CLAY COUNTY-Local students Brandon Boles and Mila McCullough spent this summer working at the Dale Hollow National Fish Hatchery here as Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) enrollees.

Boles and McCullough helped the hatchery staff with feeding fish, collecting and counting dead fish, cleaning tanks and raceways, moving fish around the hatchery, distributing fish to local waters, performing janitorial work, maintaining the public fishing area, and carrying out general grounds maintenance. The enrollees also had the opportunity to help with the annual fish health inspection at the hatchery. The extra help provided by the YCC enrollees was greatly appreciated by the hatchery staff.
The highlight of this year’s program was a tour of Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery in Jamestown, Kentucky by the enrollees where they also spent time in the visitor/environmental education center.
The three objectives of the YCC program are to accomplish needed conservation work on public lands, provide gainful summer employment to youth for approximately eight weeks, and develop an understanding and appreciation in participating youth of the Nation’s natural environment and heritage.
Enrollees were chosen by random draw from among the applications received from Clay County High School students. Provided funding is available, one boy and one girl will be selected to work next summer in the YCC Program at the hatchery.