Guam Green Growth Conservation Corps clears path for youth at Island Girl Power

Members of the G3CC's fifth cohort showcase a large amount of brush removed from the Island Girl Power community garden

Eyana Pereda, uses a hatchet to remove a tree stump from the Island Girl Power native plant garden.

Gideon Tyquienco uses a pickaxe in Island Girl Power's native plant garden to remove a tree stump.

The G3CC in process of sprucing up the Island Girl Power community gardens.

Eyana Pereda and Mi’Yah Max remove foliage from the community garden at Island Girl Power.

John Reynold removes a felled tree trunk from Island Girl Power's native plant garden.

Mi’Yah Max carefully prunes invasive vines from a papaya plant in Island Girl Power's native plant garden.

The Guam Green Growth Conservation Corps (G3CC) spent the week with Island Girl Power (IGP), a non-profit organization based in the village of Dededo which focuses on empowering young girls and their families, and a sustainability partner determined to teach the importance of food security through its community gardens and other activities.

While at the Dededo facility, the G3CC learned about agroforestry, a form of agriculture relative to cultivating and conserving trees, how to identify native plant species via the iNaturalist app, and even lent a hand in IGP’s community garden to ensure fresh fruits and vegetables are available to the surrounding community.

Despite scattered showers throughout the week, nothing could dampen to the spirits of the G3CC who managed to transform a portion of the IGP property from a wild jungle brimming with an overgrowth of invasive plant species to a freshly landscaped space ready for native plants. Among these invasive species removed were Leucaena leucocephala and Spathodea campanulata, two invasive species of tree, and Antigonon leptopus, most known as the Chain-of-Love vine.

For the G3CC, the time spent with IGP was a fruitful one ripe with new ideas and skills geared toward a more sustainable community. For some members of the cohort, the fruits of their collective labor is further sweetened in the helping of IGP and the entire island to further empower young girls and their families to envision a greener Guam.