This video was shot and edited with the intent to recruit new volunteers to the American Conservation Experience (ACE). ACE is a conservation corps that is dedicated to training young professionals in practical restoration projects from trail building to invasive species removal.
In 2013 a strike of lightning started a wildfire that would take the lives of 19 hotshot firefighters. This was the largest loss of life of first responders since the attacks of 9/11. The American Conservation Experience was tasked to build 3.5 miles of trail that leads to the memorial and fatality site which is now the Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park.
IamACE is a series that follows the stories of the volunteers who give anywhere from three months to a year of their lives to conservation. Jesse Wherry is a ACE volunteer based in California.