Ashland Watershed Youth Training & Employment Program

A 4-week, paid, hands-on restoration learning experience for juniors and seniors from Rogue Valley high schools.

About the Program

Spend Your Summer Making A Difference!

Each summer, Lomakatsi Restoration Project invites juniors and seniors from Medford, Central Point, Phoenix, Talent and Ashland area high schools to apply for employment to gain hands-on training and educational experiences in ecological restoration and ecosystem management. Put on your boots and gloves and get to work restoring the forests and streams of southwest Oregon.

Get Employed!
During this four-week intensive, program participants will be employed by Lomakatsi’s hands-on workforce training and environmental education program. Selected students will be paid competitive hourly wages to conduct work projects four days per week.

Gain Valuable Workforce Experience!
Under the guidance of Lomakatsi’s professional workforce trainers and guest natural resource specialists, participants will take part in stewardship-related activities that include ecological restoration, technical forestry, botany, invasive species management, ecological monitoring, fire ecology, stream restoration, watershed management, wildlife habitat restoration, trail maintenance, soil science, and more. Engaging in positive work experiences and teamwork development, program participants will develop professional skills, a sense of responsibility and self-sufficiency, a long-term community service and stewardship ethic, knowledge and increased interest in natural resource academic study, and the ability to obtain future employment in natural resource management. Participants will also gain exposure to STEM subjects (i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), which have been identified as being paramount to our nation’s ability to remain innovative and competitive in the years to come.

Program Dates

2023 Session

June 26 – July 21  |  $16 per hour |  32 hours per week. For the 2023 flyer and application, click here.

2022 Session

The 10th anniversary of the Ashland Watershed Youth Program ran June 20-July 14, 2022. Thanks and congratulations to the 2022 program graduates! Visit our Facebook page to view photos and updates from previous years.

How To Apply

Most applicants choose to apply online. A Word/PDF application is also available with instructions on how to scan and email or print and mail/drop off at our office.

Working Across the Landscape
This program is integrated into Lomakatsi’s long-term landscape-scale forest and watershed restoration projects through established stewardship and cooperative agreements with federal agencies. From the top to the bottom, the Ashland Watershed and surrounding land are utilized as outdoor laboratories in which youth participants learn about and help restore numerous environments.

Restoration skills and training areas

  • Forest, stream, and wetland restoration
  • Ecological forestry and by-product utilization
  • Cultural resource monitoring
  • Native grass seeding and vegetation planting
  • Wildlife habitat improvement
  • Noxious weed removal
  • Fish passage and habitat enhancement
  • Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge
  • Forest thinning for habitat health and fuels reduction
  • Fish monitoring/counting
  • Technical forestry skills
  • Scientific monitoring
  • GPS mapping
  • Trail management
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