Mental Health and the Outdoors

It’s your first day as a Conservation Legacy crewmember. You swing on your pack, grab your chainsaw, and fall into step with the rest of your crew. It’s early morning: still dewy and fresh, but you can already feel the hot sun on your back. Worries float through your mind as you hike through the fragrant pines to the work site. Am I strong enough? Did I bring enough food and water? Is that blister coming back? A mild anxiety creeps in. Finally, you and your crew approach the tree line. A huge, rocky peak rises above you. Suddenly, there is a peaceful quiet. Your lungs fill with fresh mountain air. Looking around, you can see for miles. Your crewmates drop their packs, and everyone takes in the view. You feel small but connected, as the vastness of this place settles in. You realize that this project is going to be awesome, and you smile as you get to work.

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To be human is to be undeniably rooted to the earth. Studies tell us the natural world is central to our wellbeing, yet with every step, modern society wanders farther and farther away from it. Days indoors, excessive screen time, desk jobs, lack of physical activity, long commutes…it’s no wonder that one in five people experience mental health illnesses each year, as published by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). We want to take the time to recognize the work of AmeriCorps members, corps organizations and federal land management agencies alike who are working together to address the deeply human need to connect with nature. 

Conservation corps crews offer a team-based experience where a cohort of peers work together on a range of conservation projects like trail building, fence construction and maintenance, habitat and watershed restoration, and more. Crews either camp near or commute to the work site while on project for a duration of time ranging from 5 to 14 days (what’s known as a ‘hitch’ in trail crew lingo). Lizette Betancourt, an AmeriCorps crew member with Appalachian Conservation Corps, shared that she had been experiencing depression for years before joining a crew. “Here I am, past all that,” she reflected during an interview shortly before finishing her term of service. “I was really in a deep hole for a long time. This position has been a big help to fix that.” Many crew members report the positive impact of the corps experience on their mental health. Camping for extended periods of time, spending long days outside, and working hard are often lauded as having significant impacts on issues like depression and anxiety. But crews are also positively impacting the communities they work in by improving access to nature—whether by maintaining hiking trails, mitigating the impact of invasive plants, or repairing fences to keep livestock out of protected areas. Another Appalachian Conservation Corps crew member, Anthony Stazi, explained that joining a crew was the best decision he’d ever made. “Especially for individuals dealing with depression,” he said, “there’s nothing better than getting out into the natural world with cool people. Physical labor, healthy living, working through it all, and building that mental fortitude. It all adds up to be good for mental health.”

According to The Corps Network, 90% of the $3.5 trillion America annually spends on healthcare goes to treating people with chronic and mental health conditions. In addition to the obvious benefits of physical exercise, hundreds of studies demonstrate the mental health benefits of spending time in nature. AmeriCorps members can help improve the accessibility and usability of our recreation areas while simultaneously encouraging more people to get outside and be active.

Access to safe, local outdoor recreation opportunities is crucial, but the reality is that many people in our country do not have this luxury. Conservation corps organizations are uniquely positioned to work with communities to increase outdoor access—particularly in urban areas that have historically lacked access to parks, bike paths, and other outdoor infrastructure. Conservation Legacy offers a wide variety of opportunities, from internships with land management agencies to conservation crews, to the Veterans Fire Corps crews, and more. “In protecting the land, we protect ourselves, both physically and mentally,” explains Conservation Legacy Chief Executive Officer Elwood York. “Your soul or spirit is as important as your physical strength. Our quest at Conservation Legacy is to protect and preserve the Earth, one AmeriCorps member at a time. To find that balance and oneness with our world and to assist in its preservation for generations to come, to explore, to work, and enjoy.”

In addition to crew opportunities, Conservation Legacy operates the Veterans Fire Corps. Working in partnership with state and federal agencies including the National Park Service, US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, AmeriCorps, and others, the VFC was established in 2009, recruiting recent-era veterans for wildland firefighting opportunities. Conservation Legacy VFC crews clear and thin out ‘hazard fuels’—any living or dead vegetation that is flammable. Using chainsaws and hand tools, crews clear small trees, shrubs, and dead plant matter which can carry fire from the ground into the canopy and ignite deadly ‘crown fires’. Crews can also be mobilized on prescribed burns, and at times, initial fire attack. Many VFC crew members find the program to be a welcome bridge between their service and civilian life. Traditional jobs tend to lack the structure, camaraderie, and adrenaline rush that vets experience during their military career, which often leaves them feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled. Studies show that veterans have higher rates of PTSD, depression, and suicide, as published by NAMI. “It’s taken me a long time to find something like this,” explained Peter Brogdan, a member of the VFC, while clearing ladder fuels in Coronado National Monument in Arizona. “For a lot of us—for warriors—it’s hard to transition into a behind-the-desk job,” he said through tears. “I know there are a lot of veterans out there who are looking for something to put themselves into that means something again…And this [work] is really helpful for that.”

AmeriCorps-supported conservation service organizations—in partnership with public and private agencies and nonprofits—are leading the charge in the effort to connect people to nature. Conservation Legacy is wholeheartedly committed to this work—from our trail crews to interns to veterans opportunities.

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Your crew leader calls up the trail: time to wrap up. You didn’t even realize what time it was—you were totally absorbed in a conversation with your crewmates—but now, your thoughts immediately switch to visualizing the stir fry the crew will be making for dinner tonight. Back at camp, everyone kicks back in hammocks or lay on your sleeping pads by the fire. Two crew members are making dinner. Someone’s playing guitar. You can hear the sounds you’ve now come to associate with this project site after having spent a week camped out in this valley: there’s the owl that lives nearby, the sounds of bats hunting overhead, a chorus of nighttime bugs. Water bubbling in the creek in the distance. Worries start to bubble up again about the next day of work, but you brush them aside. You feel a sense of confidence. You’re surrounded by your crewmates—once strangers at the beginning of the season, but now some of your closest friends. And you’re held by the earth—the trees looming above, the grass beneath you. The darkness just beginning to envelop the valley. The bright clusters of stars. The moon hasn’t risen yet but you know it will soon. You know everything will be okay. Good, even.