{"id":2141,"date":"2024-08-15T16:36:44","date_gmt":"2024-08-15T16:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.westernwildlifecorridor.org\/?p=2141"},"modified":"2024-08-21T08:44:19","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T08:44:19","slug":"summer-of-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westernwildlifecorridor.org\/index.php\/2024\/08\/15\/summer-of-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer of Service"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Written by Tessa Collar and other Elm 5 members\u00a0<\/p>\n

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If you\u2019ve been to Bender Mountain for a hike recently, you might have noticed that there\u00a0are some new trails, switchbacks, and views of the Ohio River along the ridge trail. This work\u00a0was done by Elm 5, an AmeriCorps NCCC Summer of Service team who served with Western\u00a0Wildlife Corridor from June 22nd to August 2nd. The team of 10 worked with Western Wildlife\u00a0director Matt Trokan to improve trail accessibility, by building culverts, installing water bars,\u00a0and completing reroutes. The team also removed invasive honeysuckle, clearing the way for\u00a0native flora and fauna to come back. AmeriCorps NCCC is a federal program that provides\u00a018-26 year olds from across the country the opportunity to serve a community in need in the US.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The NCCC Summer of Service program focuses on addressing environmental stewardship and\u00a0affordable housing issues.\u00a0While serving at WWC, Elm 5 removed 21,825 pounds of non-native, exotic vegetation,\u00a0mainly honeysuckle, from 23.25 acres of Western Wildlife Corridor nature preserves. They also\u00a0constructed 0.44 miles of new, accessible hiking trails by mapping out routes, raking and\u00a0removing vegetation, bench cutting, adding switchbacks, rock structures, and water drainage\u00a0features. In total, four completed reroutes replace old trails that were less accessible due to\u00a0incline and erosion. The team repaired 1.27 miles of existing trails to be more accessible, safer,\u00a0and prevent further erosion of soil and tree roots by adding water bars, rock structures, water\u00a0drainage features, replanting native vegetation, and resurfacing paths. They also installed 14\u00a0water bars, and 19 other rock structures and water drainage features on new and existing trails. In\u00a0total, Elm 5 contributed 2694 hours of direct service this summer, with each Corps Member\u00a0contributing an average of 307.4 service hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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During their time in Cincinnati, the team stayed in the Clifton area where they enjoyed\u00a0close access to the zoo, library, shops, and restaurants during their down time and weekends. Elm\u00a05 enjoyed fireworks at Ault Park on the 4th of July, as well as the Rock and Roll Carnival in\u00a0Northside that weekend. The team explored the Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Zoo,\u00a0Contemporary Arts Center, Newport Aquarium, and Findlay Market. The whole team was new\u00a0to Cincinnati, with members originally from Puerto Rico, New York, Kansas, Idaho, Florida,\u00a0Missouri, New Jersey, Louisiana, Virginia, and North Carolina. Elm 5 found Cincinnati to be a\u00a0welcoming and lively city and were glad to spend the summer in Clifton, downtown, on Bender\u00a0Mountain, and at the Kirby Nature Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Elm 5 members were grateful for the opportunity to have an impact on the community\u00a0and they learned many new things along the way. Team members gained skills including trail\u00a0building, plant identification, water bar installation, patience, communication, leadership, and\u00a0resilience. The team greatly benefitted from the continuous support from Western Wildlife board\u00a0members, director, community members, neighbors, and the Sisters of Charity. These\u00a0experiences, skills, and personal connections will help members throughout their lives as they\u00a0build confidence and enter the workforce, contributing to their sense of direction and purpose.\u00a0Elm 5 would like to extend their thanks to the Western Wildlife Corridor and the city of\u00a0Cincinnati for an unforgettable summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Written by Tessa Collar and other Elm 5 members\u00a0 If you\u2019ve been to Bender Mountain for a hike recently, you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westernwildlifecorridor.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westernwildlifecorridor.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westernwildlifecorridor.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westernwildlifecorridor.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westernwildlifecorridor.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2141"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.westernwildlifecorridor.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2158,"href":"https:\/\/www.westernwildlifecorridor.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2141\/revisions\/2158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westernwildlifecorridor.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westernwildlifecorridor.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westernwildlifecorridor.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westernwildlifecorridor.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}