Generation Green - Although surrounded by nature's beauty, many children in the Lake Tahoe area are disconnected with the outdoor environment.  The Generation Green of Lake Tahoe is a work program designed to teach students about the forest while they work.  Targeting low-income, diverse and youth-with-a barrier students, this program provides job opportunities, while building work ethics, job skills, leadership, experience and teamwork skills.  Youth are shown a variety of jobs found in natural resource fields and connect with Forest Service mentors.  Students start this program with a 4-day, 3-night back pack trip offered by Lake Tahoe Community College.  After the back pack trip, their seven-week employment begins.  They work on recreation projects such as trail building, painting picnic tables, and cleaning campgrounds.  Resource projects include wildlife surveys, soil monitoring, forest care and maintenance.  Some students have the opportunity to do interpretive programs and historic site maintenance.  These opportunites give youth a connection to the many land management agencies in the Lake Tahoe Basin,  to the environment all around them, and to their community.  It gives the students a sense of accomplishment and lets them see that they are people who can make a difference in this world.  

Contact: Joy Barney, Conservation Education Program Specialist, USDA Forest Service, Lake Tahoe Basin Mgmt Unit
Address: 35 College Drive, South Lake Tahoe, CA  96150 - Phone: (530) 543-2685 - E-mail:  jbarney@fs.fed.us -
Website:  www.fs.fed.us/r5/ltbmu