Generation Green teens build new boardwalk at Taylor Creek

A new boardwalk on the Taylor Creek Rainbow Trail was officially opened on Friday as Generation Green celebrated the results of their labor with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The 100 foot boardwalk replaces an often flooded path around the popular stream profile chamber, a path further weakened by beavers boring underneath what used to be full of asphalt.

Generation Green, a group of South Tahoe High students ages 15-18, have spent the last eight weeks working for the Forest Service on several different projects from restoration and weed removal, to fish relocation to the new Upper Truckee River. The summer started off with a four-day backpacking/camping trip and ended with a celebration of their successes with a graduation on August 18.

The program targets low-income, diverse and youth-with-a barrier students and provides them with job opportunities, while building work ethics, job skills, leadership, experience and teamwork skills. The teens are shown a variety of jobs found in natural resource fields and they are able to connect with Forest Service mentors.

USFS educational leaders Joy Barney, Megan Dee and Gina Thompson worked with the students all summer and they celebrated the successful completion of the new walkway as did the agency's engineers who guided the students through the building process.

"This project has helped me consider what i want to do later in life," said 17-year-old Moises Ramos. He now wants to look at a career in engineering and building, thanks to his mentors and experience on the boardwalk.

"This means a lot to the site as this area of the Rainbow Trail always flooded and it was the only place for people to walk with the chamber was closed," said Katherine Daly of the Visitor Center. "This permanent fix will be so nice for people to use."

Daly had one of the Generation Green graduates work for her at the Visitor's Center all summer, a job the 16-year-old student said was a great one.

The Generation Green team will continue their work during the school year as they are also a club at South Tahoe High that meets on Tuesdays during lunch. President Kale Spina and Vice-President Sierra Bedwell were part of the boardwalk building team.