FRIENDS OF THE DUNES
GIVE BACK TO THE COAST
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.
Environmental Educator
Education volunteers must be vaccinated against COVID-19
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.
Interested? Email education@friendsofthedunes.org for more information.
Naturalist-in-Training
Teen Summer Camp Position
Restoration
Join the Dune Ecosystem Restoration Team (DERT)
Help Friends of the Dunes naturalists lead groups of kids in:
-Exploring beaches, dunes, wetlands, and coastal forests.
-Learning about the plants and animals that live there.
-Playing games, Singing songs, and Creating nature crafts
This volunteer position is for ages 15-17. Applicants should:
-Be a current junior high or high school student. -Submit one reference letter from an adult who is not a family member
-Attend all training sessions
-Enjoy working with young children and be willing to act silly during games and while singing songs. --Take direction and work as part of a team.
Add gloves, shovels, and brush axes to human hands, and you have the strongest dune restoration tool around. Within months of initially removing invasive plants, volunteers witness native plants re-sprouting on their own. Our methods of removal have minimal impacts to the dunes, and thus native plants are able to repopulate the dunes on their own.
Help restore the dunes by volunteering with DERT (Dune Ecosystem Restoration Team). Volunteers help remove non-native invasive plants in order to promote native plant and animal life in the dunes. No experience is necessary. Training, camaraderie, and beautiful scenery are provided. Returning volunteers are eligible for free t-shirts and hats.
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.
Visit our calendar for dates and times.
Drop-in Native Landscaping
If you don’t like to follow schedules and have time during the week to volunteer, this is for you. After an initial orientation, you can spend as many hours as you like helping to remove invasive plants at the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center demonstration native plant garden. Please call (707) 444-1397 or email us to get started.
Visitor Services
The Nature Center is open once again! We need volunteers to greet visitors at the front desk on Fridays and weekends from 10 am- 4 pm. Recommended shifts are two to three hours. Please give us a call or email us to schedule a training.
Coastal Naturalist Training
Become a Friends of the Dunes Coastal Naturalist! Next spring, 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. For more information on how to register, click the link above, email us or call 707-444-1397.
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 while safely maintaining a physical distance from other visitors. We encourage Trail Stewards to visit about once a week and choose a route that covers a good portion of a property.
To sign up or receive more information about this volunteer position, please email us.
