Preserve Montana Trades Corps

The Preserve Montana Trades Corps offers a quality workforce training experience that encourages young people to consider a future in the trades and help Montana’s rural towns achieve their goals for viability.

In 2024, Preserve Montana launched the Preserve Montana Trades Corps in partnership with the Student Conservation Association. Corps members experienced a diverse array of preservation trades skills and rehabilitation projects in rural communities across Montana over a two-month, hands-on training program led by Preserve Montana’s skilled restoration crew.

Our Goal for the Preserve Montana Trades Corps

Build a workforce of skilled preservation tradespeople to save endangered historic properties and revitalize communities across rural Montana.

Preserving the Trades

The Corps is designed to train people in the traditional building trades, give them experience on a career path in preservation carpentry and construction, and preserve rural historic properties that might otherwise have trouble completing the physical repairs needed.

In Montana and across the U.S., tradespeople with the skills and knowledge to physically preserve historic buildings are being lost at an alarming rate. This problem grows by the year; in 2021, the number of people entering historic trades dropped by 49%. Across Montana, contractors struggle to find experienced crews, let alone qualified preservation carpenters.

Empowering Youth

The Corps’ target audience is those interested in building a career in the preservation trades, particularly a younger demographic early in their professional careers. It places an emphasis on engaging people in Montana to build the state’s network of skilled craftspeople.

A series of training and project experiences provide grounding in several historic trades, beginning with initial training at our Baxendale Preservation Training Center in Helena, and then working alongside our skilled tradespeople on preservation projects all around Montana. Corps members participate in a range of projects such as rebuilding and glazing wood sash windows; repointing masonry walls; replacing wood shingle roofs; scraping, and repainting clapboard siding; log and timber wall repairs; and rebuilding historic porches, railings, and other building elements.

Building Up Montana's Rural Communities

The challenge to attract skilled craftspeople to work on historic properties in rural parts of Montana has become ever more difficult in recent years, threatening historic properties and their preservation. There is also a desire to retain young people in rural communities or have them return with gainful employment. Our Corps holds the potential to make a difference for both concerns.

Preserve Montana is a regional leader in rural preservation and restoration training. In 2004, we began working with agencies and communities to train their staff and volunteers in traditional building trades, such as state agencies at Virginia City and Bannack, both Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, and the U.S. Forest Service. In addition, we trained high school and university students, local volunteers and tradespeople who joined us in carrying out complex preservation projects.

What's Next for the Trades Corps

The success of our Preserve Montana Trades Corps summer pilot has us eager to replicate it for years to come. As with much of our work, outside funding is critical to making it a go. If you’d like to support the next Preserve Montana Trades Corps, consider making a donation today, and signing up for our newsletters to keep up on the latest.