Bishop - Youth dig in to help with flood clean-up

Roy Orihuela and Whitney Pate of the Eastern Sierra Youth Conservation Corps work to clear out mud in Tom Van Sant’s home in Oak Creek on Thursday. The team spent the day working to remove debris from two residents homes. Photo by Becky Hutto

7-29-2008

Community members have been the driving force behind the effort to get the Oak Creek flood victims back on their feet, from helping neighbors find housing after the flood, to feeding and clothing flood victims and helping to shovel mud, and move boulders and trees out of homes.
Stepping up to lend a hand to the massive clean-up effort has been the Eastern Sierra Youth Conservation Crew (ESYCC) and two representatives from the Bishop Office of the Bureau of Land Management, who traveled to Independence to help some homeowners muck out mud from in and around their homes last Thursday.
The ESYCC workers were Joe Blumberg, Equal Kennedy, Roy Orihuela, Whitney Pate, Kayla Nauman, Bonnie Brown and Ronnie Stockman.

The Eastern Sierra Youth Conservation Corps, (back row l-r) Joe Blumberg, Equal Kennedy, Roy Orihuela, (middle row) Whitney Pate, Kayla Nauman, Bonnie Brown; (bottom row) Ronnie Stockman, sit on a set of boulders that were washed into Tom Van Sant’s home during the Independence mudslide. Photo by Becky Hutto

The ESYCC restoration project in Oak Creek was coordinated between the BLM, Inyo Mono Advocates for Community Action, Inc. (IMACA), and Nancy Masters of the Independence Civic Club, who lost her home and has played a key role in the rehabilitation efforts throughout the Oak Creek community.
The volunteer workers with the ESYCC picked up shovels and garbage bags and began the grueling task of removing hundreds of pounds of mud and debris from residents’ homes.
“Basically we just brought shovels with us and started digging out mud,” said BLM Contact Representative and Team Leader Becky Hutto.
“They were up there shoveling mud out of homes and helping residents. We’re trying to help out, with the Civic Club, to clear things out” by directing the ESYCC workers to residents in need, said Masters.
The ESYCC crew aided two residents, Sharon Avey and Tom Van Sant.
Avey’s property has three feet of mud built up on the side of her home. The crew began working to clear that out in order to allow for work on electrical boxes.
The ESYCC team cleared one whole side of Avey’s property and her garage.
“I think she was very grateful for the help she got,” Masters said of Avey.
Van Sant’s home is almost a total loss, as the flood swept thousand-pound boulders through the walls of the structure. Those boulders are still located in his living room, but thanks to the help of the ESYCC workers’ efforts removing mud and debris, large equipment can be brought in to help remove the boulders.
“Tom was just very, very grateful for what we were doing,” said Hutto.
“His home was more of just getting inside his house and just digging mud out of room after room,” Hutto said. “We were digging out trees and mud, but we couldn’t move the boulders, they were like VW (Beetle) sized.”
While the ESYCC crew helped the residents, the Salvation Army, using its mobile food kitchen, brought clean-up crews snacks, water and refreshments as they worked in the mud and heat.
In just its third year, the ESYCC has been working closely with the BLM and is funded by IMACA. The ESYCC provides youth with opportunities for success with job skills training, developing a work ethic, a sense of community responsibility, and leadership skills. There is an emphasis on conservation and service projects that benefit the Eastern Sierra. According to IMACA, the relief assistance in Independence was a good fit for their program.
“I think this was a great experience for the kids to be involved with,” Hutto said. “We started at Sharon’s place and they started out very quiet. I think they were just taking it all in.”
But as the day wore on, Hutto said, the kids grew more enthusiastic as they made progress shoveling mud out and away from their neighbors’ homes.
Both Avey and Van Sant were happy to have help from the ESYCC group, but despite all the work the group completed on Thursday, there is still much to be done.
“We’re hoping to head back up there, possibly next week” and continue to help out with the clean-up, Hutto said.
Organizations interested in sponsoring ESYCC for projects in the summer of 2009 can contact IMACA’s Katherine Little at (760) 873-8557 ext. 25 or Becky Hutto at the BLM (760) 872-5008.