Dover, Tenn.–The eight-week Youth Conservation Corps season flew by in a flash!
If you visited the Fort Donelson National Battlefield over the past two months, you may have seen the incredible contributions made by this year’s YCC team and their leaders. Their efforts in preservation activities and landscape care have significantly enhanced the national park unit.
This year’s crew featured six high school age interns from Stewart, Henry, and Montgomery Counties, all eager to contribute and make a difference.
Their time involved weed eating, tree removal, trail maintenance and learning about the battlefield and national cemetery and why the national park and its resources are important to preserve and interpret.
One of their major projects involved experimenting with and implementing a new method for preparing and painting our historic iron tablets. The team dedicated considerable effort to stripping old paint down to the bare metal, followed by the application of rust inhibitors, primer, and durable paints designed to prevent rust and maintain brighter colors compared to previous methods. As a result, two tablets were prepped, painted, and re-installed, setting a positive example for the remaining tablets that will be restored in the future.
Thank you to our YCC team for their hard work and dedication!
Photo: The team re-installs one of the two restored War Department tablets. Fort Donelson photo.