Our Stories

Major Summer 2026 Grant Wins

We are incredibly grateful to the National Park Foundation and Public Lands, who pledged $190,000 in grants to support youth service corps crews along the North Country Trail. This is what they’ll be up to:

• WisCorps completed two weeks’ worth of work alongside the NCTA Wisconsin Roving Trail Crew and Brule-St. Croix Chapter. They built turnpike and new trail tread, and performed heavy trail maintenance. They also assisted the Heritage Chapter with maintenance needs.
• The Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa cleared downfalls and brush on a remote section of the shared NCT / Border Route Trail within Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
• The Student Conservation Association worked alongside the Buckeye Trail Association’s Little Cities of the Forest Chapter to build new off-road trail. This helps complete a 100-mile backpacking destination trail. They also built a 24-foot footbridge in Ohio’s Beaver Creek State Park with the NCTA Wampum Chapter, and repaired wet areas of the trail with turnpike and stone pavers.
• The Green Mountain Club constructed a wet-laid mortar stone base for the new NCNST Eastern Terminus monument at Maine Junction, Vermont.
• Across Northern Lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, SEEDS EcoCorps crews built new trail to eliminate roadwalks, cleaned up after a devastating ice storm, repaired trail tread, and built boardwalks. They partnered with four different NCTA Chapters on these projects: Harbor Springs, Superior Shoreline, Marquette Area, and Grand Traverse.
• The Great Lakes Climate Corps is chipping away at deferred maintenance projects in Michigan’s Ottawa National Forest with the NCTA Ni-Miikanaake, Peter Wolfe, and Marquette Area Chapters this summer and fall, and in Spring 2027. They’ll be doing treat work and erosion control, and hauling material for puncheon installments.
• YouthWork assisted the NCTA Ni-Miikanaake Chapter and Friends of the Porkies in June 2026 in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. They removed old puncheon, hauled materials, and built new puncheon and some short reroutes.

On the horizon are projects and partnerships with the American Conservation Experience (Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania) and the Adirondack Mountain Club Trail Crew (Adirondack Park).