(Taney County, MO) -- Habitats in the Ozarks are getting some help from teenagers looking to the future. It's called the Green, Leadership, Academy for Diverse Ecosystems or GLADE.

KOLR/KSFX  spent time with the teens at work. The mission for the teens at the first ever GLADE camp is act today, shape tomorrow.  And despite this week's sweltering temperatures their mission is moving forward.

In one of the hottest weeks yet, the sun was no barrier for shoveling, snipping, and stomping at the Mincy Conservation area.

"I have always been interested in nature," explains Zach Morris, a 16-year old from Nixa attending GLADE Camp.  

Fifteen other teens are just as interested as Morris in taking part in the Missouri State's GLADE camp.

"Now that things are developing, I would like to preserve this area, so I can still enjoy it," adds Morris.

It's a breaking ground of a new kind for the home of the Swainson's Warbler.

"Their habitat is dwindling," explains Celeste Prussia, Assistant Director of the GLADE Camp.

Planting cane is the solution.

"The Swainson's Warbler relies upon the giant river cane as a habitat to breed and rear its young," says Prussia.

"The entire thing used to be grass and in a few years it's going to be a cane field," adds Sarah Bakker, a 17-year-old from Springfield, who's attending the GLADE Camp.

"You know 20 years from now people are going to come here and say, 'Hey, it's a Swainson's Warbler' and I will be like, 'Hey, I helped restore this habitat,'" adds Morris.

For one week, the teens are restoring habitats, but they know their experience must flow further.

"We can come here and learn it and not do anything about it, but I think it's great that we will have the opportunity to go and make a difference somewhere else," says Morris.  

So the sweating doesn't seem so bad knowing they have the ability to shower others with a fresh outlook. The teens will be given $100 to go back into their communities and create and environmental project.