This program utilizes qualified non-profit youth- and veteran-serving organizations to carry out appropriate natural and cultural resource conservation, education, volunteer service and education…

The National Park Service awarded a Cooperative Agreement totaling $128,000 to Conservation Legacy (doing business as Southwest Conservation Corps) on January 30, 2026, under the Youth and Veteran Organizations Conservation Activities program (CFDA 15.931).

The award funds a boundary fence replacement project at Yucca House National Monument in Colorado. Youth participants will remove and replace 1.5 miles of dilapidated wire fencing that has consistently allowed livestock intrusion into the monument. Project activities include vegetation removal, dismantling old fencing, and installing new wire fencing with gates and braces. Participants gain hands-on training in safe tool use, fence construction, land stewardship, safety protocols, and resource protection while working to safeguard the monument from livestock intrusion, improve visitor safety, and preserve cultural and natural landscapes.

Conservation Legacy is a tax-exempt nonprofit based in Durango, Colorado, that recruits, trains, and deploys youth and veteran crews aged 16–35 to perform natural resource conservation and habitat restoration on Department of the Interior lands. The organization operates through field crews performing conservation work at national parks, monuments, and wildlife refuges nationwide.

The period of performance runs from January 30, 2026, through August 31, 2026, with work performed in Colorado. The assistance type is a Cooperative Agreement. Beneficiaries include youth and veteran participants, the general public, and private and public nonprofit institutions and organizations supporting youth and young adult career training in natural and cultural resource conservation and management.

This program utilizes qualified non-profit youth- and veteran-serving organizations to carry out appropriate natural and cultural resource conservation, education, volunteer service and education projects on department of the interior lands through authorized national park service programs. This agreement will utilize youth participants to remove and replace dilapidated and ineffective boundary fence that consistently allows livestock intruding into yucca house national monument. This project will train participants in safe tool use and fence construction while replacing 1.5 miles of wire fencing in a remote monument area. Activities include removing vegetation, dismantling old fencing, and installing new wire fencing with gates and braces. Participants will gain hands-on experience in land stewardship, safety protocols, and resource protection. The project aims to safeguard the monument from livestock intrusion, improve visitor safety, and preserve cultural and natural landscapes.beneficiaries include private non-profit institutions and organizations public and private non-profit academic institutions state and local government agencies quasi-public non-profit institutions and organizations that support youth and young adult career training and development, and education in the areas of natural and or cultural resource conservation and management. Individuals families students and the general public will receive a benefit from the development and execution of these programs and projects.