Biochar

Ok, I'm really sorry it's been so long since I've posted here. I have no excuse, really, except to say that the longer it got, the more daunting a task it seemed to 'catch up' with my blogging. So I've decided to pick up with today and maybe, eventually I'll go back and fill in the last few months. And if not, I guess you'll actually have to talk to me to find out what's happened.

Yesterday my colleagues from the Jefferson Conservation District and I went to see the new biochar machine we are looking into purchasing through a NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) Conservation and Innovation Grant (CIG). Biochar is a kind of charcoal that is created by, simply, putting a lot of pressure on wood chips. It is a great opportunity in conjunction with our forest management work because it allows the leftover wood from trees that were cut down to be put to good use. The biochar sequesters carbon and has been shown to be hugely effective as a soil supplement, like compost. Additionally, the machine we are looking at has the potential to create energy, meaning that, if used properly, it can have nearly zero net use of energy and carbon. Very cool.

This was the first time any of us had seen a biochar machine in action and we all felt a little like the kids visiting Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. In addition to being excited about a new toy, the machine functioned like that giant machine Willy Wonka uses to create the tiny piece of dinner gum (you know, the one that turns Violet violet). The wood went in to this behemoth of a machine and then all you hear are these gears creaking somewhere in the depths of the machine, some banging and, finally, the clunk clunk clunk of these small wooden biochar pieces falling to the end. Cool, but strange. And to think it might soon be ours.

Estes Park

Last Monday and Tuesday I attended the Colorado Statewide AmeriCorps Conference in Estes Park (right outside Rocky Mountain National Park). I did not have high expectations for the conference - these things generally feel like Kool-Aid drinking cult meetings.

However, I was pleasantly surprised that the conference was not that bad. The sessions themselves were very average, but could have been much worse when you consider that all the participants do very different work and have very different interests. We learned about the different programs associated with AmeriCorps, different leadership styles, identifying likes/dislikes about your workplace and resume writing (ok, that one was bad...and the trainer said some things I really disagree with). We also had the chance to build a trail for the YMCA, which was fun despite the drizzle.

The best part of the conference was reuniting with people I met in Albuquerque. When we all met for the first time, everyone was trying to acclimate to new cities, new jobs, new roommates, the AmeriCorps stipend, etc. I thought I was terrible because I did not stay in touch but, as it turns out, no one really did. This conference gave us the opportunity to meet again, now that we are settling in to our daily routines.

One of the hardest things about living in a new city and working in a very small office has been finding opportunities to meet new people. Having two days to play in the mountains with other AmeriCorps volunteers allowed me to find people with similar interests and living nearby. Now that I'm back, I'm excited to be have real friends (especially ones with similar financial situations).

PS, I also got to see elk!
PPS, And the Stanley Hotel!
PPPS, And reaffirm that I do not know how to roller skate.

Three strands: Strategic Planning for Urban Agriculture in Jefferson County

This blog was created to share my experiences as an AmeriCorps VISTA with friends and family. However, I feel strange writing solely about AmeriCorps when my daily work experience does not involve them (outside of the fact that they are paying me). So I thought I'd take a few minutes now to tell you about the actual work I'm doing.

I am working for the Jefferson Conservation District, a quasi-governmental agency that operates like an independent nonprofit, to develop an Urban Agriculture program. The JCD has always worked on conservation, sustainability and land stewardship issues, but this is our first venture into urban conservation and it is very exciting to be leading the charge.

Much of my work in the past 6 weeks has focused on learning about the issues surrounding urban agriculture and creating a strategic plan for the next three years of this project. The JCD did not have a particular project or particular goals in mind when they brought me on and it has been both exhilirating and terrifying to create an entirely new and (hopefully) innovative program for 4 urban communities in Jefferson County, Colorado (Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, Golden and Arvada).

Because I am working for/with several organizations (Jefferson Conservation District, Upper South Platte Watershed Association, Western Hardrock Watershed Team and AmeriCorps VISTA), an important piece of this project development process was to identify the major goals of each organization and find a way to create a project that encompasses and exemplifies all of these goals. For example, AmeriCorps VISTA is all about poverty alleviation but the JCD really focuses on providing technical assistance to land owners - how does this all fit together?

Combined, all of these organizations are interested in creating partnerships within communities, working with various stakeholders(local government, community organizations and individuals) and providing technical/capacity assistance towards the end goal of sustainable natural resource management and the reduction of environmental and human poverty.

In order to incorporate all aspects of this larger multi-organizational goal, the Urban Agriculture project will incorporate three separate yet overlapping strands. The first strand is to create a toolkit for individuals interested in urban agriculture/gardening, providing technical assistance for planting, methods of efficient water use, zoning regulations for their community, etc. The second is to develop an online tool to connect local producers and consumers. This tool will not only act as an online farmers market, it will also provide a forum to connect local growers, restaraunts interested in local food, etc. And then the third strand, which ties it all together, is to work with the 4 local governments to create community projects to increase access to urban agriculture and improve food security for all residents. These community projects might include anything from the acquisition of open space for a community garden to working with the city forester to create edible landscapes to ensuring that local farmers markets are able to accept food stamps.

Now that the goal setting and strategic planning process is largely complete (or, at least, at a good stopping point) I am able to begin meeting with community leaders and establishing the Jefferson Conservation District as the lynchpin of urban agriculture in the community - the #1 place to go if you have a question or are looking for a community resource.

It's pretty awesome, don't you think?

Food Stamps

When I applied for this position, I was told, 'As an AmeriCorps VISTA member you will be eligible for food stamps...'

Food stamps, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is a federal program that helps low-income individuals and families buy the food they need. SNAP eligibility is largely based on income. People living at or below the poverty line and with minimal additional assets are eligible, according to the federal standard. States have the option of expanding eligibility to include people who might be technically living above the poverty line but still need help accessing adequate and nutritional food. Colorado and Jefferson County (where I live) generally sticks to the federal guidelines when determining who is eligible and at what assistance level.

Although SNAP gives AmeriCorps the option of not paying their 'volunteers' more because they are eligible for SNAP assistance (an ethical choice? perhaps not.), the process of actually accessing this aid has been quite difficult. Let's take a look at why.

Firstly, what remained unsaid by the AmeriCorps representatives was this aid would be dependent on other assets I was holding prior to joining AmeriCorps. I only discovered this fact when trying to plan out my budget and I discovered that, according to some random benefits calculator, I was not eligible for SNAP aid. When I brought this to the attention of my AmeriCorps liasons, they made me feel like I was the dumb one for not realizing this in advance. I recognize that, if I have savings, I might be in less need than someone who is truly living on edge. That said, I volunteered a year of my life to domestic service - it seems the least the government could do is ensure that I don't have to dip into my savings to buy basic food.

Secondly, this is a long process. And I mean looonnnnggggg - so far it's taken 6 weeks. About 10 days ago, I finally received a letter from the Jefferson County Department of Human Services, saying that I had an interview at 2pm...that afternoon. During my interview, it was clear my case worker had never heard of AmeriCorps and was totally confused by the concept. Here's an example (not verbatim) of how our conversation went.

Case worker: So you're unemployed?
Me: No. I have a full time job working with the Jefferson Conservation District. It's a part of the AmeriCorps VISTA program, which means that I basically volunteer for the District and am paid a living stipend by AmeriCorps.
Case worker: Ok. So you're unemployed.
Me: Um, no.
(Later)
Case worker: So where do you live?
Me: I live in an apartment with a friend. We are both on the lease and split the rent.
Case worker: Where do you get the money to pay rent if you're unemployed?

You get the idea. Our interview lasted about an hour and left me feeling like my case worker has no idea what I'm doing and no sympathy for my situation. Yesterday I sent in the last of the paperwork she requested and now I'm waiting to hear the final verdict. Although the lack of clarity on the part of AmeriCorps and the lack of knowledge on the part of the county has been hugely frustrating, I'm still hoping to get some food assistance so I'm not stuck eating Ramen all year.

Wish me luck!

The Oath (PSO, Part II)

The most valuable thing I learned at my Pre-Service Orientation in Albuquerque (besides how to spell Albuquerque...) was how AmeriCorps and VISTA are related and the mission of each. This really helped me to begin to understand my role with the Upper South Platte Watershed Association and my opportunities as a VISTA. With that in mind, I'm going to run through some brief (I promise!) descriptions of the organization to help you better understand my role in the whole thing.

AmeriCorps - a program of national service that was founded by President Clinton in 1994. AmeriCorps is the umbrella organization overseeing many domestic service/volunteer programs, including VISTA. AmeriCorps members address critical needs across the US and largely focus on direct service.

VISTA - stands for Volunteers in Service to America. Although it is now under the umbrella of AmeriCorps, VISTA was actually envisioned as a domestic Peace Corps by President Kennedy and became law under President Johnson in 1964. All VISTA members work to eliminate poverty and, unlike other AmeriCorps programs, VISTA focuses on planning and capacity building in addition to direct service. Although support lagged for VISTA (and AmeriCorps as a whole) under the Bush administration, the Obama administration has voiced strong support for the program and a relatively large amount of stimulus money went to the creation of new VISTA positions.

That's basically the backdrop I'm working in. So even though in my day to day job I am working with the Upper South Platte Watershed Association and the Jefferson Conservation District, my living stipend comes from AmeriCorps and is purposefully set at the poverty line. This means that, for the organizations I work forwith, I am technically a volunteer, even though I am treated like a regular employee.

After learning all about AmeriCorps, VISTA and poverty during my week at PSO, I discovered that I was required to take an oath to officially begin my term of service as an AmeriCorp VISTA volunteer. I know that most jobs require you to sign a contract, but I was more than a little weirded out by the fact that we had to raise our right hand and actually affirm our commitment to service.

In case you are curious, here's the oath:
"I do solemnly swear/affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;
That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;
That I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion;
And that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.
So help me God (note: this line is optional)."

Um, what????!!! I'm pretty sure that's the same oath that soldiers have to take. And potentially the same oath Obama had to take when he was sworn in. If not the same, pretty darn close. I guess I didn't realize how much of a commitment being an AmeriCorps member is / is expected to be. The weirdest part was that no one else seemed to think it was weird that we had to take an oath. What do they know that I don't??

Oh, and if you are an enemy, foreign or domestic...watch out! Apparently, I'm gonna getcha.

Poverty v Playing Poor (PSO Part 1)

So it's been a while, but I've been meaning to post some thoughts about my Pre-Service Orientation in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

As a requirement of AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), I was required to attend a four-day Pre-Service Orientation. My PSO was in Albuquerque, New Mexico and housed about 150 new VISTAs who will be working in places as far apart as Washington DC, Arkansas, Colorado, California, New Mexico, Arizona and Nebraska. It was great to meet so many new people who are dedicated to social justice - even though I was hesitant to become friends with anyone working super far away from me because, let's be honest, I'm not going to Arkansas anytime soon... And I can't even begin to imagine how much money the federal government spent to fly us all to Albuquerque for the week and put us up in the hotel.

Because so many different people attend PSO, it is more of an orientation to the VISTA program than to any of our actual jobs. I was expecting a pretty boring week, but was interested to learn a little more about this program I fell into. And that was basically what I got. It was pretty cool to learn more about the history of AmeriCorps, and VISTA in particular (a topic for another day), and to see who else participates in this service program.

I was pleasantly surprised at the diversity of race, age and socioeconomic status among the group. After listening to T tell me that the only people who can afford to do AmeriCorps are well-off white kids whose parents are helping them out (of which I readily admit I am one) and believing this to be true, it was good to see that not everyone was right out of school, not everyone came from a privileged background and that not everyone would be taking a pay cut by taking this position. There were a fair share of kids who just graduated from school and were so excited because they looovvveee volunteering and have been waiting to do AmeriCorps their whole lives, but there were also people who fell into their AmeriCorps position after doing other things and having other life experiences. Thank goodness.

The string that connects all AmeriCorps VISTAs is that we are all supposed to be working towards the alleviation of poverty in the United States. As a result, there was a lot of talk about poverty throughout the week. Did I say a lot? I meant A LOT. Too much. There were a few good discussions but mostly it was just interesting to see the different ways people defined poverty, depending on whether their experience with poverty was personal or something learned in sociology class.

The conversation I thought was the most interesting began when our instructor (mediator?)brought up Barbara Ehrenreich's book, Nickel and Dimed, which is an account of the author's quest to live for a month on minimum wage. He commented that the book is very controversial and opponents feel it is unrealistic because Ehrenreich is merely "playing poor," knowing that, if she fails, she won't experience any of the consequences someone actually living at the poverty line might face.

This analysis was accepted without complaint by the majority of the group. But it infuriated me. Here we were criticizing Ehrenreich for playing poor in her book when, in reality I (and most of the other people in the room) were just beginning a year of the exact same thing. For me, living on minimum wage is a challenge. It is stressful and at times seems impossible to manage. But I'm just "playing poor." Living on minimum wage for a year is not necessarily going to make me more a member of my community by teaching me what poverty really means (this is the reason AmeriCorps gives for setting its stipend at minimum wage and forbidding participants to find other, supplemental work). It seems more likely to produce the opposite result; to show me and my neighbors that I have a strong family and friend network and that, if I do fail, I have somewhere to go and people to help pick me back up.

Living at the poverty line provides a unique understanding of the challenges of everyday life, but I do not for one second feel that I am poor or impoverished. I chose this job. And the fact that I was willing and able to choose it separates me from those who are truly living in poverty and struggling to find the resources to survive day to day.

First day of work and mountain adventures!

Today was my first day of work!! After stumbling out of bed at 6:25am, I made it to work at 7:30, the ridiculously early time we were told to arrive. After meeting my supervisor and hanging out for about an hour, I found out we were going on a little road trip into the mountains and had to go home and change into appropriate mountain clothing (who knew that running shoes were required?!!). Luckily, the other VISTA working with me also had to run home, so I didn't feel so dumb.

Then the fun began. There were four of us in the van - myself, the girl I will be working with and our two supervisors. We headed first to a forest restoration project on a private plot of land. I learned a ton about forest needs, how human fire suppression has changed the forest landscape and how the forest looked/functioned prior to human manipulation. The purpose of this particular project is to create a more sustainable forest ecosystem that is less likely to be destroyed (and destroy nearby homes with it) during a forest fire.

We then visited three sites throughout Jefferson County (where I am working) and the neighboring Douglas County where there have been catastrophic forest fires. Although much of the ground cover is re-grown in these areas, it is amazing how little new growth can be seen even seven, nine and twelve years, respectively, after the fires.

The reason that there have been so many catastrophic fires in recent years is multi-fold. Basically, when people work to suppress forest fires, they allow lots of new trees to grow. The forests then become more dense. Then, if and when a fire naturally occurs, it is more easily able to jump from tree to tree and, because many of the trees are young/small, to kill the trees in its path.

In addition to killing vegetation, forest fires tend to cause serious floods. When rain falls on an area that was destroyed by fire, there are no plants or soil to absorb the rain. The water then flows into nearby streams and rivers, causing them to overflow their banks and flood nearby lands. In addition to the obvious damage floods cause, these floods carry huge amounts of sediment, dead trees and rocks along with them. We were able to see several examples of this sediment movement and it was unbelievable that so much debris could be carried and deposited by generally small streams.

There was only one real negative today and, luckily, it had nothing to do with resource management. It seems that, because I am AmeriCorps and therefore an "indentured servant" (according to my supervisors), my supervisors are nervous/reluctant to actually manage me. They wouldn't give me a specific answer about how many hours a week I'm supposed to work or when they want me in the office. Also, DR (the other AmeriCorps VISTA member I'm working with) and I are supposed to work on two main projects, an urban agriculture project and a forest restoration project, but they seem unwilling to make any decision about how they want us to split the work and, to a lesser extent, even the direction they want us to head. I'm hoping they were just trying to be nice on the first day and they will actually willing to manage me a little throughout the year.

Sorry this post is very information heavy - I have a lot of information running through my head and I wanted to share it all!

Oh, and on a side note, I spent four days last week at an AmeriCorps Pre-Service Orientation in Albuquerque, New Mexico and there will be a post or 2 about that experience over the next few days. Stay tuned!

Day 1: Western Hardrock Watershed Team

Today was my first training session with the Western Hardrock Watershed Team.

The WHWT is a coalition of community watershed groups that work to improve watershed health in the Hardrock mining region. Hardrock mines extract hard minerals, including gold, silver, zinc, copper, nickel and lead, and have are located throughout Colorado and her neighboring states. Because of the environmental degradation caused by mining throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, water regulation in this region is challenging and must work to balance historic and cultural values with watershed and community health.

So what does this have to do with me? The Western Hardrock Watershed Team helps place AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers with these local watershed organizations. They support the organizations as they work to obtain their VISTA volunteers, help them create appropriate goals, etc. and also support me as I have questions and concerns throughout the year.

Here are my 2 favorite experiences from the day:
1) After missing the entrance of the building where we were meeting, I had to turn around in a Hooters parking lot. And, as it turns out, the fastest way from my house to work every day will be to turn around in said Hooters parking lot. Awesome.

2) The girl from WHWT who was leading our session told me that in her two years of working with VISTA and the WHWT she had never heard of anyone else who was able to do a long move by themselves. Most other people, she told me, drove out with their stuff packed in a car and lived in housing offered by their organization. I, on the other hand, flew out, picked up my car here, shipped my stuff and found housing without the help of my organization. It's interesting to learn that not many people move out alone and, while I thought that I just didn't know anyone who had a similar experience, perhaps my move was not as typical as I thought.

I always said I would never do AmeriCorps. Although I like the idea of giving back to my country through a year of national service and value social justice and direct service in my work, I was never interested in a year of forced poverty and the paradox of paid volunteerism. My time is better spent, I thought, working towards resource equity with a socially-just organization and volunteering on the side.

So how did I get here? The truth of it - as unromantic and unidealized as it might be - is I'm here because I got a fantastic job. I will spend the next year (at least) with the Upper South Platte Watershed Association and the Jefferson County Conservation District as a Watershed Development Coordinator. My focus will be developing urban agriculture and forestry programs to better the lives and health of the communities in the watershed and the watershed itself. It seems like a fabulous opportunity to be a community organizer, grants writer, lobbyist, researcher, resource manager, farmer, event planner, program coordinator and water-lover, all wrapped up into one.

Because I did not choose AmeriCorps but rather a position that happens to be funded by AmeriCorps, I am entering this year somewhat skeptical about the AmeriCorps part of the experience. Why is my stipend so small? Why do I have to be considered a volunteer? Why am I not allowed to have a second job? …Why do I have to fill out so much paperwork?

This blog is intended to explore the dirty details of being an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer. It will be a combination journal/soap box and hopefully can provide some insight to future VISTA volunteers and life updates for my friends and family.

I’m hoping this year will be great and that the job and positive aspects of AmeriCorps VISTA will outweigh some of the frustrations I am feeling now. I’ll keep you posted…