Huerfano Youth Conservation Corps

Hi, I’m Conor Orr and I’m the director of the Huerfano Youth Conservation Corps.

Huerfano County is one of Colorado’s most southern and rural counties. The county capital, Walsenburg, is about 45 minutes south of Pueblo on I25 and has somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 residents. Huerfano is consistently one of the poorest counties in Colorado, and like many small towns in coal country, it has struggled to hold on to any meaningful lasting industry since the closure of most of the area’s mines.

Perhaps because of the poor economic health of this region, Huerfano county has long been overlooked or downright ignored by folks even within our own state. As a result, the land, the people, and the complex interactions between the two have a very different energy than most people associate with Colorado.

Huerfano county is a place of singular and astonishing beauty with a unique variety of geological features and a rich and complex set of biomes, and the people down here still have a rich sense of community and togetherness.

This is the sense which led to the creation of the HYCC.

I was hired in March of 2021 to create this program using funding supplied by a grant from GOCO meant to revitalize the Cuchara Mountain Park and create viable job opportunities and career ladders for the youth of Huerfano County. Over the past several months, I have been exposed to a wide network of experts and incredibly passionate people who have been working for years to increase awareness of and participation in sustainable land management practices, and every one that I have met has been incredibly excited about the Youth Corps and the possibilities that the program represents. With only 6 fulltime Corpsmembers and one volunteer, we have already been able to accomplish some amazing work.

This summer at the Cuchara Mountain Park, we have repaired a section of highly damaged trail, performed a whole bunch of basic fire mitigation work, have worked to restore a few patches of critical habitat, have built a bridge and several benches, have performed surgery on a terribly vandalized aspen tree, have had a bunch of fun, and we have fostered in at least a few of our team a deeper love and respect for the outdoors. After a few months of doing this kind of work, several of our members are willing to consider careers in outdoor conservation-related work.

This program deserves to expand and to cover the rest of the county. It deserves to engage more youth and to be given the facilities to make a bigger and bigger impact. Huerfano County is planning on taking on the program to ensure it continues, but there is far from an unlimited budget available. This is where you come in.

How much is a dollar worth? It depends on where it goes. If you donate even one dollar, if you help us reach our goal of raising $5,000, then you can rest assured that it will go towards creating important experiences for a really good group of young people. The money that we raise through this fundraiser will enable us to buy food, equipment, and materials that we need to do our jobs well, and it will take a lot of the stress of running such a program off of our collective shoulders. Please consider donating if you can, and truly, thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Conor Orr

Director

Huerfano Youth Conservation Corps