VERMONT—Staff of the Green Mountain & Finger Lakes National Forests put their knowledge to the test this summer—their American Sign Language knowledge, that is—while hosting a CorpsTHAT crew of young adults who completed a variety of natural resource improvement projects.

This is not the first crew of deaf or hard of hearing individuals to work on the forest, and it won’t be the last. That’s why several Forest Service staff brushed up on their ASL prior to the team’s arrival. Through a partnership with CorpsTHAT, eight forest employees joined a 10-week ASL course this past winter. They learned basics such as finger spelling and greetings, but also focused on vocabulary important to the outdoors. This is the first year forest employees took ASL classes. and they are likely to continue.

“I am proud of the Forest Service for supporting and challenging staff to learn a new language so that we can best welcome our partners and publics to the national forest,” said Holly Knox, Forest Service Recreation program manager. “I am also excited to see that staff who had no formal ASL training also pushed themselves to learn as much ASL as possible while working with the crew this summer. Many staff are already looking to sign up for the next round of ASL classes!”

When the CorpsTHAT crew arrived this summer, four of the Forest Service employees they’d be working with had participated in the class and were excited to use what they had learned.

“I was able to use a lot of what I learned in the ASL class with CorpsTHAT—which helped to foster deeper connections with the crew members and get more work accomplished,” said Jessie Prucnal, pre-sale forester. “While there were mistakes, there was also patience as we all learned to cross language barriers.”

They certainly accomplished a lot, all right! The CorpsTHAT crew repaired a beloved trail, planted an area in need of revegetation and pulled invasive wild chervil before training a Vermont Youth Conservation Corps crew to take over—all in just a month. Green Mountain National Forest staff can’t wait to have another crew back next year.

CorpsTHAT is an educational and conservation service organization working with the Forest Service to provide youth who are deaf or hard of hearing with activities and projects around stewardship, job training and outdoor opportunities. The partnership will connect the youth to conservation and outdoor career pathways that historically barred people who are deaf due to language barriers and discrimination.