CONSERVATION LE GACY STEWARDS INDIVIDUAL PLACEMENTS NATIONAL

FRANCES MARION AND SUMTER NATIONAL FORESTS VISTA MEMBER MARGARET CORLEY, ANDREW PICKENS RANGER DISTRICT

Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) member Margaret Corley completed multiple Legacy Roads and Trails grant proposals. These were complicated at times by the need for information or signatures from specifi c individuals (partners and agency sta alike), and she was able to obtain all of this in time to meet deadlines. This has strengthened relationships between the US Forest Service and each partner represented in the proposals. She drafted excellent proposals for each respective grant, performing solid research and clearly articulating the needs of each. In addition, she had the opportunity to participate in community outreach and education e orts.

Corley was very successful in gathering this information and getting it logged in the system with previous years’ data. She has also identifi ed instances where more quality info can be collected by partners during the year, so plans are forming to facilitate this in the coming year. She did a great job balancing district needs with requests from o -site programs to assist with their data entry, as this was a very time-consuming process but didn’t compromise on-site operations at all. Following the collection of this data, Corley also encouraged and worked with district sta to nominate four of our outstanding volunteer partners for national awards to honor their commitment and contributions to the district.

Corley has continued to foster the partnership with Fair Play Camp School in their recreation site adoption. Furthermore, she has worked to identify educational and youth development groups that have not historically engaged with the Forest for outreach purposes. She has additionally worked to update interpretive signage across the districts to better refl ect the story of the forest and how to recreate responsibly.

She worked with several partner organizations to apply for grants from the Dominion Energy Environmental Education fund and American Trail’s Legacy Roads and Trails grants. She also facilitated the execution of the past VISTA’s Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative grant and grants received through Tread Lightly!. She also crafted, edited, and updated volunteer agreements and supplemental attachments for eleven di erent groups and organizations across both districts. Additionally, she has onboarded multiple individual volunteers in diverse program areas. Furthermore, she has worked frequently with the Recreation sta and volunteer groups to organize workdays to get specifi c projects in each district completed.

Of her work, her supervisor refl ects “An understated success has been Meg’s continued enthusiasm for participating in district and community events. Through this, she has demonstrated her dedication to the agency’s mission and initiatives.”