My Americorps Service so Far

Americorps • April 26, 2023

It has been a busy season since I started my Americorps service with MUCC. In just four months with the MUCC I have assisted in four OTG events engaging 122 volunteers in wildlife habitat enhancements. I’ve attended a few outreach events such as the Quiet Adventures Symposium to spread MUCC’s message of conservation and attended job fairs to help find like-minded educators to teach at MUCC’s youth camp. MUCC has also been kind enough to help me achieve my hunter’s education certificate, a new pesticide certification, fishing education skills and some chainsaw safety training and techniques. They’ve also helped me attend a few conferences as well such as the DNR Nature Summit and Shorelines and Shallows.

I was also able to attend MUCC’s annual convention in Mt.Pleasant and was able to see how such a large organization is able to function, as well as meet many of the members that make the MUCC what it is today. It truly was a great experience as someone trying to get their foot in the door in the conservation field. I’m very happy with how my service has been so far and cant wait to see where it leads me later in the year, more experiences are on the horizon. As MUCC’s engagement specialist, I have to remind you: Don’t forget to get involved with On the Ground this summer. We have a lot of great events coming up, our next big event is OTG’s 200th project in Manistee County! We’ll be planting native plugs in the Manistee-Huron National Forest, go register and hope to see you there!

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On the Ground Junior: Spring Event Recap

By Katelyn Helsel • May 7, 2025
Our student volunteers have been hard at work improving wildlife habitat on public lands! MUCC’s On the Ground Junior (OTG Jr.) program, a subset of the On the Ground program, is a fully funded field trip program that brings grade-school classrooms into the outdoors to improve fish and wildlife habitat in their local communities. Through activities like native plantings, brush pile building, and invasive species removal, students gain hands-on experience with conservation and positively impact the world around them. Students also participate in educational activities like predator-prey tag to teach them about population dynamics and other natural resources concepts. So far this spring season, MUCC welcomed 69 students, teachers, and chaperones who participated in multiple OTG Jr projects with more on the way! In total, they improved over 12 acres of wildlife habitat. Read on for a recap of each OTG Jr project and see what all our awesome student volunteers have been up to. 
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