Note: The Oregon Capital Chronicle is only identifying the youth mentioned in this story by their first names to comply with Oregon Youth Authority policy.

Incarcerated youth at Camp Tillamook remove weeds from plants at the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership’s native plant nursery attached to the facility’s campus.

Mia Maldonado/Oregon Capital Chronicle

Nestled in front of the Northern Oregon Coast Range sits Camp Tillamook, a 25-acre space that houses incarcerated youth and one of a few native plant nurseries along the Oregon Coast.

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Several youth spend their mornings pulling weeds from nursery pots filled with red currants, snowberries and other native shrubs. On some days, they focus on sowing seeds or transplanting seedlings into larger pots.

Their work supports the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership, a nonprofit that employs them to help grow the 75,000 native plants it distributes annually to nonprofits, tribes and state and federal agencies for watershed restoration projects across the Oregon Coast.

Camp Tillamook is an example of how youth in custody of the Oregon Youth Authority are gaining job experience while also, often unintentionally, playing an important role in restoring Oregon’s river banks, forests and marshlands.

Tillamook Estuaries Partnership plant material program manager Asa Skinner shows off an air separator machine a youth at Camp Tillamook made during his woodshop courses to help nursery staff separate seeds from chaff.

Tillamook Estuaries Partnership plant material program manager Asa Skinner shows off an air separator machine a youth at Camp Tillamook made during his woodshop courses to help nursery staff separate seeds from chaff.

Mia Maldonado/Oregon Capital Chronicle

Since the nonprofit began partnering with the Oregon Youth Authority — the state agency that oversees roughly 900 youth convicted of crimes before age 18 that are incarcerated or on probation — nearly 712,000 native plants have been planted across almost 3,800 acres along the Oregon Coast, according to plant material program manager Asa Skinner.

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“We are partnering with the Oregon Youth Authority for a couple reasons,” Skinner said. “One, it’s a lot of work, so we need help. Two, we can produce plants, and through the process of producing those plants, we feel like we can meaningfully contribute to youth well being.”

Adolfo, 21, said his favorite part about the job is getting to take care of the plants.

“I like the humanity of it,” he said. “A lot of people don’t get the opportunity to plant trees. It’s hard to get into a nursery. The experience is good.”

In Oregon City, incarcerated youth restore ecosystems through a cultural lens

A similar program is located in rural Oregon City, where incarcerated youth can apply to be cultural ecology interns for Parrot Creek, a nonprofit the Oregon Youth Authority contracts with to provide residential treatment to youth ages 13 to 20.

Rather than working at a nursery, the youth are paid to improve trails, remove invasive species, plant native plants and track wildlife across the nonprofit’s 81-acre property.

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The Parrot Creek internship reminded 18-year-old Dez of his Boy Scout days. Through the internship, Dez was able to save enough money to buy a car when he graduates next week and plans to go to Clackamas Community College to study music production and study in the automotive department.

The internship is unique in that the youths’ jobs are rooted in Indigenous knowledge from tribes local to the Willamette Valley. The goal of the program is to improve the land and teach cultural environmental stewardship, said Ame Mañon-Ferguson, the program manager.

Mañon-Ferguson said she hopes the internship helps the youth understand what it means to have a job and coworkers, as well as cultivate a deeper understanding of the region they live in.

“It’d be nice for them to go on a walk with their families and be able to identify plants or animals, and if it’s something that they’re genuinely interested in, getting them to think of this as a career pathway,” she said. “Another part of it is about the Indigenous history, and just being able to be more knowledgeable about the original people of this area.”

Youth at Parrot Creek in rural Oregon City cut and collect fallen Hawthorn and blackberry branches, both invasive species, to create piles that fire experts will conduct a prescribed burn on at a later date.

Youth at Parrot Creek in rural Oregon City cut and collect fallen Hawthorn and blackberry branches, both invasive species, to create piles that fire experts will conduct a prescribed burn on at a later date.

Mia Maldonado/Oregon Capital Chronicle

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Incarcerated Oregon youth reflect on job experience

Camp Tillamook serves slightly older youth than Parrot Creek, housing boys aged 16 to 24. At this facility, staff focus on preparing youth for their release from the corrections system by allowing them work and study at the same time.

“They get to be adults here,” Sapper said. “They can make some good money here, and they can buy things and pay off any restitution they owe to the state. This will open some doors for them. It’s all about structure and discipline.”

For the nursery’s crew lead Steve Sprague, the work offers something deeper than job experience.

“To know that you’re doing work that gets carried to something larger outside of you, even though maybe you won’t see the benefits of but knowing that it’s important, I think it’s especially beneficial for incarcerated youth,” Sprague said.

While the nursery job and cultural ecology internship haven’t necessarily changed the youths’ career plans, many said it will help them take care of the environment, their future gardens and overall have a stronger resume for when they apply to future jobs.

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The job gave 20-year-old David a better outlook on life and helped him learn about landscaping, an aspect important to construction which he hopes to go into.

For 20-year-old Nicolas, the experience taught him humility.

“I make a little bit of money but I work a lot,” he told the Capital Chronicle. “I’m not messing around anymore.”

Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Shumway for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on Facebook and Bluesky.

This republished story is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit opb.org/partnerships.

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