FY2025 YES Annual Report

STEWARDS INDIVIDUAL PLACEMENTS YOUTH EMPOWERMENT STEWARDS FY2025 REPORT NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

INTRODUCTION TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTACT INFORMATION page two ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS page two MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR page three OVERVIEW AND FUNDING AMOUNTS page four PROGRAM SUCCESS page five PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS pages six and seven

YES member Arika AJ Abbott at Keweenaw National Historic Park

QUOTES page eight PROJECT IMPROVEMENTS page nine DEMOGRAPHICS page ten CONCLUSION page eleven APPENDIX A & B: BIOS AND PRESS page twelve

CONSERVATION LEGACY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE FY2025 REPORT Report Term: October 2024–September 2025 CONTACT INFO FOR CONSERVATION LEGACY: April Elkins Badtke Executive Director 330 Harper Park Drive Suite I Beckley WV 25801 Email: april@conservatoinlegacy.org Phone: 304.444.2764 FOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Ernestine M. White (Acting Youth Program Manager) (21CSC, Vets, YMCA, BGCA) 1849 C Street, NW Mail Stop: 2355 Washington, D.C. 20240 202-570-5628 cell

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Conservation Legacy and Stewards Individual Placements would like to thank the National Park Service staff and partners, including the National Park Foundation, who have helped make the Youth Empowerment Stewards program a continued success.

CONTACT National Park Service – Ernestine White, Youth & Young Adult Programs Division Workforce and Inclusion Directorate, National Park Service Jeremy Buzzell, NPS Park Accessibility for Visitors and Employees (PAVE) Supporting Partners The National Park Service Youth & Young Adult Programs The National Park Foundation Park Accessibility for Visitors and Employees (PAVE) Stewards Individual Placements April Elkins Badtke, Executive Director Jessica Zukowski, Program Director Amberly Borday, Program Manager Susie Schroer, Program Coordinator

MESSAGE FROM STEWARDS EAST EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

DEAR PARTNERS AT THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, Since 2021, our partnership with the National Park Service has been a cornerstone of the Youth Empowerment Stewards (YES) program. In 2025, we proudly continued this work — creating meaningful service opportunities for young adults who identify as having a disability, while helping parks become more welcoming for the communities they serve. Together, we are not only opening doors for youth to contribute their talents but also supporting efforts that ensure everyone can experience the joy and wonder of our public lands. We are deeply grateful for NPS's continued collaboration and shared dedication to this vision.

Sincerely,

April Elkins-Badtke Executive Director, Stewards East

Irregular rock stairs at Tunnel Trail

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ABOUT PURPOSE The Stewards’ YES program positively impacts the country’s recreation and tourism economy by expanding park entry for visitors. YES members serve at NPS host sites, providing park units with the capacity to identify and make public lands and visitor services more welcoming for all. By working directly with park units, YES members support an array of park projects aligned with DOI priorities.

The objective of this partnership is to complete important conservation projects that create recreation access and ensure public safety while providing young adults with structured and challenging service and educational opportunities through experiences that promote personal growth, economic opportunity, the development of life skills, and an ethic of natural resource stewardship.

Conservation Legacy and Stewards Individual Placements work towards consistently making these opportunities available to young people and veterans..

FUNDING AMOUNTS NPS Sites NAMA PRWI WASO NPF Total

Funding Totals $5,075 $8,176 $124,720 $66,819 $238,285

Funding Summary: 10/1/2024 - 9/30/2025 National Park Foundation supported 60 weeks of service for 4 members totaling $66,19. Of that amount, $2,390 supported member professional development experiences.

PRWI was provided 12 weeks of funding through NPF. The park (PRWI) was able to provide $8,176 additional dollars to support their YES member.

NAMA and ACAD both were also able to self-fund their members under the WASO agreement. Both parks provided $20,300 each to support 20-week terms for their members.

Watercolor paintings created for a member’s dichotomous key guide.

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PROGRAM SUCCESS OUTCOMES AS IT RELATES TO DOI PRIORITIES Youth Empowerment Stewards (YES) service members will support NPS park staff to care for the health of our park programming and to help solve the complex problems public lands entities face.

Conservation Legacy supports the job readiness and skill development of YES members through providing hands-on work experience and leadership development opportunities for youth and exposing them to potential careers with public land management agencies and the private sector. These members complete critical projects at National Parks to ensure recreational access and public safety for all.

TRAINING PROVIDED A unique aspect of the YES program is that it is set-up as a cohort model and as such there was a designated biweekly YES cohort meeting. In the YES cohort meeting space, YES members from across the Nation gathered to share and celebrate project successes, discuss project barriers and brainstorm possible solutions to overcome them as a collective group.

YES seeks to solidify a sustainable model for direct employment and talent development of young adults in land management and conservation programming. YES – which targets individuals 18 to 30 and those aged 35 with Veteran status – provides employment and education benefits by providing relevant and impactful internships with park units that expose individuals to meaningful opportunities.

PARTICIPANTS CONVERTED TO FEDERAL HIRES Maddi Whitting Ian Phillips Sydney Hartley Natalie Chiapperi

YES Member, AJ Abbott (standing behind information table, wearing a green Stewards shirt) sharing information about stamp sand use at Keweenaw National Historical Park.

Using a machete and wearing PPE, Kira Miller removes invasive species and cuts back on encroachments to improve trail access at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

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PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS Improving Park Access Through Data Natalie Chiapperi served a 20-week term with Acadia National Park. During her time, Natalie completed an assessment of more than 30 locations within the park – noting information related to parking, restrooms, and pathway surface material(s). These efforts also included gathering pictures and video content of each location; from there, Natalie created descriptions and text-to-speech audio descriptions for each video.

All of Natalie’s efforts went into creating a new guide for the park, thus improving access for visitors through increased data and information to utilize for better informed trip planning. Natalie reports that her time and experience as a YES member at Acadia National Park increased her interest in science communication – while she loves being able to engage in hands-on conservation work, Natalie also learned the importance of communicating her work and engaging the public. Natalie is now working at Grand Teton National Park as the lead Biological Science Tech.

Highlighting Natural Resources and History Maddi Whiting served a 20-week term with Prince William Forest Park. During her service term, Maddi was tasked with two primary goals: 1) to update the park’s existing digital media to ensure Section 508 compliance, and 2) to produce a new video for the park which highlights the site’s natural resources, history, and points of interest. To accomplish these goals, Maddi wrote transcripts of oral histories, created an audio-described version of the park brochure, added closed captioning and audio descriptions to park videos, hiked various locations throughout the park to capture new video footage, created a script for the new video, collaborated with another YES member (Ian Philips) for the voice-over/narration of the video, edited the video and added it to the park’s website. After service, Maddi also obtained her PLC status and secured a full-time position as a Visual Information Specialist at Gateway National; Maddi credits a lot of her current success to her time, experience, and networking as a YES member.

Natalie Chiapperi with her service dog, Lydia, hiking the Valley Cove Trail in Acadia National Park and taking note of the trail’s construction, width, slope, wayside signage, and other features

Maddi Whiting is standing in a stream at Prince William Forest Park while holding a camera and video equipment to capture footage at Prince William Forest Park.

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PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS Enhancing Recreation and Enjoyment of Public Lands Ian Phillips served a 13 week term with the Outer Banks Group. This was Ian’s second service term with Stewards Individual Placements. During his first term, Ian learned valuable skills in collecting and sharing data from Park Accessibility Information Review (PAIR) assessments. He has taken that information and skills to his term with the Outer Banks as he completed more PAIR assessments on sites within the Outer Banks Group; the information gathered from the PAIR assessments will be shared with the public so that individuals can benefit from betterinformed trip planning for themselves and their family.

Disaster Response While in service with OUBA, a beach house collapsed at Rodanthe, and Ian was quick to spring into action with disaster clean-up efforts. Ian, along with other team members from OUBA, quickly removed trash and house debris from the beach, preventing refuse from being swept into the ocean. After service, Ian obtained his PLC status and is currently working at Redwood National and State Parks as a seasonal employee before utilizing his AmeriCorps Education Award to return to school in pursuit of a master’s degree.

Historic Preservation Jackie Cullen is currently serving her second term with Springfield Armory National Historic Site; her first term with SPAR was 25 weeks from 2/10/25 – 8/1/25, and she started her second term on 8/4/25, which is anticipated to end on 10/3/25. In both terms, Jackie has done a lot of outreach and tabling at various events and organizations to promote the Springfield Armory within local communities. Beyond highlighting the site and its programming access for everyone, Jackie has also been able to meet numerous local elementary, middle, and high school students. In this capacity, Jackie has been able to present age-appropriate information and share with students NPS careers and pathways. While at a natural resource career event for local high school students, Jackie additionally shared with students her own personal career path into NPS via AmeriCorps service opportunities and the benefits of PLC hiring status.

Ian Phillips smiling on a shaded porch. He wears a t-shirt with the conservation legacy logo, green pants, and a panamastyle hat. Behind him, scaffolding surrounds the Cape Hatteras lighthouse as it undergoes restoration.

Jackie Cullen (standing and wearing a dark green polo shirt) talking with students at a natural resource career event for local high school students; promoting careers and pathways for NPS, and sharing her own personal experience with others as an AmeriCorps Member at Springfield Armory National Historic Site.

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INDIVIDUAL PLACEMENT HIGHLIGHTS Since the program’s inception

Katherine (Kate) McCarthy served multiple terms with NCRO. In her time there she created a data-gathering template to review a park’s website, in which she made note of the webpage’s content such as its listing of usability features, whether or not the videos had audio descriptions and closed captions, and alternative programming options. The information Kate compiled could then inform the site of what information is missing and potential gaps in visitor services. Kate also played a significant part in creating a template to gather and record information about the physical features of a park such as trail conditions (width, materials, distance, and incline). Last but not least, Kate also helped to develop guidance on how parks could better communicate to the public the usability features of a park; giving future visitors the information they need to plan their trips. The success and impacts of Kate’s multiple terms influenced the creation of the YES-PAIR cohort.

Ethan Hoke and the West Virginia Department of Rehab showed us new pathways to connect those going through physical rehab services with job and career exploration opportunities. As part of his physical rehabilitation services, Ethan’s Employment Services Manager funded a summer service term at New River National Park & Preserve. This allowed Ethan to explore various career opportunities, post-injury, in the fields of conservation and natural resources. As a result of his experience in the YES program, Ethan decided to pursue a change in his major to study natural resource management with a goal of finding a career in the park system.

Katherine McCarthy

Ethan Hoke

Delicia Rocha

Olga Fritz-Pulford (not pictured) developed birdwatching kits that can be used by visitors from the limited mobility, impaired vision, Deaf/Hard of Hearing, and neurodivergent communities while visiting Agate Fossil Beds National Monument.

Serving at Big Thicket National Preserve, Delicia (Deli) Rocha was one of the first YES cohort members. Having a hearing loss herself, Deli’s service focused on strengthening the park’s outreach to and connection with the local Deaf community. To that end, Deli’s efforts significantly contributed to an increased understanding of and expanded services to this community. For example, Deli would support the Interpretative Ranger’s programming to be more welcoming and usable for the Deaf community. Deli also planned Big Thicket’s ASL Fishing Day – a fishing clinic for the local community that featured Park Rangers that could sign as well as ASL Interpreters.

During the Summer 2024, we were thrilled to welcome Deli back as one of the first members of the YES-PAIR cohort. In this capacity, Deli served at San Antonion Missions National Historical Park gathering data, photos, and creating descriptions on the site’s features to aid in future visitors’ trip-planning.

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QUOTES “I can only offer the highest praise for McKenzie, her dedication, creativity, and her ability to go above and beyond in everything she does. She is a wonderful asset to the park, and everyone enjoys working with her. McKenzie not only brings drive and determination but also an intelligent mind and a wonderful sense of humor. There were many occasions when she would come to me to ask if there was anything she could help with. She has set the bar very high for any other candidate to follow in her footsteps, and I know that she has left a lasting impression on everyone here at the park.”

-Stacy Humphreys, Abraham Lincoln Birthplace, on YES Member Mckenzie Caudill “I graduated undergrad knowing that I wanted to work in conservation somewhere, and this has been a great start to that career goal. Now I have gotten the chance to experience so many different plants that I have not learned about yet. I come from the desert, which has its own gorgeous plants, but this was next level and I loved being able to experience it, and now know that I would like to keep going in this field.”

-Kira Miller, served with Friends of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

““I knew I was interested in working with the NPS prior to this internship, my time in this role has strengthened my belief that this is work I would like to continue pursuing, but has broadened my horizons to also pursuing work with other agencies in the DOI. I also gained a deeper appreciation for resource management and would be interested in pursuing other roles (and higher education) in museum studies with the hopes of working as a curator.”

-Maddi Whiting (Summer/Fall 2024 YES at PRWI) “During his time here, Ian became the park’s subject matter expert on accessibility questions and needs. On numerous occasions, he used his training and knowledge to advise other division leads, other projects, and provide sound and actionable suggestions when requested.”

-Scott Babinowich, site Supervisor of Ian Phillips at The Outer Banks Group “This internship increased my interest in science communication. I love being able to engage in conservation work, but this internship helped me realize the importance of being able to communicate the work I am doing with the public to help them care about it as well.”

-Natalie Chiapperi (Fall 2024/Winter 2025 YES at ACAD)

Wooden staircase at Grandview’s Tunnel Trail, taken to show guests the extent of the stairs.

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PROGRAM IMPROVEMENTS

Members removing a man-made rock dam from the stream.

PROGRAM IMPROVEMENTS This year marks key milestones with our first-ever year-long member and the launch of two VISTA placements— one at NAMA and one at ACAD. Stewards remains committed to the value and impact of the YES program; with continued national funding support and NPS park units incorporating YES projects into their budgets, Stewards looks forward to strengthening the foundation for a national Youth Empowerment Stewards program modeled after successful NPS partnerships such as Scientists in the Park (SIP) and Community Volunteer Ambassadors (CVA). Looking ahead to 2026, Stewards will focus on assisting parks with implementing the Explore Act, fostering longer-term service opportunities that deepen member impact, and pursuing new funding pathways to ensure sustained program growth.

EVALUATIONS 60 miles of trail maintained 19 outreach & Education materials developed/ improved 629 individuals attended 14 Community Engagement events organized by or facilitated by YES members 456 individuals attend Outreach/ Education events supported by or organized by YES members

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DEMOGRAPHICS 14 members Age 18 7.1%

1 25-30 21.4%

Education Level

3

Professional / Graduate Degree 21.4%

7

HS Diploma 14.3%

2

10

3 2

19-24 71.4%

Some College 14.3%

1 Associate's Degree 7.1%

6 Bachelor's Degree 42.9%

Ethnicity

Gender 10

12

9

10

8

8

6

6

4

0

4

3 2

2

14.3%

64.3%

21.4%

Male

Female

Non-binary 10%

10

2

78.6%

0

6%

66%

14.3%

1

7.1%

N on -H is pa ni c/ N on -L at in H o is pa ni c/ La Pr tin ef er o no tt o an sw er

2

11

6%

10%

CONCLUSION CONCLUSION The Youth Empowerment Stewards program continued to reach new milestones in 2025, with the addition of our first-ever YES VISTA's at National Mall and Memorial Parks and Acadia National Park.

Another first for 2025 is taking place at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve hosting our first year-long YES project. These accomplishments highlight the strong support for the YES program and demonstrate its growing impact on parks and participants alike.

Looking ahead to 2026, Stewards is committed to supporting parks in implementing the Explore Act and ensuring that parks remain open, safe, and welcoming to all. Longer-term placements, new and innovative partnerships, and expanded funding opportunities will provide greater continuity for YES project work and create deeper service experiences for members. The 2026 Request for Project Proposals is now open and Stewards encourages all interested parks to apply.

Stewards is inviting Parks to submit an application to host a YES member in 2026. There will be two (2) info sessions that will highlight project examples, share success stories, hear testimonials from Parks who have hosted a YES member as well as hear from our resource partners within the PAVE Office.

We invite you to RSVP to one of the invitations below: Join us for informational sessions on: November 18: Https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/11bb1226d510-4988-82a6-5fa980ffe58d@07e1930b-c9f9-496a9efe-bab7b528e163 January 14 Https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/090a6ebbedd6-415d-a954-600ed9d118f1@07e1930b-c9f9-496a9efe-bab7b528e163

Sydney Hartley, using a level and measuring tape to collect data on a trail’s width and cross-slope; the data collected with help all visitors do better informed trip planning.

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APPENDIX A & B: IP Bios and Press Kira Miller – Kira Miller moved from Tucson, AZ to Volcano, HI to serve a 17 week position with Friends of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Kira’s service term included removing a lot of invasive species, primarily invasive Himalayan Yellow Ginger, which was limiting the paths of travel for park visitors. In total, Kira and her team treated 58,772 invasive ginger plants! In addition to removing physical barriers, such as the invasive ginger, Kira also served to make sure that trail signage was in good working order with clear information.

Sydney Harley – Also serving a 17-week term with Friends of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Sydney focused on gathering videos, pictures, and interviews of Kapuna seniors so that their stories and knowledge of the land can be preserved. Additionally, Sydney created 50 social media posts for the site to use during her term and beyond. Since completing service, Sydney has gone on to be a Science Communication Intern at Glacier National Park during the 2025 Summer and Fall seasons.

Arika AJ Abbott – AJ served a 20 week service term with Keweenaw National Historical Park in Calumet, MI. Using Universal Design techniques, AJ expanded upon the site’s hands-on learning resources by developing interactive materials for pop-up presentations, such as an interactive and educational display about stamp sands. AJ also updated resources and information on the park’s website so that others could discover and learn about the topic from their home. Last but not least AJ also provided updated content for the website so that future visitors could do better informed trip planning.

Maddi Whiting – During their 20 week term, Maddi Whiting focused on the accessibility of park media content. Creating new and/or enhancing existing multi-media content for the park, Maddi improved the park’s media content making it easier for all to enjoy.

This included adding audio descriptions to park videos, adding alternative text and photo captions for all photos and video content. Maddi created a new film about the park in which she played a part in every step of the video’s creation from writing the script, to capturing all of the video, to editing and adding closed captions, to reaching out to another member to collaborate on the voice-over narration of the final video which can be found: https://www.nps.gov/prwi/learn/photosmultimedia/multimedia.htm . Maddi is now a Visual Information Specialist at Gateway National Recreation Area.

Leundria Brooks – Leundria served a 25 week term at the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail where she focused on collecting data and information to create and/or improve virtual exhibits, guides, and presentations about the historic trail. Leundria looked at various accessibility factors of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail and communicated with the site her findings on what could be improved as the site prepared for important events such as the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights March, and the 35th anniversary of the ADA. Leundria is excited to use her AmeriCorps Education Award to start Graduate School in pursuit of a law degree.

McKenzie Caudill – Over her 25 week term at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace in Kentucky, McKenzie focused on making content and activities for school groups visiting the sites to be more . This also included improving upon and adding to content for school groups visiting virtually. Additionally, McKenzie created a guide for the site that showcases all of the accessibility features of the park; the guide includes awareness about and tips on how interact with and welcome visitors of all ability levels.

Ian Phillips, served his first term at Redwood National & State Parks where he served on multiple projects throughout his term, such as conducting accessibility audits and planning inclusive interpretative programs. During his term at Redwood, Ian was also exposed to several different departments within the NPS, such as maintenance, education and interpretation, and visitor services.

This experience and exposure influenced Ian to seek out a second AmeriCorps service opportunity in which he served his second YES term with The Outer Banks Group in NC. Ian used his skill set and experiences from his first term, and brought those with him to his second term. Both of Ian’s service terms at NPS sites in turn influenced Ian to seek PLC designation with the goal of going back to Redwood National & State Parks as a seasonal employee for the Summer 2025. Ian accomplished that goal and is eagerly waiting to start a new seasonal position with fort Frederica National Monument in Georgia. Beyond the positive impacts Ian made upon his service sites, he also serves as a great example that increased access to service opportunities within the NPS can influence and foster future career paths.

YES VISTA Members: Arturo Barrett at ACAD Katie Greenstein at NAMA

Members currently in service, but not yet completed, during reporting period: · Kyndra Crookshanks · Sarah Jane Wilhide · Karen Isabel Luna · Sarah Guyer · Dulcie Rosales-Foster

PRESS AND MEDIA Natural Resources in Prince William Forest Park is a video collaboration between Maddi Whiting and Ian Phillips. Maddi wrote the script, shot and edited all of the footage, added closed captioning and worked with Ian on the voice-over narration of the video. https://www.nps.gov/prwi/learn/photosmultimedia/multimedia.htm

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