Conservation Legacy

Conservation Legacy, doing business as Southwest Conservation Corps, 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, habitat restoration, trail maintenance, historic preservation, and cultural resource management on Department of the Interior lands nationwide. The organization acts as a prime recipient on federal grants (98% of recent awards) with no federal contract prime position, competing predominantly through cooperative agreements under the Youth and Veteran Organizations Conservation Activities program (CFDA 15.931) and related federal grant vehicles focused on workforce development and environmental stewardship.

Conservation Legacy's capability footprint centers on hands-on conservation corps programming: field crews perform invasive species removal, trail rehabilitation, prescribed burn preparation, habitat restoration, and masonry preservation at national parks, monuments, and wildlife refuges; individual placement interns deliver visitor services, environmental education, and public interpretation; and regional conservation corps (Conservation Corps North Carolina, Arizona Conservation Corps, Conservation Corps New Mexico, and Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps) engage participants in localized projects spanning trail systems, riparian restoration, fuel reduction, and cultural landscape management. Representative work includes a $3.33 million cooperative agreement for approximately 40 interns across 40 national parks in volunteer management and conservation initiatives (NPS, CFDA 15.931, August 2025–December 2027); a $1.33 million award for historic preservation training through the Traditional Trades Advancement Program at five national park sites including Independence National Historical Park, Rock Creek Park, and Kings Mountain National Military Park (NPS, August 2025–December 2026); and a $666.667 million cooperative agreement to deploy Indigenous youth across 20 national park units for trail construction, invasive species removal, and visitor services through the Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps (NPS, June 2025–December 2027).

Customer concentration is overwhelming: the Department of the Interior National Park Service accounts for 270 awards (23% of recent prime portfolio), with the Intermountain Region alone holding 215 awards, the National Office 187, and Southeast Region 77. Beyond NPS, Conservation Legacy holds awards from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (multiple regions), Bureau of Land Management (Arizona and New Mexico regions), Bureau of Reclamation, and AmeriCorps state programs (South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Arizona, West Virginia). The potential-value ranking differs from count: the Bureau of Indian Affairs Navajo Region anchors $13.3 million across 25 awards, while NPS remains the dominant volume customer. Combined potential value sits at $13.7 million, though obligated dollars ($361.2 million) reflect significant multi-year commitments on multi-season cooperative agreements.

Conservation Legacy places most work under NPS Youth and Veteran Organizations Conservation Activities cooperative agreements and AmeriCorps sub-awards managed through state commissions. Named parent vehicles include Indefinite Delivery Contract INA12PC00503 (18 task orders, $2.1 million) and INA16PC00131 (4 task orders, $616 thousand). The organization operates sub-recipient relationships under AmeriCorps national service grants managed by state entities (Virginia Department of Social Services, North Carolina Commission on Volunteerism & Community Service, West Virginia Commission for National & Community Service) and receives sub-awards from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for Chesapeake Bay watershed restoration and from Greenlatinos for urban forest restoration in the Middle Rio Grande region.

Award activity has grown modestly year-over-year—83 awards in 2022 to 116 in 2025—with 130 awards (primarily short-duration seasonal and individual placements) completing within the next twenty-four months, representing significant recompete exposure. The organization competes entirely in the nonprofit conservation and workforce development space with no commercial contract footprint, positioning it as a specialized player in federal youth service and land stewardship programs rather than a competitor in conventional federal procurement.