VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
As a non-profit organization, we are dependent and forever thankful for the volunteers and members who help us continue to conserve the coast and educate the community. You make our conservation legacy possible.
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Field Trip Guide
Do you enjoy sharing nature with kids? Volunteers are needed to lead K-12 students in a guided exploration of coastal environments. Through hands-on activities and educational games, environmental education volunteers teach kids about native dunes plants, habitat restoration, salt marsh ecology, animal tracking, bird watching, freshwater invertebrates, dune geology, and human history. Field trips take place on Fridays during the fall and spring. No experience is necessary, just a desire to share nature with young students and to learn more about our coastal environments.
Spring Season Training Dates (must attend all training dates):
In-person: February 21, 22 & 28 8:45 AM- 2:00 PM at the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center
Please complete this google form to sign up for the spring Environmental Educator Volunteer training.
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Education volunteers are also always needed for Kids Ocean Day!
Dune Ecosystem Restoration Team
Add gloves, shovels, and brush axes to human hands, and you have the strongest dune restoration tool around. You can make a difference in the ecosystem, one invasive plant removal at a time. Within months of initially removing invasive plants, volunteers witness native plants re-sprouting on their own. No experience is necessary. We will have snacks and tools to share. No need to reserve a spot, meet us at the specified locations a few minutes before 10 am. Training, camaraderie, and beautiful scenery are provided. ​
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DERT meets two times a month:​
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Every second Saturday of the month from 10 am to 1 pm
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Every third Sunday of the month from 10 am to 1 pm
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Visit our calendar for dates and locations. ​
Coastal Naturalist Walk Leader
Are you interested in sharing your knowledge and love of Humboldt's coastal environments? Volunteer as a guided walk leader! Walk leaders take community members on short hikes through the coast showcasing Humboldt's fascinating biological and geological features. You can volunteer to guide one our general dune ecology walks or brainstorm a creatively themed hike (art, herbs, etc)! Contact us to learn more.
If you're interested in becoming a walk leader but you need a little bit more of an educational background, join our Friends of the Dunes Coastal Naturalist Program! Next fall, we will offer in-depth 8-week training that covers topics like botany, geology, birds, insects, animal tracking, cultural history, coastal ecology, and interpretation techniques. The course is for community members interested in expanding their knowledge and appreciation of the coast. While you may take the course strictly for your own enjoyment, the course will also prepare you to become an active volunteer with Friends of the Dunes.
Acmon Blue Native Plant Garden
The Humboldt Coastal Nature Center is home to a native plant demonstration garden that surrounds the building and extends onto the building's green roof. This garden serves as an example of the native plant diversity within the dunes, especially for those with limited mobility that cannot walk the hilly trails. The garden provides habitat for a wide variety of native pollinators including butterflies, moths, ants, beetles, birds and more. Beach buckwheat is abundant in the garden and is a main source of food and habitat for the acmon blue butterfly and its larvae. The acmon blue is particularly abundant in this garden.
The heavy rains are speeding up the growth of the invasive annual grasses. Volunteers are needed to maintain the garden by removing the invasive annual grasses that crowd out the native plants. After an initial orientation, you can spend as many hours on a drop-in basis.
Please contact us to get started.
Coastal Trail Stewards
Become a Coastal Trail Steward and help us maintain the beauty of our dunes. Stewards will monitor our trails to ensure they remain well-maintained and that visitors are continuing to be respectful of our site-specific regulations that protect the biodiverse wildlife of our coastal dune environments.
We are seeking Trail Stewards for the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center Property and the Samoa Dunes and Wetlands Conservation Area. This volunteer position involves walking the trails on our properties to keep an eye on trail needs and visitor-use. We encourage Trail Stewards to visit about once a week and choose a route that covers a good portion of a property.
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To sign up or receive more information about this volunteer position, please email us.