Violet Scheibel an AmeriCorps NCCC member working in Loess Hills Monday helps remove a post in the Broken Kettle Grasslands to make room for a new fence to be built for a bison grazing area. The NCCC team is also removing brush and trees in Five Ridge Prairie to help with its restoration. [Click to enlarge]

Men and women ages 18-24 from across the nation are building fences, restoring grasslands and helping with research in the Loess Hills through Oct. 2.

The 10-member AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team, has been working in the Broken Kettle Grasslands and Five Ridge Prairie in Plymouth County since August.

Monday afternoon found the team removing an old fence so a new one can be built to make a bison grazing area in the northwest corner of the Broken Kettle Grasslands.

Violet Scheibel, team leader, clamped her lips tight as she worked a fence post loose from the ground, with the help of a tractor.

Scheibel, of St. Paul, Minn., on her second tour with AmeriCorps NCCC, said working with the organization gives people like herself a chance to travel and do some good at the same time.

"It gives you an opportunity to work with many different mediums," Scheibel said. "It's a common purpose to get things done."

It's also challenging working, eating and sleeping with 10 different people, she said.

"We don't get to choose who we're with," Scheibel said.

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In partnership with nonprofit organizations, state and local agencies and faith-based community organizations, AmeriCorps NCCC members complete service projects throughout the region they are assigned.

For some of these young people like Daniel Woody, of Las Vegas, coming to rural places like Plymouth County opens up a whole new world.

"There's no concrete anywhere," Woody said. "I've never even been out to the Midwest so it's quite different."

Along with constructing fence around a bison grazing area, the AmeriCorps NCCC team is also removing brush and trees on the eastern side of the Five Ridge Prairie in the Loess Hills.

"We are bringing a heavily wooded area back to its natural state," Woody said.

They may also assist a research team studying the endangered prairie rattlesnake, which has been found hibernating in the Broken Kettle Grasslands.

In addition to physical labor, each member of the NCCC team also has a job whether it be a media representative like Woody, a team leader like Scheibel or a corps ambassador program representative like Mike Holda.

Holda, from Maryland, is responsible to educate young people about AmeriCorps NCCC and how to get involved. He will talk to students Oct. 1 at Akron-Westfield School and also hopes to be in other area schools.

"It's a really great program for young people to find out who they are," Holda said. "It's nice to be with other young people who have similar passions and are at similar stages in their life."

The NCCC program requires a 10-month commitment and at least 1,700 hours of service. In exchange members receive $4,725 to help pay for college or school loans.

They also receive food stipends while on the job, and housing is provided from the organization, agency or community they are working for.

AmeriCorps NCCC is part of AmeriCorps, a network of national service programs created to improve the environment, enhance education, increase public safety and assist with disaster relief and unmet human needs.

NCCC team members train in CPR, first aid, public safety and other skills at one of three campuses. One at the North Central Region campus, in Vinton, Iowa, is where team members working in Plymouth County trained.

They are one of 14 teams working throughout Iowa.

Eric Robley, preserve assistant of the Natural Conservancy, which owns Broken Kettle Grasslands and Dennis Sohl, director of Plymouth County Conservation, which owns Five Ridge Prairie, said the NCCC team is providing valuable services.

In Broken Kettle Grasslands, the fence the team is building will provide bison being shipped from a conservancy in South Dakota in mid-October a home, Robley said.

Graduate students will study the bison and research their effects on the prairie, he said.

The NCCC team's work in clearing brush and trees from the eastern part of Five Ridge Prairie will allow for a prescribed fire this fall to help bring the original plant life back, Sohl said.

"The fire will stimulate the prairie to kill any remaining woody shrubs," he said. "It should make the grasses and wild flowers come back stronger and thicker."

Throughout the years that part of the prairie has grown into an oak forest because there have been decades without fire, Sohl said.

"We're trying to change it back it back," he said. "We know we will never get it all the way back, but we want to come in as close as possible."

To bring an AmeriCorps NCCC team to Plymouth County, Sohl had to show a need for the project. He learned of the AmeriCorps NCCC through the Iowa Association of County Conservation Board's weekly newsletter.

"I filled out an application and our project was approved," Sohl said.

Even on rainy days NCCC team members lend a hand. One day they washed display cases and cleaned the log cabin in the Plymouth County Historical Museum.

Mary Seaberg, of Texas, a recent high school graduate and one of the youngest NCCC team members, summed up her time with AmeriCorps NCCC.

"It can be exhausting, but being around everybody and helping the environment is very rewarding," Seaberg said. "I'm really glad I got to be a part of the experience."

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For information about applying to partner with AmeriCorps NCCC, call 1-800-942-2677 (1-800-94-ACORP) or visit the website at www.americorps.gov.

If interested in applying for an AmeriCorps NCCC team, call 319-472-9660 or email jburns@cns.gov.