You may have heard some buzzing this April around the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School & Camp campus, and it wasn’t springtime bees. It was crew leaders for Steamboat Springs’ Rocky Mountain Youth Corps training for chopping down trees, while also lending a helping hand to their longtime partner Perry-Mansfield. 

“We were out there teaching our crew leaders to saw, while at the same time helping Perry-Mansfield, which is a longtime partner of ours,” says RMYC CEO Ryan Banks. “We dropped hazardous trees around structures, and then chopped them up as firewood. A lot of them are located around their cabins and other infrastructure on campus, so we felled them for fire mitigation, structure protection, and to help train our crews. It’s a win-win-win.”

The training took place soon after Perry-Mansfield transitioned leadership, with Deena Selko recently assuming the role of executive director. In taking the helm, she stated one of her main goals was continuing Perry-Mansfield’s mission for another 100 years — one way by working with Colorado Outdoor Futures to create a historic easement via the Colorado Historical Foundation to offer donors tax credits — and also strengthening its local partnerships, like the one with RMYC. Every fall, Perry-Mansfield hosts both RMYC’s longstanding Yampa Valley Science School for Routt and Moffat County sixth-graders, as well as RMYC’s annual A Toast to Trails & Tales fundraiser, its largest fundraiser of the year. (Save the date, this year’s fundraiser will be held on Thursday, Oct. 1.) 

Selko’s relationship with RMYC goes even further. “My appreciation for our partnership with RMYC is deeply personal,” she says. “At its core, it reflects a shared belief that we are not just occupants of this land, we are its stewards. That responsibility carries both reverence for what has come before us and a commitment to what we leave behind.”

The partnership also benefits RMYC logistically. “It’s great having Perry-Mansfield as one of our training sites,” says RMYC Conservation Corps Manager Olivia Stuart, who oversaw 12 crew leaders and six staff members during this year’s training period, during which 11 leaders received their A-bucker certification. “It’s a symbiotic relationship: they let us come out there and train our folks, and they get free tree removal. We deeply appreciate having a local, easy-to-get-to spot to bring our people to, which helps with our logistics." 

She adds that it’s also great to work with such a longstanding partner and nonprofit. “Plus, we get to help out a local organization,” she says. “The nonprofits, camps, and youth organizations here always show up for each other; we’re all united by similar missions and visions. Teaming up with them helps us feel grounded in our community. We love Perry-Mansfield and all the ways they help support our programming.”

As for the crews training on Perry-Mansfield’s property, Selko adds that it’s great seeing stewardship taking root locally. “There’s something incredibly meaningful about watching RMYC crews work on this campus, young people actively caring for the land in ways that are both practical and profound,” she says. “From the legacy of Science Camp, which so many in Routt County hold as a core memory, to their recent work in tree cleanup and fire mitigation, their presence here is a living expression of that stewardship in action.

“For me, it’s about honoring the land that holds so much history, while ensuring it remains safe, vibrant, and alive for future generations,” she adds. “I’m deeply grateful to stand alongside an organization that shares that vision so wholeheartedly.”