Beginning in the Summer of 2024, an exciting partnership flourished between Loysville Youth Development Center (LYDC) and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. The goal of this partnership was to involve a small group of students in LYDC’s workforce development program in the Alliance’s PA Seedling Cooperative. The PA Seedling Cooperative (PA SCoop for short) began back in 2019 with a single volunteer growing robust seedlings in her front yard. The PA SCoop has supported the Alliance and other partners in supplying seedlings for reforestation efforts since. This partnership with LYDC provides the Alliance the potential to support reforestation of the PA portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed at a greater capacity than ever before, while also providing hands-on workforce development training for the students at LYDC.

LYDC, within Perry County in Central PA, is home to 40 to 60 male residents between the ages of 12 to 21 at any one time. Spencer Turner, one of the instructors alongside Lisa Cooper, regarded, “LYDC focuses on teaching and changing trajectories of our students’ lives by completing groups, education, community service, and restitution opportunities.” Turner described the changes seen in their educational program over the past few years as the state began sending individuals serving longer terms, “We have more students either entering LYDC with a high school diploma, or earning a high school diploma than ever before.” All of the students participating in the workforce development program with the Alliance have their high school diplomas, and two are even enrolled in college courses.

Turner discussed, “Many of the skills the students were exposed to with the Alliance are not traditional high school skills, and it has been fun to watch the students interact with nature.” So far the students have worked on laying out tree plantings, planting native tree and shrub species, sheltering seedlings from herbivores, and creating maps and planting plans while also learning about plant biology. The students’ ability to discuss plant biology evolved over the semester due to, “…taking care of about 400 seedlings during the late summer and into the winter,” Turner mentioned. Students in the spring semester will work on these skills and will also germinate and grow seedlings. When large enough, these trees will be distributed around Pennsylvania for planting in riparian forest buffer sites.

D.S. (initials used for privacy of the students) described that “two of my favorite days were spent learning the skill of flagging, and the day we spent planting trees around the school. I enjoyed learning about how far apart the trees need to be from each other when the Alliance team plants buffer sites.” A.A. and N.P. respectively commented, “My favorite part of working with the Alliance are the hands-on activities. I enjoyed participating in planting trees and learning all the steps of this process,” and that, “my favorite skill I’ve learned thus far is how to flag. It was very hands-on and we had to work together as a team.” These hands-on lessons followed classroom work of writing the planting plan that guided our species selection, location, and maintenance, and using maps to understand how water moves from farms adjacent to LYDC to the Chesapeake Bay.

The students practicing the skill of flagging a planting density of 275 trees per acre.

Alliance Forests Projects Coordinator Christine Danforth, who has been coordinating the partnership with LYDC, has worked to evolve the programming to better meet the students’ expectations and interests over the course of the semester. Her biggest goal has been to prioritize creative thoughts and questions, so the students take into reentry what they find value in. With that, receiving direct feedback from the students has been prioritized. A.A. recalled, “Although I enjoy hands-on activities, my least favorite skill I’ve learned is flagging. I am not sure I have the proper hand/eye coordination to plot flags in straight lines,” and D.S. highlighted a day that the team could have worked better together, “The day we spent building herbivore cages, [to protect the containerized stock the students learned to care for at the school] would have gone better if we had communicated better.”

Students in the workforce development program working to install native shrubs adjacent to the school.

A creative thought that turned into an informal educational moment that stands out to Christine surrounds a discussion about the wildlife that benefits from the Alliance’s buffer plantings. A.A. stated he enjoys how multifaceted the Alliance is, “I really enjoy learning about the other programs the Alliance offers and how they collaborate. The time we spent watching the Animals Upstream about Black Bears was really engaging and we had a good conversation about the wildlife that will benefit from the tree plantings we are learning to install and maintain. I never would have thought that one day the trees the Alliance plants could be a home for a hibernating bear.” Another creative educational moment is one Christine had with N.P. as the students were learning to identify characteristics of the containerized trees and shrubs they cared for throughout the summer and now through overwintering. While discussing the species redbud, Christine used the word chordate to describe the heart shaped leaf. N.P quickly made a valentine’s-esc play on words, “…like to court, and to date!” The students’ ability to identify a redbud from its leaves after this moment has never wavered!

LYDC students planting a row of redbuds near the schools entrance.

As winter approaches and it becomes time to put seeds into dormancy the participation in PA SCoop comes back to the forefront. The students are looking forward to learning new tasks related to successful seed germination. S.M. discussed the potential impact growing seedlings can have, “I am looking forward to more experience with seeds and being a part of the PA Seedling Cooperative because I feel I am playing a part in helping the ecosystem. The trees will go to help the community.” N.P. also shared his excitement stating, “I am looking forward to learning more about winter dormancy in seeds. I want to understand how these trees will change from seed into a fully grown tree. I want to learn more about identifying trees based on their seeds and seed pods.”

This partnership has high potential to make an impact for the environment and the diverse communities that rely on the environment. D.S. noted that, “It would be great if the Alliance helped establish ways to help me with my volunteer hours upon reentry. It will give me the opportunity to develop the skills I learned inside of Loysville and teach new people about planting and caring for native trees.” N.P. and S.M. made similar remarks, N.P stated, “I would find a lot of value in the Alliance helping me with volunteer and community service hours- I want help pointing myself in the right direction and I know how much you all can help me with that,” while S.M. reflected that, “I feel very good about the time I’ve spent working with the Alliance, this is a really great program. The skills and knowledge I have gained through the program has been valuable. When I am reentering I can use these skills at a job, in volunteering, and maybe even if I start my own business. These skills will help me even work on my own house.” Turner shared the same sentiments as his students stating, “ A significant bonus to the students was an opportunity to give back, not just to the community that the student comes to us from, but to any community inside the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.”

“Overall, it has been an outstanding start to what we here at LYDC hope to be a perennial program! Teaching students about the Alliances’ mission while providing a place to grow seedlings that can be sent to reforestation projects throughout the watershed is significant,” Turner shared. The Alliance Forest Team agrees- what an exceptional way to advance workforce development within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed!