Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel today designated the week of October 5-9, 1970, as Interior Job Corps Environmental quality Week, in recognition of the significant role· that the Department’s Job Corps Civilian
Conservation Centers have to play in the Nation's efforts to involve youth in the quest of environmental quality.
"I believe that our observation of Interior Job Corps Environmental Quality
Week will be a significant step forward in creating within the Job Corps enrollees a new awareness of environmental problems," Secretary Hickel said.
During the week, all Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers operated by the
Department of the Interior will place all of their resources at the disposal of the local communities that support the Centers. Job Corpsmen will work side by side with community citizens from various c1v1c, service and local government organizations in a massive drive to clean up and improve the quality of the environment in nearby communities.
The week-long program will be launched by Secretary Hickel at inauguration ceremonies, October 5, at Harpers Ferry, W.Va., attended by Secretary of Labor. James D. Hodgson and Secretary of Agriculture Clifford M. Hardin.
In conjunction with the Interior Job Corps Environmental Quality Week, Secretary Hickel has asked the principal teachers from each of Interior's 10 Job Corps Centers to attend a special 3-day orientation session at the National Park Service Harpers Ferry Center. This session will introduce them to the educational concepts and techniques of the National Environmental Study Area (NESA) Program.
Materials for this program were originally developed by the National Park Service and are currently being utilized extensively throughout the country in elementary, junior high and senior high schools.
Secretary Hickel explained that the NESA Program affords a unique opportunity for the disadvantaged youth from poverty backgrounds not only to become aware of environmental problems prevalent in their home communities, but to learn how to cope with and solve these problems through joint community and JCCC participation while assigned to the Job Corps Civilian Conservation Program.
The 10 Interior Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers presently have a total capacity of 1,826 corpsmen. Three of the centers are operated by the Department of the Interior's National Park Service, four by the Bureau of Reclamation, two by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, and one by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The permanent Job Corps Center staffs are augmented by Union. Contract Instructors and volunteer assistance from a wide variety of sources,
Each of the Interior Job Corps Center Directors has organized a Community Relations Council consisting of leading citizens of the community nearest the JCCC location. These councils serve as a bridge between the local communities and the Job Corps Center.
Created by the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the Job Corps is a national voluntary program which provides disadvantaged young men and women between the ages of 14 and 21 with an education, vocational training and work experience and social skills necessary to prepare them for the responsibilities of citizenship and increase their employability, Department of the Interior participation in the Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center program stresses vocational training and work experiences directed primarily toward conserving, developing and managing
the public natural resources of the Nation,
Participating in the Interior Job Corps Environmental Quality Week are the following Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers administered by various Bureaus of the Department of the lnterior:
Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife Mingo JCCC, Puxico, Missouri
Treasure Lake JCCC, Indiahoma, Oklahoma
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Fort Simcoe JCCC, Toppenish, Washington National Park Service
Harpers Ferry JCCC, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Great Onyx JCCC, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky Oconaluftee JCCC, Cherokee, North Carolina
Bureau of Reclamation
Weber Basin JCCC, Ogden, Utah Collbran JCCC, Collbran, Colorado
Columbia Basin JCCC, Moses Lake, Washington Marsing JCCC, Marsing, Idaho
