Volunteer
Volunteers at The Forest Society
Since the Forest Society was founded in 1901, volunteer involvement has been a cornerstone to our success as one of the leading conservation organizations in the Northeast. Volunteers contribute more than 6,000 hours a year to the Forest Society!
Our land protection and forestry mission would simply not be possible without the dedication of this cadre of volunteers working in both long-term recurrent roles and on shorter-term, episodic projects.
Listed below are some of the opportunities available to volunteers. Formal training is provided for some positions, and commitment levels vary according to each opportunity. Many of our volunteer opportunities are based out of our headquarters in Concord, or at our Rocks Estate in Bethlehem, NH. Other positions may involve activity at field locations across the state. We are always interested in finding new ways to utilize volunteers, so if you have a particular skill or idea about how you might help the Forest Society, please let us know. Contact Carrie Deegan at cdeegan@forestsociety.org to ask questions about any of the volunteer opportunites below.
OPPORTUNITIES
NEW! Conservation Center Volunteer Grounds Crew (weekdays/flexible times)
Concord, NH
We are looking to build a small crew of volunteers to assist with maintaining the beautiful forested grounds around the Conservation Center in Concord. The goal is to create an inviting outdoor space with a mix of maintained landscaping and naturally occurring vegetation. Duties include:
- Regular maintenance of planting beds to include weeding, edging, mulching and watering if needed.
- Tend to plants including pruning when appropriate, deadheading, and planting and removal.
- Maintaining the treed areas around the immediate vicinity of the buildings and parking areas.
- Composting yard waste
Skills/Qualifications: Gardening/plant knowledge helpful, but not necessary. Willingness to get your hands dirty and work outside a must.
Location: Conservation Center, 54 Portsmouth Street, Concord, NH
Training required: Volunteers will be oriented and given instruction in landscaping/gardening tasks before working on their own.
Commitment/Hours: Flexible, ideally weekly or every other week for a few hours at a time. Must be during hours that the Conservation Center is open, M-F 8:30-5:30. Spring, Summer and Fall only.
Contact Carrie Deegan at cdeegan@forestsociety.org to sign up or for more information.
NEW! Indoor Plant Caretaker (Conservation Center, Concord)
Our long-time volunteer plant caretaker is retiring at the end of Summer 2018, and we're looking for someone with a green thumb and a love of indoor plants to follow in her footsteps! Rhoda has watered, pruned and cared for the plants in the Conservation Center for decades, and is very willing to train a reliable volunteer who has an interest in indoor plant care.
Skills/Qualifications: Knowledge (or interest and willingness to learn) about houseplants and their care. Able to lift a watering can, available weekly (during office hours) for a few hours/week.
Location: Conservation Center, 54 Portsmouth Street, Concord, NH
Training required: Existing plant volunteer will train an interested candidate, teach them about the different plants at the center and what each needs. This volunteer gig is worth it just for picking Rhoda's brain about plant care!
Commitment/Hours: A few hours each week- you can decide own schedule as long as the building is open (M-F 8:30am-5pm)
Contact Carrie Deegan at cdeegan@forestsociety.org if you're interested in this opportunity.
NEW! Forest Explorer App Beta Testers
Do you have a smartphone or other mobile device and have some time to spend hiking this spring? Help us beta-test our Forest Explorer app, which provides interpretive and navigational content for hikers on Forest Society reservations. We'll be adding 10 "experiences" around the state to the app this spring, and are looking for volunteers to tell us exactly how well they work or don't work in specific locations.
Skills/Qualifications: Must have a smartphone and the ability to hike trails on Forest Society reservations. Comfort with digital media is a plus, but even if you're not super technology-savvy, we'd love your help. Detail oriented people are especially helpful-- we'd like to know all the specifics regarding your experience using the app!
Location: Field locations across New Hampshire.
Training required: We'll get you started and logged on to Forest Explorer via email instructions. Then head out to your nearest Forest Explorer location and try out the app! We hope to have experiences online in Alton, Rochester, Portsmouth, Concord, Milford, Durham, Newbury, Bethlehem, Troy/Jaffrey, and Woodstock by May!
Commitment/Hours: Self-directed, you can beta test as many of the Forest Explorer experiences as you like, on your own time and travel schedule.
Contact Emily Lord at elord@forestsociety.org to sign up to be a NH Forest Explorer beta-tester!
Mount Major Outdoor Classroom Hike Helpers
Do you love hiking, inspiring kids, and live within a reasonable driving distance of Mount Major? We are looking to train some additional volunteers to assist with Mount Major Outdoor Classroom, a program that provides outreach to schools who run annual field trips to hike Mount Major. Volunteer hike helpers greet students, teachers and parent chaperones at Mount Major and hike with them to the summit, reinforcing messages they've learned in the classroom portion of Mount Major Outdoor Classroom about natural, cultural and geologic history, hiker safety and etiquette. We'll show you what the kids learn in class, and how you'll be of help on the hike days!
Skills/Qualifications: Ability to keep up with elementary and middle school kids (and their parents) hiking Mount Major, like interacting with kids. Willing to drive to Mount Major for hikes. Must be available for occasional weekdays in the spring and/or fall (when school field trips will be scheduled). Available for May 4th, 2018 training.
Location: Mount Major (Alton NH)
Training required: Trainings for MMOC offered annually. Contact Carrie Deegan cdeegan@forestsociety.org for more information.
Commitment/Hours: We hope each volunteer can commit to 1 to 2 school hikes in Spring and 1-2 hikes in Fall. Hikes will be weekdays in April-June and September-October.
Trail Crew
Join staff and volunteer land stewards on group workdays on Forest Society properties around the state. Projects may include trail construction and/or maintenance, building drainages or footbridges, picking up trash and dumped items, improving habitat, opening views, clearing field edges, or maintaining infrastructure like gates and signs.
Skills/Qualifications: Ability to work outside in a range of terrain and environmental conditions, use hand tools. Previous trail maintenance experience welcome but not necessary. Under 18 must be accompanied by an adult parent or guardian.
Location: Field locations across New Hampshire.
Training required: On site, via staff or land steward workday leader.
Commitment/Hours: Informal/Occasional - those interested in Trail Crew will be put on email workday list to be notified about upcoming workdays. Participation is always optional, and only if your schedule allows. Typical workdays are 5-8 hours.
Contact Andy Crowley at acrowley@forestsociety.org to be added to the Trail Crew email list.
Volunteer Bakers
We have numerous board and committee meetings scheduled at the Conservation Center throughout the year. These committees are made up largely of volunteers who donate a lot of their time to make the Forest Society a better organization and keep it on track with its conservation mission. Maybe you can't imagine yourself on a Development Committee or Board of Trustees, but if you like make baked goods (cookies, sweet breads, cakes, bars, etc.) you could volunteer to bake something to keep other volunteers going at one of these meetings! Interested volunteer bakers can be notified of meeting dates/numbers well in advance to see if they might be able to make and donate a baked good.
Skills/Qualifications: Like making yummy treats for others to enjoy, able to transport them to Conservation Center in Concord.
Location: Conservation Center, 54 Portsmouth Street, Concord, NH
Training required: None. I'm sure you know more than we do about baking!
Commitment/Hours: Variable, volunteers can choose meeting dates that work for them to bring something in.
Contact Carrie Deegan at cdeegan@forestsociety.org if you're interested in baking for us!
Advertising Coordinator
We need one or two people with advertising/sales experience to work with our development and communications staff to sell ads for our quarterly magazine, Forest Notes, and our monthly e-newsletters.
Skills/Qualifications: Business, sales or advertising experience, strong communications skills.
Training: One-on-one with Forest Society Outreach staff.
Location: Initially will need to come in to Concord office, but work can be done remotely.
Hours/Commitment: To be determined
Tour guides lead groups of students and adults through the award-winning Conservation Center, explaining the passive solar design and energy efficient features. Training is provided to teach volunteers how solar energy works and why the Forest Society built our distinctive headquarters, home to seven conservation organizations.
Skills/Qualifications: Strong verbal communication, comfortable with groups, good interpretive skills
Location: Conservation Center, Concord
Training: Training program for new Green Building Tour Guides is offered annually. Contact Carrie Deegan at cdeegan@forestsociety.org for more information.
Hours/Commitment: Occasional/As needed, approximately 2 hours per tour. Tours are on weekdays, when the Conservation Center is open for business.
Volunteer Land Steward
Volunteer Land Stewards receive comprehensive training to help steward one of our Forest Reservations. Land Stewards act as caretakers of our properties, maintaining trails, removing litter, posting signage, etc. They also monitor signs of use and boundary lines, and act as liaisons to the community. Becoming a Land Steward requires attendance at a 2-day training session offered annually in the Spring. For more information about the Land Steward Program, visit our Land Steward page.
Skills/Qualifications: Must be willing and able to walk/navigate on a forest reservation (on and off-trail) and perform basic stewardship tasks. Some knowledge of conservation, land stewardship, and forestry helpful. Must live within 20 miles of a Forest Society reservation that is in need of a steward, and be willing to complete a mandatory 2-day training.
Training: 2-day, in-residence training for new Land Stewards is offered each Spring, at no cost to volunteers.
Location: In the field, at a Forest Reservation
Commitment/Hours: Complete training, good faith commitment to steward a property for 2+ years, suggested 4 visits/yr.
Contact Andy Crowley at acrowley@forestsociety.org to learn about openings and signing up for the training.
Volunteer Easement Monitor
Volunteer Easement Monitors assist the Forest Society's Easement Stewardship staff by monitoring 2-5 conservation easement properties each year. These properties are not typically owned by the Forest Society, but we hold conservation restrictions on them which limit development and need to be upheld and monitored annually. Volunteer Easement Monitors must complete a 1-day training covering history/mission of the Forest Society, the basics of easement deeds and terms, use of a GPS tablet/smartphone app, and boundary navigation by survey and compass. Following this training, 2-5 easement properties are assigned to each volunteer to monitor annually.
Skills/Qualifications: Familiar and comfortable with navigating off-trail in the woods, ability to use (or learn to use) technology- GPS app for tablet or smartphone- to collect track, point and photo data and submit it to the Forest Society. Knowledge of stewardship and forestry practices also helpful, but not essential. Willing to travel some distance in NH to reach easement properties, and willing to monitor 2-5 properties per year, for 2+ years.
Training: Comprehensive training for new volunteer easement monitors offered annually. Contact Carrie Deegan at cdeegan@forestsociety.org for more information.
Location: Variable, conservation easement properties across state.
Commitment/Hours: 1 day training, then 2-5 days/year monitoring easement properties. We ask that Volunteer Easement Monitors make a 2-3 year commitment to the program.
Contact Carrie Deegan at cdeegan@forestsociety.org for more information.
The Forest Society often needs extra “feet on the street” to help educate the public on local land conservation efforts, and assist with running special events and field trips. Tasks are varied but could include: posting flyers, contacting local officials to promote programs in their area, coordinating event logistics, assisting with set-up and tear-down, registering event attendees, attending field trips and helping with group management, and updating information on the web site.
Skills/Qualifications: Strong communication and organization skills, ability to act as a knowledgeable representative of the Forest Society, comfortable speaking to groups of people, creativity, or familiarity with the Internet.
Training: Varies depending on duties, but usually on-the-job
Location: Variable, locations across state.
Commitment/Hours: Occasional/As Needed. Event assistants will be contacted in advance of an event to see if they are available and willing to help.
Contact Carrie Deegan at cdeegan@forestsociety.org to get on our events volunteer list.
Event Photographer
If you have a camera (digital SLR or even a smartphone) and like taking photographs and/or video, we could use your help documenting events and programs happening throughout the year on Forest Society properties. It's often hard for staff to take photos while also coordinating events like group trail workdays, school tours of forest properties, fundraising events for land protection campaigns, field trips and hikes, and other activities. If you are willing to take photos and send them to us, consider offering your services as an Event Photographer. All photographs submitted to us will become the property of the Forest Society, but full credit will be given to you when we use them in media like our e-newsletter, website, social media and Forest Notes magazine.
Skills/Qualifications: Own digital camera (smartphone fine), ability to take nice photographs of people and surroundings at events.
Training: No training required, but staff will have suggestions about what to photograph
Location: Variable, locations across state.
Commitment/Hours: Occasional/As Needed. Event Photographers will be contacted in advance of an event to see if they are available and willing to help.
Commitment/Hours: Occasional/As Needed. Event assistants will be contacted in advance of an event to see if they are available and willing to help.
Contact Carrie Deegan at cdeegan@forestsociety.org to get on our event photographer list.
More than 350 people volunteer their time each year to the Forest Society. We hope you consider becoming one of them! Fill out the volunteer application and let us know which position interests you. Watch here for updates and new opportunities as they become available.
If you have any questions, please contact our volunteer program at volunteer@forestsociety.org.