Fittingly, the idea for Conservation Corps North Bay took root on a running trail in the Marin Headlands back in 1981. Richard Hammond was taking his daily run and noticed the trails were in disrepair. He began formulating a summer project for his teenage sons and their friends.
His hope was that this small project would instill in his boys a sense of personal responsibility for maintaining Marin’s abundant natural resources and perhaps prepare them for careers in community service.
After the success of his summer project and spurred by the floods in 1982, Hammond enlisted the aid of forward thinking community leaders to create a program designed to engage and empower youth by teaching them to cultivate and preserve the environment.
From these humble beginnings, the country’s first local non-profit conservation corps was born.