Youth and Ecological Restoration Program

Youth and Ecological
Restoration Program

Program Goals

GOAL # 1: Building Healthy Community Relationships

“Everything is connected, everything I’ve learned in this program has taught me that we are all connected and every choice we make impacts everyone and everything around us.”

“When you give your energy to help your community, it makes you feel good inside and warms your heart.”

“It’s a great chance to meet and become connected to positive, caring members of our community.”

GOAL # 2: Gaining Valued Work Experience

“I liked the best taking the water temperature, dissolved oxygen and water levels with the dissolved oxygen meter. Everything needs to be in the right order for scientific data collection.”

“I learned how to drive a bobcat, which is amazing because I didn’t think they would trust me to drive it, but they did and I spent six hours moving a monstrous pile of gravel into the stream.”

“I got the experience of working with a lot of different kinds of people in all sorts of different work environments.”

GOAL # 3: Improving Ecological Knowledge

“Roots of trees hold up river banks, trees provide shade, leaves fall off trees into the creek and rot and aquatic insects eat leaves and fish eat insects.”

“Sustainability – to keep something the same without being harmful. Like say I had a plant, you would have to sustain it as in keep it healthy and make sure it grows and make sure no one harms it.”

“Salmon connect the ocean to the land and are an indicator of watershed health.”

GOAL # 4: Increasing Personal and Social Skills

“Relationships with people mean being kind if you are working in a group and not breaking the rules.”

“That you shouldn’t just quit and keep on trying and then it will always work out for you if you keep your head up.”

“It was the first time that someone had actually helped me by getting me to answer questions instead of telling me. It felt like you were encouraging me and I felt like I could do better.”

GOAL # 5: Enhancing Communication Skills

“People can have different opinions, but we need to listen to each other, go around our differences, find things to agree on and then work together.”

“The most important thing I learned was how to communicate with people if I don’t know them.”

“The group we did the presentation for learned more about the environment and about the way youth look at things.”

Funding generously provided by:

Queen Alexandra Foundation for Children

Ministry of Children and Family Development

Vancouver Foundation

Youth and Ecological Restoration Program

The Youth and Ecological Restoration Program helps vulnerable youth build healthy community relationships with both the human and natural worlds. Through restoring local watersheds with community members, youth gain a sense of worth, belonging and place.

YERI planting
YERI is a 20-hour program providing one-on-one work experience, training and support for youth under nineteen who are experiencing challenges connecting with school, community and employment. Youth work with community members to restore the environmental health of local watersheds. Worksite transportation, homemade lunch, work tools and wet weather gear are all supplied.

Ecological restoration activities include salmon enhancement, habitat restoration, watershed assessment and monitoring, and community environmental education. Youth gain employment experience, build personal confidence, and improve communication and life skills, while learning about local watersheds and ecosystems.

YERI can be used to fulfill school work experience programs and complete community service hours. On completion, each youth gives an oral presentation for a community group about their experience. Youth are awarded with a YER I certificate and crest; a letter of reference; and receive fifty dollars.

YERI – 126 Youth participated from July 2004 to March 2009

YERII
Youth and ecological restoration YERII entry requirement is that youth have graduated from YERI, and they are genuinely motivated to build on skills gained in the original program. Two YERI graduates, the YER coordinator and a community member all work together to further instill teamwork and cooperation practices.

The focus is on a specific environmental project for advanced learning about ecological information, research techniques, and collaboration and communication skills. Examples of YERII projects include: establishing a Garry Oak forest ecological plot; radio tracking summer chinook salmon in the Puntledge River; conducting salmon population estimates in Millard Creek; and salmon hatchery maintenance at Oyster River.

YERII completion involves the two youth leading a guided tour of the project site. On conclusion the youth achieve a YERII certificate and hooded jacket, a letter of reference and fifty dollars.

YERII – 10 Youth participated from July 2007 to March 2009

Program History
The creation of YER is based on Wendy Kotilla's youth experiences, when she was constantly outdoors, surrounded by the healing powers of nature. Her qualifications include twenty years experience with Ecological Restoration and Restorative Justice.

YER was originally funded in July 2004 through Queen Alexandra Foundation for Children, Child Welfare Advisory Committee. The guiding principles recognized that each community has unique characteristics, knowledge and experience to address prevention and early intervention for vulnerable youth. The criteria included providing integrated and collaborative services that support a community’s capacity to build healthy relationships. YER is considered one of their most successful projects.

From April 2006 to the present time YER has been funded by the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development. Many youth participants asked to repeat the program, so there was a need to develop an extension. In 2007 YER Phase II funding came from the Vancouver Foundation’s Children, Youth and Families Advisory Committee. YERII provides youth with an opportunity to build on the skills and experiences they gained in YERI.

The YER vision is to engage youth in a wider circle of community relationships, in both the human and natural worlds. Involving them with meaningful work and caring adults supports them in building self esteem and has the ability to transform their lives. In YER, youth travel a journey together with their community and experience a better relationship with the people and place called home.

Community Partnerships
YER continues to build community partnerships, creating a cornerstone for the program and its youth participants. These partnerships have been instrumental in developing a solid foundation of support for YER within the Comox Valley community, as well as building bridges, alliances and awareness between local groups and individuals. YER services have now benefited eighty community groups including youth referral agencies, environmental stewardship organizations, service clubs and individual schools. For a list of partners, please click here.

YER Celebration YER Certificate
An annual community celebration is held around March to honour the achievements of YER youth participants. Pizza, pop, coffee and a celebration cake are contributed by local businesses and individuals, and there is always a good turnout of youth and supporters. We start the event by sitting in a circle and having each person share a special place or experience with nature. An overview is given of the year’s activities from the youth, community organizations and the YER coordinator. After that we hang out, share food and have fun.