Student Conservation Association
Description
The Student Conservation Association is the largest provider of hands-on environmental conservation programs for youth and young adults in the United States.
Its mission is to build the next generation of conservation leaders and inspire lifelong stewardship of the environment and communities by engaging young people in hands-on service projects. Participants protect and restore national parks, marine sanctuaries, cultural landmarks and community natural areas across the country. Work includes trail construction, wildlife research, habitat restoration and invasive species removal.
Its programs include conservation crews, internships, a wildfire program and community programs such as the Conservation Leadership Corps and Urban Green in cities including Seattle, Chicago, Pittsburgh and New York. Every summer it places young people into crews on national parks, wilderness areas and other federally managed lands. It also runs shorter and longer conservation internships with agencies such as the National Park Service.
The organization was founded in 1957 by Liz Putnam while she was a student at Vassar College, modeled on the Civilian Conservation Corps. It has since provided more than 100,000 young people with service opportunities. It operates a national office in Arlington, Virginia, along with regional offices around the country.
Latest news
How One SCA Alum Pivoted To Protect The Boundary Waters For Otto Devine, who grew up in Ely near the Boundary Waters, the SCA’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Fellowship in the Superior National Forest offered a new way to experience a familiar landscape. Instead of simply enjoying the...
25 Sep 2026
The Power Of Place-Based Conservation Programs In The Pacific Across Hawaiʻi, American Samoa, Guam and the Mariana Islands, communities are confronting a growing set of external pressures, including climate change, biodiversity loss, increasing visitor impacts on public lands and the urgent need...
22 Sep 2026
More Than A Snapshot: Fall Photos That Celebrate Our Great Outdoors
Capture The Magic Of Autumn The fall foliage that autumn brings has a way of stopping you in your tracks. Whether you’re wandering beneath blazing maples in New England, hiking through golden aspens in the Rockies or watching the fog lift off a Midwestern lake, fall invites us to slow down, look...
22 Sep 2026
A Beginner’s Guide To Wildlife Watching This Fall
Reconnect With Nature This Fall As temperatures cool and leaves change color, the outdoors offers countless opportunities to reconnect with nature and discover the wildlife that shares our public lands. The best part? You don’t need to be a wildlife expert to get started. Autumn is one of the...
22 Sep 2026
Alum Spotlight: Chai Blair-Stahn
Full Circle Conservation: A Story of Service, Leadership and Connection Chai Blair-Stahn developed a deep connection to the natural world through camping trips with his family as a child and the diverse landscapes he experienced growing up, including California, South Dakota and Arizona. In high...
19 Aug 2026
ATLANTA – The Student Conservation Association (SCA) today announced that the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund awarded the organization $100,000 to preserve the oral history of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta as part of their Preserving Black Churches initiative. Ebenezer...
10 Aug 2026
Similar organizations
The National Wildlife Federation is America's largest and oldest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization.
Plantlife is a wild plant and fungi conservation charity, founded in 1989 and working across the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.
Power Shift Network was a North American network of youth-led environmental and social justice organizations working on climate change.