Summer's coming … and the forest preserve has jobs to fill

OK, let's have a show of hands. Who is tired of the snow?

Perhaps it would be easier to count all those who are not tired of the over six feet that have pummeled us this winter (snow bunnies don't get a vote; they don't have to drive in this muck). In fact, many of us are probably waxing nostalgic these days about the lazy, hazy (read: humid) "dayz" of summer and would no doubt gladly trade an afternoon of that for some of this black ice which we currently have in abundance.

Though it may not seem like it, in reality, summer is just around the corner and organizations like the Lake County Forest Preserve District are already planning ahead by holding job fairs to staff major establishments around the county.

Though the work will hardly be a "cakewalk," it does present opportunities to stretch the mind and tire the back while concurrently doing something for the environment and maybe even leaving one's mark -- an attractive alternative to flipping burgers, which is hardly a draw on a muggy summer's day.

"The forest preserve is a great place to work. There are a lot of very unique projects to get involved in and the people who work for us truly love what they do," said Laurel Diver, the Lake County Forest Preserve District human resources generalist. In fact, the cross-section of people who do work for the preserve is rather wide, ranging from high school and college students, to seniors and even teachers.

This year, the forest preserve is looking to fill about 150 paid temporary positions from golf club coordinators at Countryside Golf Club in Mundelein, Brae Loch in Grayslake and ThunderHawk Golf Club in Beach Park; to environmental education instructors for the Ryerson Conservation Area in Ryerson Woods in Riverwoods; and even lifeguards and marina attendants for Independence Grove in Libertyville.

The positions are listed in detail on their Web site, with most posts starting at $9/hour and going up to well over $11.

One of the leading programs offered by the District is sponsored by the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), a summer program designed to employ youth in natural resources-related projects.

From a pool of over 350 applicants, the county hires about 40 individuals who are selected 100 percent by a lottery. An equal number of males and females are drawn in the month of May and then grouped into teams, or corps, which then work on a variety of projects throughout the preserves from planting flowers to building trail bridges.

While the age of the applicants ranges from 16-24, the surprising fact is that these young men and women actually offer to do these jobs rather than spend their summer, say, catching rays by the pool. "We ask them to be at work by 6:30 a.m. but then we tell them that we are going to let them out by 3 p.m. so that they can still lay out by the pool," said YCC Executive Director Bob McCammon.

The answer as to the "why" of it may lie partly in economics. According to Diver, some of the youth who apply for these positions are not eligible for scholarships when they go to college, so the money they earn helps to offset some of their costs. However, there may be factors far beyond the financial to consider, as well.

"The work we do for the forest preserve is very rewarding because people can bring their children out 20 years later and say, 'Look, I helped build that bridge' or 'see that beautiful prairie with the wild flowers, I planted that 20 years ago.' So it's like they are building a monument to the summer that they had in high school," McCammon said.

For more information go to: www.lcfpd.org or www.youthconservation.org.