During the hottest, driest summer on record in the Chattanooga area, a crew of high school students worked together on a variety of tough outdoor projects at the Park and made an impact for visitors and residents living near the Park's units.



(Pictured above) CYC crew members at work on clearing the viewshed of Bragg Reservation at Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga.




The Chattanooga Youth Corps--coordinated by the Chattanooga Metropolitan YMCA and funded by grants from the National Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency and private donors-- provides high school students with the opportunity to spend the summer learning history, leadership and life skills. The students work together as crews on projects that beautify the community.

In the Park's case, a CYC crew tackled and accomplished a number of difficult projects made even more strenuous by the extreme heat:

* They enhanced the Park's presence at its Lookout Mountain Battlefield unit by cutting and clearing heavy brush on an undeveloped mountainside site known as 'Panoram.'

* They enhanced the cultural environment of the Park's Chickamauga Battlefield by completing a period rail fence around the Brotherton Farm there, helping visitors better understand what the land looked like in 1863 when the landmark Battle of Chickamauga began.

* The contributed greatly to clearing a swath of the historic viewshed of Bragg Reservation at the Park's Missionary Ridge unit, where the Friends have partnered for several year with the Park Service and the City of Chattanooga to restore a view that is acknowledged as one of the Park's most important educational resources for interpreting the Battles for Chattanooga in 1863.

The Friends and the Park staff are truly impressed with the accomplishments of the CYC crew assigned to Chickamauga and Chattanooga. We want the community know about them and about the program that makes their service possible. For information, contact the Park's manager of cultural resources: Jim Szyjkowski at 423.752.5213 or Jim_Szyjkowski@nps.gov