2018-19 WCC Crews

Crew Lead: Haly Rylko

Crew Lead: Matthew Evinger

Matthew removes weeds and makes water cleaner for salmon and plants trees where the weeds would have been. A joy for Matthew is to be able to be in the wild every day which most of us are not able to do, but Matthew encourages you to get outside and help the wild just like he does. If you see a sunny day go outside, don’t stay inside when you can still do small things like picking up trash. In Matthew’s job there is this cool invention called the raincoat; it protects him from falling droplets of water. As you can see Matthew is not afraid of the elements.

Matthew describes his job as planting trees, removing weeds, and helping the Earth. Here are a few reasons why that this job is very fun. First, Matthew says he likes it because he gets to work outside. He also thinks his job is fun because he gets to work with plants and people and teach them about the environment. Some of the other things that he does in his job is teaching people about the environment and finding ways to work together. He has been in this job for seven years and has rarely had a thought of leaving. Sometimes he even goes on backpacking trips to help trails, and now after seven years of doing this job he still loves to do it.

Matthew loves being able to go outside and teach people about nature and he helps his community by making the world more beautiful and cleaner. He cares about helping both the environment and the people in Washington to have access to the wild for the future.

Excerpted from When you Think of the Wild, Who do you Think of?

Marinn Carpenter

Marinn joined Washington Conservation Corps in October of 2017 upon graduating from Western Washington University with a degree in Environmental Science and a minor in Anthropology. Her first AmeriCorps term was spent doing restoration projects with Pierce Conservation District. This year will be spent as the Assistant Supervisor of one of the two WCC AmeriCorps crews serving King Conservation District. She looks forward to all the learning opportunities this year will present. In her spare time she enjoys hiking, camping, and volunteering with local environmental agencies.

Delaney Corcoran

Delaney Corcoran graduated from Western Washington University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science. In October 2018, she started a year of service with KCD as a Washington Conservation Corps Crew member. In her crew, Delaney holds the position of crew photographer. She grew up in King County and loves the opportunity to help restore the riparian areas of the place which she calls home. When she is not working on restoration projects, she enjoys traveling, hiking, swimming, and watching movies with her loved ones. Delaney’s respect and love for the history, culture, and beauty of the natural environment of the Pacific Northwest drives her to devote her life to its restoration and conservation.

Patrick Wallin

Patrick Wallin graduated from University of Puget Sound in May 2018 with a degree in Biology and a minor in Environmental Policy and Decision Making. In college he pursued a variety of environmental research opportunities including presence of microplastics in the digestive tracts of two species of benthic fish in the Puget Sound. He always been interested in conservation and is excited to begin on the path to a career in conservation with WCC.

Jonathan Barr

Jonathan aims to follow the beauty within life and do what he can to bring forth a brighter world and make a change. “This is where I’ve spread out my roots. In these lands. The lands of Cascadia. The lands dappled and by mysterious coastal rainforests. The lands ruled by the kingdoms of the plants and the flows of the waters. This is where my relationships exist, this is where my actions may heal. Through this existence a calling to restore has come to me, to usher in the next generation of salmon, as well as the next generation of humanity. It is here that I will create, in is here that I will liberate the beautiful songs lying dormant amongst the fallen trees lying throughout the forests. It is here that I, working alongside all my fellow companions of the earth, will shape a future filled with hope.”

Lorenzo Cinalli

Lorenzo joined KCD in October 2018 as a WCC crew member. He comes from Boston, and is a recent graduate of the University of Massachusetts Boston with a Bachelor of Science in environmental science. Lorenzo is passionate about climate change and environmental restoration. He is looking forward to creating positive change during his year of service, as well as learning about restoration practices. His favorite wetland is located by the Neponset River. When he is not saving the environment he enjoys baking, playing dungeons and dragons with his crew members, and voting in elections.

Beatrice McAlister

“I’m Beatrice McAlister and there’s nothing you can do about it.” She believes restoring the ecosystem and ensuring the viability of earth’s resources for future generations is the most worthwhile thing she can do, and she also happens to enjoy doing just that. She likes people, places, and things, and in her spare time she enjoys doing whatever pleases her in that moment.

Allana McCollum

My name is Allana McCollum, and this is my first term with Washington Conservation Corps and the King Conservation District. I chose to do restoration work because I believe that preserving natural area and wildlife is very crucial for future generations. I have come to appreciate and respect native plants since I started working here, and I hope to educate others of their importance.

Sydney Freeman

Sydney was born and raised in Washington State. She has been around nature her whole life and has seen the changes humans have brought to the area. She has always felt the need to help in some way, so when she saw the opportunity to join WCC she took it. She hopes to make and change and learn a lot from this program and that it will steer her in the right direction for a career path.