Youth Engagement

We’re building the next generation of wildlands advocates

2022 Montana Youth Challenge Academy trip (photo by Sonny Mazzullo)
2022 Montana Youth Challenge Academy trip (photo by Sonny Mazzullo)

Every summer, we team up with partner organizations to get youth and young adults involved in conservation and trail maintenance projects across Montana.

The tough and team-oriented work gives crewmembers a chance to learn, grow, and have fun outdoors, and every project is an opportunity for participants to deepen their connection to our wildlands.

Since 2012, we’ve organized 21 youth projects, with 181 volunteers contributing more than 6,300 hours of service, all while cultivating the next generation of public land stewards. If you’re interested in organizing a trail stewardship project for your youth organization, review our project partner guide or email Stewardship Coordinator Ande Alvarez at aalvarez@wildmontana.org.

Our Youth Partners

Piikani Land Crew

Since 2015, we’ve partnered with the Piikani Land Crew to get young Blackfeet tribal members engaged in conservation projects on public and tribal lands. Participants leave the program with new leadership, communication, technical skills, relationships, knowledge, and an ethic of volunteer service and civic responsibility.

We’re excited to partner on a project in Badger-Two Medicine this summer. The Piikani Land Crew is a joint effort of Wild Montana, the Blackfeet Nation, Montana Conservation Corps, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. National Park Service, The Nature Conservancy, and Glacier National Park Conservancy.

Salish Kootenai College Upward Bound

Upward Bound helps low-income first-generation high school students from the Flathead Indian Reservation develop the skills and motivation to succeed in post-secondary education. As part of the program’s service-learning component, Salish Kootenai College students have joined us to maintain trails in the Jewel Basin and Badger-Two Medicine. We’re excited to be heading back to into the field with them this summer.

Students from Salish Kootenai College's Upward Bound program (photo by Megan Ahern)

Montana Youth Challenge Academy

Montana Youth Challenge Academy provides a quasi-military environment to help at-risk Montana youth develop the skills and abilities they need to become productive citizens. Before spring graduation, cadets interested in outdoor and conservation professions can join a volunteer trail project.

Together, Wild Montana and MYCA cadets have improved trails in the Bear Trap Canyon Unit of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness, built new sections of the Continental Divide Trail, and installed signage and maintained trails near the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness and Butte. The cadets have always been hardworking and enthusiastic participants, and we’re looking forward to partnering with them in the future.

2022 Montana Youth Challenge Academy trip (photo by Sonny Mazzullo)

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