RALEIGH -- Over 70 members of North Carolina’s Young Offenders Forest Conservation Program are helping victims in western North Carolina counties dig out after yesterday’s (January 27) snow storm.

In addition, the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources (NCDFR) is sending a regional incident management team to assist in the emergency response effort after the storm. Between 14 and 20 inches of snow fell in some western counties, bringing down powerlines and trees. Governor Jim Hunt has declared a state of emergency for all 100 North Carolina counties in the wake of the storm, which also brought heavy rain and flooding to other parts of the state.

In areas hardest hit by the snowfall, NCDFR and Young Offenders Forest Conservation crews will be using chainsaws to remove debris from roadways to allow emergency vehicles to pass through. Local rangers across the region are also assisting in anyway possible.

The Young Offenders Forest Conservation Program was created in 1985 by the Division of Forest Resources and the North Carolina Division of Prisons primarily to increase the state’s firefighting response. The program trains selected inmates in a variety of forestry related vocations--including carpentry, chainsaw operation and trail building -- so that they can find their way into meaningful jobs rather than back into prison. Participants are minimum security, non-assaultive felons between ages 18 and 22. They are supervised by Division of Forest Resources and Division of Prisons officials and receive vocational training from instructors from Mayland Community College.

Young Offenders Forest Conservation crews have assisted in several ice storm and hurricane clean-up efforts across the state in recent years, including the recent floods in western North Carolina and clean-up following hurricanes Opal, Fran and Bertha.

For more information, contact Lisa Schell at (919) 733-2162 ext. 262 or (919) 851-5540 or Dale Brittain at (704) 438-6267.

Date Posted: January 30