What do we do?

The Islands Conservation Corps is a field-based ecological restoration program where students are simultaneously enrolled in courses at Western Washington University's College of the Environment to train the next generation of landscape planners. Members work as a team of restoration technicians 30 hour per week addressing critical ecological challenges in archipelago forests, woodlands, prairies, wetlands, and riparian area while taking coursework that supports their theoretical and professional understanding of landscape planning. First year members are enrolled in post-baccalaureate and graduate coursework in a pathway to the Landscape Planning tract in the Master of Arts in Urban Planning and Environmental Sustainability at Western Washington University (WWU). Courses support students in understanding the tools and mechanisms for landscape planning in a variety of ecosystems, landscape history, and methods for successful project design.

 

Members in their second year serve as project managers in the field restoration program, working with public agency partners to design and implement a range of projects.  As graduate students members are supported in developing a research question around landscape planning - often connected to ICC projects - that can range from research questions about restoration techniques to social and economic impacts of landuse. These projects can help shape land use practice and implementation in the future for regional conservationists. Integrating online and face-to-face classroom learning, students are provided opportunities to develop a range of professional skills that can support their capacity to develop ecological restoration plans and manage restoration projects into the future.  

​​​​

Program Mission

The Islands Conservation Corps combines academic coursework and hands-on ecological restoration to cultivate the next generation of land stewardship professionals that understand the history and modernity of conservation from the ground up. The program connects students to real-world challenges in conservation where research and inquiry can shape restoration planning and practices on public and private lands. The ICC recognizes the displacement of Coast Salish people from their ancestral homelands and fosters education in Tribal treaties, Co-Stewardship, and Co-Management to help members advocate for Tribal rights and indigenous leadership in the field of conservation. 

​

What restoration activities is the ICC involved in? 

The ICC conducts an average of 30 hours per week of field-based restoration in forestry, woodland, riparian, and nearshore ecosystems. Forest thinning and landscape fire management serve as the majority of the activities from fall through the early spring. Winter through summer includes significant focus on riparian and wetland restoration, establishing forest riparian buffers and Beaver Dam Analogues to reestablish botanical composition and structure, increase water storage, and increase water quality for riparian and nearshore ecosystems. Additional activities include noxious weed removal, trail building, fence building for pollinator habitat, and environmental monitoring. Activities are performed on public lands in San Juan County in concert with our land agency partners including:​

​

• SJC Conservation Land Bank

• SJ Preservation Trust

• National Parks

• BLM

• San Juan County Environmental Stewardship

• Friends of the San Juans

• OPALCO

• WA DNR

• WA State Parks​

​

Members receive the S-212 Chainsaw Safety Certification and prescribed fire training, both in burn plan development and implementation. 

​

​

​

​