WASHINGTON – Anthony Ciocco, Ancestral Lands crew leader for the Durango-based Southwest Conservation Corps, was honored earlier this week at the White House for his work to engage and lead Native American youths.
Ciocco, known as “Chako” by his crew, has led groups of Native American young people on trips to rebuild damaged ecosystems and build trails for communities on the Navajo Nation for the past year. He took the job because he wanted to work outdoors – but realized quickly the work he does has a great impact on the lives of his crew members as well as the environment.
“Imagine meeting a group of complete strangers, living together for nine days at a time in the remote mountains or desert with no contact with the outside world,” he wrote in a post on the White House’s blog. “When it’s all over you’ll be a new person, you’ll have grown and forged the type of deep, meaningful relationships with others that can last a lifetime. That’s the real magic of conservation corps.”
Ciocco, of the Muscogee Nation, was honored along with 13 other conservation leaders as part of the White House’s “Champions of Change” program, which highlights people who are empowering and inspiring members of their communities. He was nominated by Chas Robles, his supervisor. The 14 “Champions of Change” held two panels at the White House, where they talked about their work and answered questions from the audience and Twitter.
“It felt great to be here and was a really awesome event with a lot of really cool people,” Ciocco said in an interview.
He stressed the collaborative nature of the work of the Southwest Conservation Corps.
“It really is an honor, but in reality, the work I do is only a small part – everything that is done on the ground takes place because of all of us,” he said.
Southwest Conservation Corps is a part of the recently re-structured Conservation Legacy, which runs similar programs in different parts of the country. The corps hires young people who might not otherwise get a job to do conservation work on public and tribal lands. At the end of the program, which can last up to 15 weeks, they are given an AmeriCorps education credit.
Ciocco, originally from Gallup, N.M., graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Previously, he has worked to revitalize his people’s language, culture and lands, as well as restoring traditional food systems. He believes his conservation work also addresses these issues.
“Everything is interrelated, especially in native communities,” he said. “We can’t restore our culture if we don’t have our language, much of which is based on our landscape. And we can’t have our food without healthy lands.”
Harry Bruell, president and CEO of the Southwest Conservation Corps, said the program uniquely address three needs: helping ease youth unemployment, helping maintain and repair needs on public and tribal lands and helping youths become more connected with the land in an age of technology and urbanization.
Katie Fiegenbaum is an intern for The Cortez Journal. Reach her at kfiegenbaum@cortezjournal.com.
