Updates to Project Watershed’s Volunteer Program

A few changes have been made to our volunteer program as we work towards streamlining our process. These changes were discussed at the two Volunteer Symposiums we held recently and are posted here for those who couldn't attend.

We have always been very fortunate to be supported by great volunteers. As we get involved in more restoration/research work there are more tasks to go around and the need for volunteers and streamlined processes increases. To this end we have made some changes to our volunteer program. As we work through these changes we thank you for your patience.

One of the big changes is that we now have Virginia East helping coordinate volunteer management. For those of you who don’t know Virginia, she has been coordinating the citizen science portion of our Forage Fish work since 2019. She will be working with the rest of our staff to post, schedule and prepare for volunteer opportunities as well as sending reminder emails and follow up emails to volunteers.

Another great change is that we have created a digital version of our Volunteer Handbook. This is a great place to learn more about Project Watershed and volunteering with us. It also includes links to our Volunteer Application Form, Waiver and Time Tracking Form.

We ask that volunteers track their time for a variety of reasons. One of which is that volunteer time can help us leverage other funding. Funders “value” volunteer time differently but a common rate we can claim is $20/hr per volunteer. Other reasons to track volunteer time include the ability to celebrate volunteer milestones and those that go above and beyond.

We are also now posting all our volunteer opportunities to the front page of our website and our Events page which will display all the events on a calendar and in a list. When you click on an event you will visit a page with the details of the activity and a sign up form. After you sign up for an event you should receive a confirmation email within a few hours. This email may go to your SPAM or JUNK folder so please check these locations if you don’t receive it in your inbox. You can always email Virginia or Caila if you have questions, did not receive a confirmation email or need to cancel a shift.

Lastly, as we received much positive feedback after our symposiums we have decided to try and hold them twice a year in March and September. This will help us keep our volunteers up-to-date and help us prepare for our busiest volunteer seasons.  We would like to thank the Flying Apron and Big Foot Donuts for the goodies they donated to our Symposium on September 22.