Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve
Youth Programs
All youth programs in Wrangell St Elias National Park address the question "How can students become environmental stewards if they don't learn to love the place first?" by engaging youth in programs that combine work with learning environmental awareness at the same time. For more information about these programs, contact Glen Hart.
Wrangell St Elias National Park has three work programs and one outreach environmental program that is a shared project with a number of partners. The three work programs are the Student Conservation Association (SCA), the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), and the Youth Partnership Program (YPP). The SCA student is directly involved in working with the YCC program. |
Students in the YCC program are provided an experience in all divisions within the park. Two weeks of their 10 week program consists of an orientation of the park and road system between Copper Center, Denali, Fairbanks, Tok, the Kenai peninsula and the town of Seward. There, they visit the SeaLife center, Exit Glacier/Kenai Fjords, and take a tour boat ride in Resurrection Bay. The second week is spent exploring the park from Kennecott to Nabesna.
Students in the YPP also participate in the two week orientation and then work in the Ahtna Cultural Center here at the park's main visitor center complex. |
The Copper River Stewardship Program is a 10 day program targeting high school age students from the copper basin and Cordova. Five from each area are brought together and provided a jam-packed curriculum of watershed activities and classes. All classes are outdoors and culminate in a 5 day rafting trip on the Copper River from Chitina to Flag Point, just outside Cordova. Participants meet with representatives from a wide range of fields and perspectives along the way, learning about what makes this watershed so special, as well as the challenges the region faces. After completing their journey, participants create a unique project to share their experience with others.