Anaconda, MT–Students from the Anaconda Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center (CCC) that is associated with the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest (BDNF) in southwest Montana are training to work and are working hard.  Visit the residential training facility during the week, and you’ll see and hear the busy hum of worker bees.  Classrooms and shops are in full operation Monday through Friday for eight different trades and a fire program.

Anaconda Job Corps CCC welding instructors and students are fabricating six heavy-duty access gates for Bonneville Power Administration worksites near Missoula and Kalispell and 50 bear-proof garbage can cages for Fish, Wildlife & Parks to place at recreation sites such as Georgetown Lake.  Instructors work with the students who have advanced far enough in the program to secure a slot in the welding project shop, where products of such magnitude are completed.

Welders are utilizing their training and skills on local job sites as well.  The historic Rialto Theater in Deer Lodge is undergoing substantial restoration, part of which involves the Anaconda Job Corps CCC welders redesigning, fabricating and replacing the existing fire escape.

The outdoor amphitheater in Philipsburg now has handrails along the steps that event-goers use to access its seating.  Anaconda Job Corps CCC welders built and installed railing on the stairways that run along the outside edges and right down the middle of the grass-covered stands.

Anaconda Job Corps CCC welders, bricklayers, and heavy equipment operators/mechanics are working together on various improvements to Mount Olivet Cemetery in Anaconda.  Welders will engineer the arched steel sign that will extend vertically from the rock-faced pillars that bricklayers will form to establish the entryway.  Heavy equipment operators and mechanics will soon begin developing the road system to include drainage that will tie in with existing county storm drains.

Bricklayers recently replaced single-pane glass windows with masonry work to enhance the energy efficiency of the Anaconda High School Memorial Gym.  The brick masons continually engage in restoration work to maintain the historic value of various community structures, such as that found at Anaconda’s Friendship Park. 

Heavy equipment operators are reclaiming a Beaverhead County sewer lagoon in Wisdom by dredging, refilling, and grading the pond with the existing dirt that will later be planted with grass and turned back to its original landowner.  Operators continue to help the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge meet current standards as old dams are rebuilt.  Mechanics keep the operators in business on these projects as they service the equipment in the field when needed.

Anaconda Job Corps CCC also maintains a work-based learning (WBL) program that allows the advanced students in trade a stepping stone between daily training on Center with an instructor to the real-life workforce with an employer from local businesses and companies:

• Dillon Interagency Dispatch Center (DIDC) and the BDNF provide WBL opportunities for fire suppression and camp/cook crew students.  20 Anaconda Job Corps CCC students are presently fighting fires on the Philipsburg Ranger District of the BDNF.
• Painters are working with Konnie’s Touch of Color and Amazing Coatings of Montana at various job sites in Anaconda.
• The Anaconda Unit of Montana Department of Natural Resources is taking on and exposing fire suppression students to fire engine duties and office administration students to fire dispatch duties.
• Anaconda’s Senior Center gladly works with culinary arts students twice a week as they prepare and serve the local seniors their Friday meal.  “We just love having the Job Corps students with us each week,” says Margaret Murphy, Kitchen Supervisor at the Metcalf.  “They help us out tremendously.”
• Red Mountain Truck Lines of Butte has been a consistent WBL partner, particularly for students who are from Butte.  Heavy equipment operators can gain training and earn income through a unique opportunity that Red Mountain Truck Lines has made available for WBL students that have earned weekend passes home.

Anaconda Job Corps CCC serves over 220 students who, along with Center Director Ray Ryan and his staff, welcome the chance to significantly impact the greater Anaconda area with meaningful work and valuable training.  “The staff and students want nothing more than quality opportunities to enhance their skills and abilities while serving the local communities and enhancing the local economies.  We are happy to be part of such a win-win situation.”

The USDA Forest Service operates 28 Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers across 18 states with a capacity of 6,200 students. For more information, you can visit: http://recruiting.jobcorps.gov/en/home.aspx.

The mission of the USDA Forest Service is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The Agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to State and private landowners, and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world.

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