As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Monticello Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management has a cooperative agreement with the Canyon Country Youth Corps (CCYC) to facilitate the implementation of the newly approved Resource Management Plan (approved November 2008).

The CCYC crews are made up of a wide diversity of members. Some have come as far away as Connecticut, some from the Navajo Reservation and several from Monticello. The educational background is just a varied: from home-schooled to college graduates.

Each four member crew has one crew leader and three crew members. Their main focus has been constructing kiosks to display information for those visiting the public lands and constructing fences. Rehabilitating disturbed areas is another task they are performing.

The work and living conditions are quite new to most of the crew members. Some have never been to Utah, have never been camping and have never constructed fencing or used basic hand tools and power tools.

“I hope that each crew member will learn some of the basics needed in order to use most common hand tools and be able to perform minor construction when their employment ends,” says BLM employee Bob Leaver. “We’ve had to adapt a bit while installing kiosks and signs in some very remote locations within the Monticello BLM Field Office,”

Leaver added. “It is hard work and we focus on safety. But there are opportunities to have fun and to see some of the beautiful resources found San Juan County.”