. Local businesses took over funding the effort in the 1980s when federal money dried up.

Although it has year-round programs, the agency's partnership with the forest district always is a summertime affair. This summer, six crews overseen by district staff built the boardwalk at Grant Woods, cleared the trails at Lakewood Forest Preserve's dog exercise area near Wauconda, established a wood chip trail at the Nippersink preserve near Round Lake and completed other tasks.

"We try to break it up as much as we can and give everybody a variety (of projects) so they see different aspects of what it takes to manage public land," said Mike Tully, the forest district's director of operations and public safety.

Projects typically take one to four weeks to complete, but some last the full eight, said Tully, who worked in the conservation corps as a college student in 1989.

About 300 teens apply for the 30-or-so summertime slots every year. Many stay aboard for a few summers, officials said.

Shawna Roberts, a 17-year-old from Lake Villa, was part of Gwaltney's crew and feels she accomplished something important. She even plans to take her parents to the Grant Woods boardwalk to show off her handiwork.

"It's really awesome," she said of her group's efforts. "This is what I did."

Hahn hopes that enthusiasm leads the teens to environmental activism and even nature-related careers.

"I want to get young people involved in the environment and (teach them) why we do what we do," Hahn said. "And this is the way to do it."