AntFarm Trains Young People in Wildfire Mitigation

There is a non-profit in Sandy Oregon that is training young people to do wildfire mitigation in hopes that they will be able to make a career from it. They have treated 100 properties of elderly or low-income people for free. An article from OPB says:

AntFarm’s youth crew members are learning these skills as job training. Partnering with LeafcutterPNW, youth participants learn forestry and wildfire prevention techniques.

Working outdoors as a team, these young adults start by performing manual labor like bucking logs with chainsaws and loading cut limbs into a chipper. As they train, they can advance to tree climbing, and eventually the most technical and dangerous, topping trees. They learn safety systems for climbing.

This fire mitigation assistance is offered at no cost to low-income, elderly, and disabled residents in high-risk areas who are unable to accomplish this work on their own.

The program has treated over 100 properties and trained more than two dozen youth participants.

AntFarm's workforce development page has details on this and other programs, including details on how to apply for the wildfire mitigation project.

I've heard of that organization, they do good work with young people getting them started out here in Clackamas County.