Spending part of their summer undertaking tasks like removing invasive species, restoring boardwalks, and improving wildlife habitat, five environmentally-minded young women from area high schools, including Emily Signore of Bristol, gained valuable experience while helping numerous conservation groups with their service. Besides Ms. Signore, the other members include Amber Arnold (West Greenwich), Madeleine Donald (Providence), Abigail Paull (Providence), and Rachel Simone (Riverside), as well as leaders Courtney Naughton (North Kingstown) and Deanna Phan (North Kingstown).

This is the first year that Audubon’s Youth Conservation League has been comprised completely of women. The service they perform is critical to the parks and conservation properties that they steward. The work can be labor intense and challenging in the summer heat and rain, but the experience gained is often rewarding and has inspired many environmental careers over the years.

In fact, the two co-leaders were both former members themselves and understand the daily challenges of working in the conservation field. “We are in a time when we so desperately need people to connect with and become invested in the world around them,” said Ms. Naughton. “You see a poorly kept trail and realize that it is one less way to get the general population into nature, because while untouched wilderness can be good for the species that live there, it makes the outdoors less accessible to humans.”

“There is a lot of talk right now about climate change and what is going to need to be done to survive it, and it can feel really overwhelming and hopeless. But this job, while bringing awareness to the issues, also teaches you how much even a small crew of dedicated people can do to combat it.” 

Managed and supported by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island staff, the goal of the project is to create summer jobs for high school students that entail outdoor stewardship work around the state and address three critical needs for Rhode Island.

Local partners in the Youth Conservation League include the Barrington Land Conservancy, the R.I. Department of Environmental Management, the R.I. Natural History Survey, Richmond Rural Preservation Land Trust, Narrow River Land Trust, and The Nature Conservancy.