Pacific Islands Conservation Corps

Making a difference in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands

Pacific Islands Conservation Corps intern Isaiah Joel Torre collects mangrove propagules (seedlings) at American Memorial Park in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Kupu ʻĀina Corps

Via a partnership among the National Park Service, AmeriCorps, and the Kupu ʻĀina Corps, a conservation nonprofit in Hawaii, five young adult residents of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are working on wildfire recovery and climate change-related resilience projects in parks in those two U.S. territories.

Those five Pacific Islands Conservation Corps interns help remove fire-prone invasive plant species and restore lands with fire-resistant native species. And they perform other duties that beautify and fortify park lands and waters, too. Simultaneously, the interns, whose terms last one year, receive career development training, career guidance, and hands-on experience.

Isaiah Joel Torre cleans up a beach at American Memorial Park in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Kupu ʻĀina Corps

“The difference it’s making for these program participants to be able to help their families while they are also developing themselves is significant,” says Ernestine White, the NPS lead for the program. “Not only are we helping the [natural and cultural] resources there, but we’re also helping the community.”

The Pacific Islands Conservation Corps is one of five youth and young adult programs supported by the Inflation Reduction Act that help fortify NPS sites in the face of a changing climate. The other four are the Community Volunteer Ambassador Climate Cohort, Scientists in Parks, the YMCA Partnership, and the Landscape Stewardship Corps.

About the Inflation Reduction Act

The Inflation Reduction Act provides the National Park Service with an historic opportunity to address critical ecosystem resilience, restoration, and environmental planning needs. Projects funded in national parks represent broad-scale and impactful resource investments across every corner of our nation—from Alaska to Florida to Maine. 

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