NORTH CAROLINA — Oconaluftee Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center and the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indian Tribe have a tradition of leveraging shared resources and expertise. Strengthening this already successful partnership, Oconaluftee recently hosted EBCI Principal Chief Michell Hicks and the EBCI Tribal Council. 

Oconaluftee Job Corps is a critical resource for education and career-oriented pathways for EBCI tribal youth. By resolution of the Tribal Council, the center was designated an official member of the Qualla Workforce Development Board, whose primary mission is to identify the education and skills youth need to maintain an effective local workforce and to promote economic growth within North Carolina’s Qualla Boundary (sometimes called the Cherokee Indian Reservation).

Oconaluftee Job Corps is presently updating a co-enrollment agreement with Cherokee High School to help design the school’s horticulture and forestry program for students grades nine to eleven. Under this new curriculum, in grade 12, students can enroll in Oconaluftee’s forestry conservation and firefighting training programs. 

Since the EBCI assumed leadership of the forestry program within North Carolina’s Qualla Boundary, it requires trained tribal youth to work as timber markers/cruisers, conduct forestry plots for data analysis, and manage prescribed burns to address the detrimental impacts of forest fires. In addition to its forestry conservation and firefighting training program, Oconaluftee Job Corps offers an advanced forestry technician trade. 

Oconaluftee leveraged its partnerships through the region to broaden participation to include the National Forests of North Carolina, Forest Inventory and Analysis, and the Southern Research Station, headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn. This participation, along with the attendance of representatives from the Tribal Employment Rights Office and Cherokee Central Schools, brought together crucial representatives to the table to strategize best practices. 

Nantahala Ranger District Ranger Troy Waskey, SRS Deputy Program Manager Jeff Turner, and SRS FIA Analyst Sam Lambert shared opportunities for enrolled EBCI members to obtain career positions with the USDA Forest Service, both locally and through the U.S., in programs as varied as recreation, timber, archeology, wildlife and special uses. Tribal Employment Rights Office representative Shayna Williams shared ways in which TERO could support the partnership with internships, job shadowing and soft skills training. 

The EBCI also needs electricians, plumbers, masons and roofers for construction and maintenance projects. Students in Oconaluftee’s Job Corps’ Building Construction Technology and Electrical Pre-Apprenticeship programs, supervised by seasoned EBCI supervisors, have the ability to complete this needed work. 

This meeting demonstrates how a commitment to mutual growth will contribute to the economic vitality of the EBCI and employment opportunities for its youth. It is yet another example of how Forest Service Job Corps students support and conduct work that enhances both the nation’s public lands, rural communities and neighboring Tribes while providing leading-edge social, educational and conservation training, and pathways to prosperity for underserved youth. 

Oconaluftee’s efforts support the agency’s commitment to honor the federal government’s treaty and trust responsibilities to protect tribal sovereignty and revitalize tribal communities while directly supporting the agency’s out-come oriented goal of delivering benefits to the public while sustaining our nation’s forests and grasslands. 

The Job Corps program is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2024 and the public is invited to attend Oconaluftee Job Corps Open house on Aug. 9, 2024.