Team of Volunteers Helps Land Trust Clear a New Trail

By Susannah Wood

The weather forecast was for hot and sticky all week, but the six lean and fit members of the Buffalo 5 Team came into town ready to do all the tasks the Norfolk Land Trust put in front of them: drainage work, installing bog bridges, clearing a new loop on the Pine Mountain Preserve. On the day this reporter worked with them, we spent about seven hours clipping, sawing and clearing the East Ridge Trail into being on Pine Mountain in 90-degree heat. No one asked to stop early, whatever he or she might have been thinking.

Sponsored by the Torrington Area Health District Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), AmeriCorps has come to Norfolk for five summers running to help the Norfolk Land Trust. An intern from the MRC, Zach Gordon, pitched in too, making sure the team stayed well hydrated and taking a hand in the trail work. Gordon also roped in his cousin, who just happened to be visiting.

AmeriCorps is a federally funded volunteer program with an array of different divisions under one umbrella, including VISTA, FEMA Corps, AmeriCorps State and National and the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC). The Buffalo 5 Team is part of the NCCC, the 21st-century descendant of the Civilian Conservation Corps. It places young people from the ages of 18 to 24 into small teams of eight to ten that train and work together over the course of 10 months, from February to November. (Other AmeriCorps programs welcome older participants as well.)

Traveling from Maryland to as far north as Maine, Buffalo 5 has constructed Habitat for Humanity houses, removed graffiti, conducted lead paint surveys, distributed food, shoveled snow in Buffalo and done a lot of trail work in their standard-issue, thick-soled black boots. Each year regional organizations such as Torrington Area Health District MRC apply to AmeriCorps for a team to come to their area and then link the team with local organizations such as the Norfolk Land Trust. Other projects for this team in Litchfield County included holding workshops for schoolchildren on good nutrition and fitness, a prime objective of the Torrington MRC, acting as patients for EMT trainees and spending a week each with the Cornwall Conservation Trust and the White Memorial Conservation Center.

Coming from Texas, Wisconsin, Maryland, North Carolina and Florida, the volunteers had a varied set of reasons for signing up with AmeriCorps. Some weren’t sure about their next move. Adam Mueller, with a B.A. in anthropology, knows he wants to do some kind of nonprofit work but liked the idea of a program that would offer many different experiences to help him choose an area of interest. Others, like Marques Cave, Matthew Koelsch and Joanna Planck, are trying to decide whether college is a good choice for them and, if so, what they might study. Last year Koelsch worked answering phone calls for FEMA Corps during an unusually quiet season. This year he wanted to do something more active. Kellen Lamp, who has a B.A. in environmental studies, signed on to get field experience on his resume. The group is lead by Robin Savage, who radiates a calm self-assurance that makes her seem older than her 22 years. Having received an associate degree in biological sciences, she is considering further study. Her stint with AmeriCorps has strengthened her interest in field research.

A volunteer who successfully completes the 10 months is eligible for an education award that is the same amount as the maximum Pell Grant for the year ($5,775 for the year 2015–16), a substantial financial incentive. The money can be used for future tuition or to repay college loans. Some colleges offer matching scholarships to AmeriCorps alumni, recognizing that they tend to become successful students.

The Norfolk team was quartered in a dormitory at White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield, where earlier in the month they rebuilt a wetland boardwalk. AmeriCorps gives each volunteer a $4,000 living allowance, as well as housing, food, some medical coverage and uniforms, including those very serious black boots, which they were happy to have on the rocky terrain of Pine Mountain. The group pools its food allowance, cooking and making their meals together, just one part of a program that fosters cooperation, endurance and persistence—not bad tools to have at hand.

Members of the Buffalo 5 Team, above, take a quick breather from their work on Pine Mountain. From left to right: Robin Savage, Zach’s cousin, Zach Gordon, Marques Cave, Matthew Koelsch, Kellen Lamp, Joanna Planck and Adam Mueller. Photo by Susannah Wood.