SAN PEDRO, Calif. – The Deane Dana Friendship Park and Nature Center in San Pedro is getting a makeover and the Conservation Corps of Long Beach is leading the charge.

A work and education program, the CCLB helps at-risk youth reach their full potential through paid work that also helps the environment.

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“Usually here at the Conservation Corps, we do a lot of conservation work which is more of like recycling, more of like cleaning up the city,” said Frankie Silva after using a chainsaw to cut away some invasive plants. “But we actually got hired for some of these restoration projects where we're coming out here and we're taking a lot of invasive plants and we're planting a lot of native ones and so that's what I've kind of been on for the last couple of months and that's where I really found my liking of what I like to do.”

Twenty-two-year-old Frankie Silva grew up in Long Beach and after graduating from Wilson High School, he found janitorial work cleaning up around the Convention Center, but when he heard about the CCLB from a few friends, he decided to join. A self-described outdoorsy type, he found the job to be a good fit. After 15 months, he is now an assistant crew leader, which gives him the red hard hat.

“This one right here with the red berries. This one is called Toyon,” said Silva as he points above him to a tall tree. “This is a native plant.”

Silva points to another similar looking tree nearby.

“And as you can see this one right here looks very similar, but it’s not. That one’s got more green and flourishes a little bit more so it’s kind of like really common for you to mistaken them and we identified them last week and we were able to cut them out. That’s what we’re loading up right here,” said Silva.

Silva and his team are working to remove invasive plants and replace them with native ones. It’s all part of the process for the Conservation Corps where they employ and train over 100 recruits every year. They train in CPR, the chainsaw, as well as learn how to identify plants, shrubs, and trees.

Also an education program, over 900 corps members earned a high school diploma, which opens them up for better job opportunities. Crew Supervisor Juan Garcia has been with the Conservation Corps over 10 years.

“I like what we do here because we do a lot of cross training so like one day we could be planting trees,” said Garcia. “Next day we could be chopping trees. One day we could be recycling, exchanging liners and stuff like that. Right now, what we’re doing is a restoration project.”

It’s a job, but their love for nature and Long Beach keeps Frankie and Juan busy.

“I love it,” said Silva. “I love working out there. It’s got a lot of resources for what I want to do. It’s just a great city.”

Going native means getting back to nature.