LOGAN VALLEY – Some 28 area youth wrapped up a summer of hard work, good times and lots of lessons last month with a picnic at Lake Creek Camp in Logan Valley.

The occasion was the 2008 Youth Summer Project Barbecue put on by the Training & Employment Consortium (TEC), which runs the summer job program.

Modeled on the old Civilian Conservation Corps, the TEC program partners with various local agencies who put teams of Grant County youth to work on speci??c projects throughout the summer. The youths work 40 hours a week, earning minimum wage.

This year, the Forest Service took on two teams, while one team each went to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs. A ??fth team worked on projects needed by various agencies.

Last month’s gathering, held Aug. 7, was a celebration but also a time to sum up the youths’ experiences. The event started with the teams reporting on their summer’s work, using display boards and commentary.

The young people – age 16-21 – had plenty to tell. Over the past two months, they have cleared trails, planted trees, dug post holes, checked ??sh screens, and weeded state and local parks – among other projects.

One group tore out an old barbwire fence that was no longer needed and had fallen into disrepair, caught in tree trunks and brush.

Junior leader Ethan Thomas, 18, said the wire made a bundle three feet in diameter, weighing 80 or 90 pounds, by the time they were done.

“Then we had to roll it two and a half miles to the truck,” he said. “We had to cross the creek with it twice.”

But he wasn’t complaining. Thomas and the other youth leader – Cole Maley, also 18 – said the team efforts were rewarding.

“It’s fun, too,” Thomas said. “And you learn a lot of new things.”

Kathy Cancilla, TEC manager, said the program offers the young people new skills and a solid work ethic. They learn to work together with their peers, often from quite different backgrounds, and also with adults. Some of those adults become role models for work and for life.

“The kids learn a lot, and they get a great connection with the community,” she said.

The agency partners say the program works for them, too.

“We get work done that we normally would not get to do,” said Cindy Kranich of the Malheur National Forest’s Blue Mountains Ranger District. “They’re good workers, too.”

She said the community gets a bene??t from the program also, in that it gives so many kids a chance for a summer job. While the TEC jobs are minimum-wage, the participants also learn skills and forge contacts in the partner agencies that can help them get better jobs in the future.

The gathering at Lake Creek included team presentations, a barbecue lunch and a GPS challenge course that ended with a “knowledge quiz” covering a range of topics, most natural resource oriented.

This year’s group included students from Grant Union High School, Blue Mountain Alternative School, Prairie City, Long Creek, and graduates of the local schools.