Rural Alaska Youth on the Rise: The Angoon Youth Conservation Corps Program
Admiralty Island is also renowned for its old-growth forest, salmon runs and healthy brown bear population: its Tlingit name, Kootznoowoo, translates as Fortress of the Bears, and refers to the 1,600 brown bears populating the million-acre island. The Angoon YCC has been the first job most of the youth have ever had, not surprising in a rural area with few employment opportunities, and students have shared that they used their paychecks to help support their families.