Youth Conservation Corps Wraps Up a Successful 2025 Summer Season

YCC Orcas Crew in action.

The San Juan Islands Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) has successfully concluded its 2025 summer program, providing youth ages 12–18 from Lopez, Orcas, and San Juan Islands with hands-on conservation experience, outdoor education, and professional skill-building.

Over the course of eight weeks, YCC engaged 38 local youth led by 7 experienced crew leaders in stewardship projects across San Juan County. In partnership with 22 community organizations—including the Bureau of Land Management, San Juan Preservation Trust, San Juan Count y Land Bank, San Juan County Noxious Weed Board, KWIAHT, and Ecostudies Institute—crews contributed a total of 3,127 hours toward protecting and restoring public lands and waters across the San Juan Islands.

Notable highlights from the season included a multi-day camping trip to Patos Island for each YCC crew coupled with restoration work on the historic Patos Island Lighthouse, beaver dam analog installation at Zylstra Lake, native seed collection on Yellow Island, and eelgrass restoration at Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. In addition to fieldwork, students explored weekly educational themes and took part in public outreach events and a series of “Nature Nugget” columns in local newspapers, sharing stories of discovery and impact from each island’s crew.

YCC emphasizes collaboration between youth, program staff, and conservation professionals to support meaningful stewardship, technical training, and leadership development. While the main program runs during the summer, YCC also offers year-round opportunities for youth to participate in fall, winter, and spring projects that continue our work of restoring habitats throughout the Salish Sea Ecosystem.

This summer season would not have been possible without the generous support and collaboration of our partner organizations, funders and volunteers, who invested in our local youth and the future of our islands. Sincere thanks to agency and nonprofit partners, mentioned above, and many more, for sharing their knowledge, resources, and project opportunities. We are deeply grateful to foundations and donors—especially the San Juan Island Community Foundation, Orcas Island Community Foundation, and community members—for their vital financial support, which ensures all youth have access to YCC programs regardless of economic background.

While community support has always been essential, YCC has relied heavily on grants to cover most of its expenses since 2007. Today, with significant federal investments disappearing and demand for our programs continuing to grow, grant alone can no longer sustain YCC’s future.

Every gift—whether to the current operating fund or to the new endowment at the San Juan Island Community Foundation—directly sustains this program and secures its future for generations to come. Because when we invest in nature and in our youth, we are really investing in ourselves. Consider giving these kids the chance to keep making a difference.

To learn more about this year’s work and support the next YCC season, visit www.sanjuanislandscd.org/ycc.