They're not high profile in the community as they quietly go about their work but for the young people involved, the program might well be a game changer.

If you're a young adult who couldn't find an after school job, you're between a rock and a hard place – your lack of work experience puts you at the back of the queue for a job. Would a hard-pressed small business operator take a chance and give you a go?

One way to help young people in that situation – and give the environment a helping hand as well – is to give them a trial. If they regularly show up to work for six months, as part of a Green Army team, they will take away a solid reference, along with skills that are transferable to any workplace, such as working as part of a team and following directions.

"Every workplace appreciates that skillset," Green Army team leader Maree Dibella says.

Her seven-person team, managed by Campbell Page, has been working along the Queanbeyan River corridor, clearing unwanted trees and planting new ones.

The federally funded Green Army program is for 17-24 year olds, to train and work in the environment for six months. Projects include restoring native vegetation, heritage restoration, protecting animal habitats and regenerating wetlands in urban, rural and remote areas. It is open to school leavers, gap year students, graduates, and job seekers.

And yes, the program has been recycled, appropriately. John Howard had the Green Corps, Kevin Rudd had the National Green Jobs Corps and Tony Abbott rebadged it, with the liberal use of military terms.

"The Coalition will create a standing 'Green Army' that will gradually build to a 15,000-strong environmental workforce," the Liberal Party said. "It will be Australia's largest-ever environmental deployment."

At the beginning of the year only 10 members of the Green Army project were working in the ACT despite an election promise to create "the largest standing environmental workforce in Australia's history".

However this year's budget allocated extra cash for the Great Barrier Reef at the expense of other environmental programs, including the Green Army.

Strangely, the federal Environment Department was initially unhelpful with specific information about the Green Army in the ACT but eventually said four teams were working in Canberra and Queanbeyan.

The department's website says the federal government has allocated more than $700 million for the program over four years from July 1, 2015. "The programme will support 250 projects in 2014-15, 500 projects in 2015-16, 750 projects in 2016-17, and build to 1500 by 2018-19," it says.

Participants are paid an allowance, ranging from $10.24 to $16.61 an hour (replacing Newstart for job seekers) and are expected to work for up 30 hours a week for 20-26 weeks.

"You will gain practical skills, training and contacts," the department says. "You will be trained in first aid and work health and safety before starting a project. You have the opportunity to do accredited training modules to help you prepare for the workforce or improve your career opportunities. You can meet people who are as interested in helping the environment as you are."

The the program is "opt-in", a big difference to the punitive regimes of the past. The other significant difference is the diversity of participants: university graduates are lining up for hands-on experience.

However, one factor remains – giving young people a start and later handing them a reference. That's gold for someone trying to open the door to a job.

When The Canberra Times visited the Conservation Volunteers Australia team at Ginninderra Creek, they were decked out in all the right gear. It was only the second week of their six-month stint but they were busy with the blackberry.

An Evatt resident taking an early morning stroll along the bike/pedestrian path stopped to thank them, in advance, for their good work.

Their supervisor, Brian Butler, is a former teacher who likes working outdoors.

"If you have an interest in the environment or want to pursue a career in natural resource management, you get to learn some amazing skills [in the program] and get paid for doing it," he says.

"You come out into places like this and learn how to manage the environment, with practical and theoretical skills."

He says a big advantage of participating is developing contacts in the industry.

"We work with the local catchment authorities and a whole range of people from the natural resource management sector in Canberra and the young people meet a whole heap of people – in my experience, it's not what you know, it's who you know," he says.

"The other side of it is, that for young people in this day and age, finding gainful employment is hard, finding people who will give them a chance, take them on the books so that they can start to get some skills.

"So simple things like turning up to work on time, bringing your lunch, working with a team day after day, that kind of basic job skill is also a benefit to some of the these kids as well because they haven't had that experience before because no one's been willing to punt on them.

"And then you see 'six months on the Green Army' on their resume and that puts them in a much more positive place than they were before."

The only stipulation for people to join the Green Army is their age band – 17 to 24.

The program has a waiting list in the ACT and Butler says applications come in from a wide range of young people.

"I've had people who had just finished uni degrees or just starting degrees, job seekers and also people who are seeking a bit of a career change who want to try this out for six months," he says.

At Ginninderra Creek, the team is being taught about using chemicals to eradicate weeds, such as blackberry.

They are undertaking the work on behalf of the Ginninderra catchment group.

Amanda Williams from Lyneham wants to begin an environmental science degree next year.

"I'm just trying to get some work experience before that to see if I actually enjoy this type of work," she says.

"I left school a couple of years ago and I've been working in a cafe full time and I thought it would be nice to work outside."

Matthew Buckley from Weston is looking for a different career path.

"I've just worked with cars since I left school and I'd like to get something working in the outdoors," he says.

Rebecca from Evatt is also there for change.

"I just wanted to try something new and I've been really enjoying it, the conservation and land management side of things," she says.

"I've been in customer service mostly and it's nice to have a bit of a change, it's a great group of people here.

"I like the work we do, it's very diverse – we do erosion control, tree planting, weed management, water control.

"We're only a small group but in a day we do a lot, so I think we make a change."

School leaver David Connor from Jamison has just returned from India where his parents were teaching.

"I am passionate about the environment and this is a great way to help out but as well, this program gives young Australians opportunities which are actually quite hard to find," he says.

The prospect of being given a reference at the end of the stint is "absolutely brilliant", he says.

"The work has been great – your workmates become mates. It's a great incentive to wake up in the morning and catch the bus."

Thomas Sands from Florey has two degrees from Charles Sturt University at Albury. The credit from a Bachelor of Applied Science allowed him to complete a degree in environmental science and management in just one year.

"I'd like to work in national parks and I took the first job I could get [after university] and here I am and I'm really enjoying the work," he says.

Phil James, ACT regional manager for Conservation Volunteers Australia, says the big change in the current scheme compared to previous incarnations is the lack of compulsion to join.

"The focus isn't so much on people who are on the dole being forced to do it, this is very much about carrot rather than stick," he says.

"One of the big advantages of this program is that the participants can get a reference from the team leader saying how they've worked.

"This is one of the big problems with young people getting work – how do I get the experience? How do I get someone to vouch for me that I will turn up on time, that I'll do the job when I'm there?"

The programs run in Canberra by his organisation are over-subscribed.

"In the ACT, for every project we have, we actually have to turn people away," James says.

"However in some of the regional areas, you struggle to get people on board, particularly when you really go out west, towards Bourke – it's quite difficult out there."

While the team at Evatt is just beginning its Green Army stint, the team at Queanbeyan is planning its graduation, when the project winds up in two weeks.

"The countdown's on," Maree Dibella says.

"We will have a graduation where family and friends are invited along as well as our project sponsor which is the Queanbeyan City Council," she says.

"Given our proximity to Canberra, we expect there will probably be a politician or two as well because in the past that's what's happened.

"All of our work is surrounding the Queanbeyan River corridor, taking out woody weeds such as willows and privets and juvenile poplars as well as smaller weeds like blackberry.

"Once that's been removed, we replant out the area with native vegetation, so quite often casuarinas, wattles and various eucalypt species as well as a range of native grasses and shrubs as well."

Queanbeyan River has an abundant range of marine life, she says.

"On this project we've sighted four platypuses on two different occasions which is pretty cool – I moved here from the coast for this project so to see platypuses was right up on my to-do list," she says.

She reinforces the theme emerging from project providers, that a key reason for young people to join the Green Army is to experience paid work, for the first time.

"Everyone's got to start somewhere and when you're entering early adulthood, especially if you didn't have an opportunity to have an after school job for whatever reason, it's important to have the skills and experience," she says.

"Despite this being environmental work, a lot of the skills are transferable to other industries as well – effective communication, working as part of a team, following directions – but definitely the heavy focus on WHS, identification and mitigation of risks – that's really valuable as well. Every workplace appreciates that skillset."

@rosspeakeCT