Expo Neighbors Environmental Group

Public Land Corp Grants Awarded

Jul 03, 2002

NPS Public Land Corps Grants Awarded
Expo Neighbors Association, a member of the NPCA Los Angeles Community Partners (LACP), was recently awarded two Public Land Corps (PLC) Grants. The Expo Rangers (a youth program of Expo Neighbors Association) is a spinoff of the NPCA Junior Ranger Program (implemented by the LACP with funding from the Sierra Club Youth in Wilderness Foundation). Patrick McCullough, founder of Expo Neighbors Association, teamed up with Gregory Lee (LA Geographical Society, an LACP member) to launch the Jr. Ranger Pilot Program using curricular materials developed by Lee.

In Spring 2002, National Park Service (NPS) officials at Manzanar National Historic Site confirmed an $18,000 PLC grant to perform a GPS survey and related site mitigation planning and implementation work. A few weeks later, NPS officials at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area confirmed a $17,000 PLC grant to perfom trail maintenance surveys and related field work.

Expo Rangers are mostly students aged 16-26. They will be paid $6.75/hour to do this work.
In addition, they get:
?• on the job training using a Trimble GeoExplorer 3 GPS unit;
?• exposure to other fieldwork applicable to entry-level NPS jobs;
?• NPS career/job orientation;
?• transportation to and from the work site and the Expo neighborhood;
?• camping (you need to have a tent and sleeping bag);
?• meals provided;
?• abundant free air, starry skies, sunshine, natural scenery;
?• outdoor geography and environmental education lessons.

Following their LACP collaborations, McCullough and Lee co-founded Earth Systems Science, Inc. (ESSI), a non-profit organization piloting community-based environmental education for urban families and sustainable neighborhoods. Lee?’s pragmatic, environmental, job skills curricular orientation used in the LACP Jr. Ranger Pilot Program are integral to all ESSI programs. ESSI will provide the basic environmental and technical training components for the Expo Rangers PLC projects.

Interested Los Angeles youth (aged 16-26) may apply to become an Expo Ranger by contacting the Expo Neighbors Association. Applications are being accepted for interested neighborhood youth.
FFI: Patrick McCullough, (323) 731-0323; niteprss@pacbell.net

Partners in Progress
Both the Expo Neighbors Association and Earth Systems Science, Inc. are members of the
National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) local affiliate group the Los Angeles Community
Partners (LACP). The LACP is committed to implementing the NPCA Cultural Diversity Initiative
through local activities ?“connecting all people to all parks through education, outreach, employment, volunteerism, and access to resources.?”