Happy Trails: AmeriCorps Ends Busy Two-months at the Presidio with National Trails Day Projects

PRLog (Press Release) - Jun 02, 2010 -
Presidio of San Francisco (June 3, 2010) -- The Presidio Trust is hosting a series of trail and habitat maintenance projects to celebrate National Trails Day, Saturday, June 5 at 9:00am. Volunteers will work alongside park staff and AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team members on a variety of projects along the Ecology and Bay Area Ridge Trails. Activities include trail and landscape maintenance, habitat restoration, and forest stewardship.

The largest celebration of trails in the nation, National Trails Day also marks the culmination of the AmeriCorps team’s two-month stay in the Presidio. Since April, the team has immersed itself in a broad array of projects touching virtually every aspect of Presidio life from building a community garden at the Swords to Plowshares Veterans Academy to expanding and upgrading the Rob Hill Campground and staffing the Presidio’s Energizer Station on Bike to Work Day.

“Working at the Presidio has been such an incredible, life-changing experience,” says Dallas native and AmeriCorps NCCC team leader Philip Haigh. “The sponsor really makes the projects and the Trust has been by far the best sponsor I’ve worked with.”

In the last eight weeks, the eleven member “spike team” made up of young adults from around the country also:

   Removed 51 cubic yards of weeds and invasive plants
   Tended 756 trees in the historic Presidio forest
   Propagated 750 seeds at the Presidio plant nursery
   Planted 304 trees and plants
   Built 24 garden boxes
   Led 262 volunteers

Presidio National Trails Day takes place Saturday, June 5 from 9am to 1pm along the Ecology and Bay Area Ridge Trails. To register call 561-5333 or email volunteer@presidio.gov. To find out about other National Trails Day volunteer opportunities in other parts of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area visit www.parksconservancy.org/calendar.

AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps is a 10-month, full-time team-based residential program for men and women 18 to 24 years old. It partners with non-profit organizations in a mission to strengthen communities and build leaders while addressing natural and other disasters, infrastructure improvement, environmental stewardship and conservation, energy conservation and urban and rural development. For more information about the AmeriCorps NCCC call 1-800-94-ACORP (942-2677) or visit www.americorps.gov/nccc.