A group of teens and young adults in Traverse City has won a national award recognizing their conservation work in northern Michigan. They're part of 'GURLS Corps,' a conservation team made up of youth from Michigan's foster care system who live in the area.
Five of the young women are headed to Washington D.C. in February to accept the award and tour the nation's capital.
Bill Watson is with Traverse City non-profit SEEDS, which runs the group. He says the team learned to work together by doing service projects, including one on North Manitou Island.
“It was an interesting thing to watch them support each other and work through issues," Watson says.
Watson says most of the work they did was traditional conservation corps work.
“They did trail development," Watson says. "They did a lot of work at the SEEDS farm."
A national conservation corps group is giving the award.