Students and staff of the Oconaluftee Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center helped with a trail restoration project on the popular Forney Ridge Trail recently in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

After hiking in to the work site, students, National Park Service staff, Friends of the Smokies, and other volunteers from across the Southeast got to work digging water bars, breaking and setting rock, stabilizing banks and moving soil.

Naturalization, restoration and recreation maintenance are vital to the Civilian Conservation Center’s special conservation mission. Hands-on projects in natural resources are integral to fostering these ideals in the nation’s youth.

“It is great to see public land management agencies supporting one another in a unique partnership for the good of the land and America’s young people. National Public Lands Day 2011 was a huge success both for the trail and for the mind,” said Holly Krake, Oconaluftee’s liaison specialist.