Conservation Corps Wages War on Brush
San Fernando Valley-based members of the California Conservation Corps are clearing brush locally and throughout the state in an attempt to prevent fires.
“A lot of the land owned by city parks is undeveloped,” said James Ward, senior parks and recreation maintenance supervisor for Los Angeles.
He said the corps assists both city and county parks departments in clearing brush. “When the brush-fire season comes around the level of maintenance at parks would drop tremendously if not for the corps,” said Ward.
Once corps members clear the land, parks crews haul the debris away.
In some instances, corps members also cook meals and take water to fire crews.
In the Valley, corps members are clearing brush in Reseda near Serrenia Park and in Chatsworth at Tampa Avenue from Wilbur Avenue to Germain Street. They also have been working along Rinaldi Street in the Porter Ranch area and in the Westhills area, between Woodland Hills and Canoga Park.
When the fire season is over, the corps will assist in replanting burned areas.
Corps members in the Valley work from the Oat Mountain Center in Chatsworth, where 70 from throughout the state live. They earn room and board and $580 a month.
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