The Pine Ridge Job Corps’ Green Club was busy on Earth Day 2011. The students toured the Upper Niobrara Natural Resource District. Manager, Lyndon Vogt, gave a tour of the facility which included the tree coolers, automated planting equipment, and water pumping systems. Then he gave a presentation to the students on Western Nebraska water tables and conservation practices. The students were provided 25 trees to plant. The Green Club planted the trees on top of C Hill behind Chadron State College. The hill was burned during the “Spotted Tail Fire” in 2009. The students then toured  the Pine Ridge Lawn and Garden Center in Chadron, Nebraska. Nancy Adler gave a tour of the greenhouses and showed the students the garden center’s bare root tree cellar. After the tour, the students rolled up their sleeves and planted a garden at the community garden site. They planted potatoes, onions, beans, peas, and carrots.  Most of the produce raised from Pine Ridge’s Green Club will be donated to the “Closer to Home” kitchen for those who are in need.  Green Club has been active in exploring alternative energy, recycling, reusing, conservation and other practices associated with sustainable operations. The club meets every other week on Tuesday at 4:00 in the Fitness Room and is sponsored by Don Richards.  There are nearly fifty students in the club.