Climate Impact Corps Member Leaves a Lasting Legacy

You never know the ways in which AmeriCorps service will leave an impression on the community you serve. But then again, you never know the impression it might leave on you. 

“I cannot look at a tree the same way again,” laughs Dylan, a Climate Impact Corps alum from New Ulm, Minnesota.  

Fresh out of college, Dylan served in AmeriCorps from fall 2023 to the end of June 2024. He earned his bachelor’s degree in recreation, parks, and leisure services (parks and rec for short) from Mankato State University, and after graduation, he hoped to find related work close to home. Climate Impact Corps offered him the perfect opportunity: serving as a community forester just down the road in Lake Crystal, Minnesota. Dylan hoped the position would allow him to put his degree to use while still learning new skills. 

“Service was a very good fit for a parks and rec major, especially for what I was looking for,” he says, reflecting on the experience. “Right away, I was out in the parks restarting tree inventories, pruning some of the smaller trees, doing park cleanup, and getting familiar with town. As it got warm in the spring, that was tree planting time, then watering around town and cleaning up pollinator and rain gardens.” 

Dylan loved the variety of ways that he got to engage with nature and the community during his service. He describes his Climate Impact Corps experience as a great accompaniment to his parks and rec education, giving him “the inside scoop” on exactly what work goes into building and maintaining a city parks department. He couldn’t think of a better first step in his career.  

Serving in Climate Impact Corps also gave Dylan a new perspective on how city services like parks make a difference to residents. Maintaining rain gardens means he helped ease erosion for neighborhood homes; keeping trees pruned and watered supports a healthy canopy for shade and cooling for residents; managing pollinator gardens allows flowers, fruit trees, and the rest of the local ecosystem to flourish. Despite growing up just a few miles down the road, Dylan hadn't ever spent much time in Lake Crystal before serving there. The hands-on nature of his service meant that he got out into the community almost every day, seeing and hearing how community members used and appreciated the parks.  

“I planted a good 25 trees around town,” he says. “Right now, they’re little saplings, but they’re going to grow and mature into icons. They’ll help quality of life, give shade, and give people better air to breathe!” 

In addition to the dozens of trees that will bring benefits to Lake Crystal residents for decades to come, Dylan spearheaded another project that has already made a splash in the city.  

“I designed a disc golf course for one of the parks!” he says, beaming. 

Disc golf is a variety of golf played by tossing small Frisbees into metal baskets instead of hitting balls into holes. It has become a popular addition to many public parks in the past twenty years, as it’s easy to incorporate into existing green spaces, requires almost no maintenance, and doesn’t pose the same risk of injury from stray golf balls. Dylan had been playing the sport himself for years, and early on in his service term, he recognized an opportunity to add a course to one of the city parks. 

Still just learning the ropes of the city government, Dylan suggested the idea to his supervisor his very first week, unsure of what the repose would be. To his surprise, his site manager told him they had already been considering one for a while and told Dylan to “go for it” and draw up a design proposal! 

“I worked with a lot of community people along the way,” he says of the process. After presenting the idea to the parks and rec board and city council, he got the greenlight and even found a sponsor in the local Lions Club! “At the very end of my service term, the baskets arrived, and we installed it!” 

Features like disc golf courses are a fantastic way to get residents out into green spaces, strengthening their connection to the natural world and their community. In the four months since, Dylan has gone back to Lake Crystal and played the course a few times with friends. He even checked in with one of his former coworkers and asked if others were using it too. 

“He told there’s constant traffic on the course!” Dylan says. “That’s the coolest part of my AmeriCorps experience, knowing that people are still playing there all the time.” 

Dylan will be spending this winter doing a different type of recreational work: driving the Zamboni for local ice rinks. Down the line, he plans to double down on the type of municipal, practical experience he got through Climate Impact Corps. Serving as a Community Forester sparked an interested in urban tree management, but he’s also curious about having a wider impact, perhaps as a city manager. But no matter how he shapes his path, he’s grateful to have taken his first step with Climate Impact Corps. 

“It’s such a great steppingstone,” he says. “I would totally recommend it.” 

Interested in making your community more resilient to climate change? Go to ampact.us/environment to learn more about serving in Climate Impact Corps and apply today!