On the morning of May 7, animals at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo woke to the commotion of chainsaws and voices echoing in the surrounding woods.

TwoCor, a local youth work-training program, and the Colorado Springs Fire Department were working together on a fire mitigation project to remove dead standing trees destroyed by the tussock moth at the zoo, all in celebration of National Wildfire Community Preparedness Day.

The zoo project came in second in a nationwide competition sponsored by State Farm Insurance involving more than 260 fire mitigation projects. Funding for the project went directly to TwoCor youth for their labor and meals. TwoCor youth worked through the morning, gathering branches and trees cut by the fire department and hauling them to the chipper sites. Afterwards, zoo volunteers treated the youth to a tour of the zoo.

Participants in the TwoCor program range from 15-19 years old and come from around the Pikes Peak region. Many of them have been removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or abandonment and placed with foster parents or in group homes. Since 2004, TwoCor has served over a thousand youth, who are referred to the program by youth services, schools, churches and families.

The TwoCor program provides a comprehensive intervention that integrates direction from neuroscience research on the effects of trauma on the developing brain and trauma-informed therapeutic practices with hands-on vocational training, community work projects, and internships with local businesses.

Community work opportunities, like the fire mitigation project, put the teens’ job training and work ethic to the test. After completing a day’s work, youth are scored based on a point system that rewards effort and attitude and paid monthly based on their average scores.

Throughout the year, the youth work under the supervision of trained staff on a variety of projects in the community, on anything from landscaping and fence-building, to garage clean-outs.

For more information about hiring a TwoCor work crew, visit twocor.org or call 471-6916.

A member of the TwoCor work crew helps the Colorado Springs Fire Department with fire mitigation May 7 at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Photo by Kyler Knutson