I am writing this message due to an urgent need: we may lose federal funding for our 2025 Forest Conservation Corps (FCC) summer program for teens. We need your help.

FCC is the only outdoor program for 14–16 year-olds in Rensselaer County. In some cases, it is a young person’s first introduction to the great outdoors.

FCC alum Trey D, a resident of Troy, came to our program in summer 2022 with no outdoor experience. Like a lot of 15-year-olds, he wasn’t sure what career paths he may want to pursue in the future. He thought about being a car mechanic.

He started FCC at the John B. Staalesen Preserve in South Troy. He walked there from his house each day that week.

Trey helped pull invasive knotweed and spruce up our trails. Over the five-day program, he became attached to this city refuge. He found joy swimming in the Wynants Kill or learning bird names in the field—new experiences that weren’t available to him before FCC.

He enjoyed his time so much, he signed up for two more weeks, contributing over 45 service hours to our local preserves and forests. 

Over the past 6 years, FCC has connected 190 teens from across Rensselaer County to outdoor spaces near them. FCC offers young people, like Trey, a chance to develop new hands-on conservation skills as they explore, play, and learn together in nature. 

We need your help to make sure Forest Conservation Corps is fully supported this summer—and that more young people like Trey have a chance to connect with forests close to them. We are asking you to consider a one-time emergency donation.

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For several years, a federal grant from the U.S. Forest Service has funded this program. In 2025, that funding may not come through.

This year, we were expecting $36,000 from the U.S. Forest Service to be able to pay FCC lead staff and guest educators, purchase equipment for weekly tasks, and give each youth participant a small stipend.

It’s vital to keep this program free for families and to provide a stipend for all participants. When money isn’t an obstacle, this program can be easier for some teens to take part in.

In 2023, Trey was hired in his home city of Troy as a Water Justice Youth Scientist for the Nature Lab, collecting data in the field and working in a lab. Trey spoke of his FCC experiences in his application and listed our organization as a reference. His bio on the Nature Lab website reads, “Trey is an alum of the Forest Conservation Corps program, where he spent summer 2022 learning outdoor skills and caring for our local parks and trails. When he is not at Water Justice Lab or at school, Trey can be found enjoying music.” 

Whether Trey becomes Troy’s best mechanic or an environmental scientist, we are proud to have been a steppingstone on his journey to finding what he enjoys most in life.

Trey’s story is just one example of how FCC can positively impact the youth in our area and inspire them to care for the shared land and water we all depend on.

I know there are other teens in Rensselaer County who - like Trey - could benefit from this program. I want to make sure they have the chance to join this year. This is where you come in. We need your help to make another season of Forest Conservation Corps possible.

Please consider giving what you can to support summer programming in 2025. We can’t nurture our next generation of environmental protectors without you!

Thank you,

Jim Bonesteel

Executive Director

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P.S. Rest assured, if we reach our fundraising goal for FCC, your donation will help further our mission of conserving and stewarding land, and providing educational programs for our community. 

“There is immense power when a group of people with similar interests gets together to work toward the same goals.” 
                                                              -- Idowu Koyenikan