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Lend a Hand for the Land:
Volunteer with UVLT
Volunteers play an important role at UVLT. Last year, almost 200 people volunteered their time, energy, and skills to assist in UVLT’s work.
There are many ways to volunteer for UVLT. Whether you want to be out in the field or in the office, working on your own or with others, have a lot of time to give or just a little, there are many ways your energy and talents can help UVLT do its work.
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Getting Started
Current volunteer opportunities are listed below. To learn more about any of these activities, or to volunteer, call the UVLT staff person listed (603-643-6626) or email him/her at the address provided.
Don't see the right match here? We would love to talk with you about your interests, skills, and availability and match you to a volunteer activity or project that meets your objectives while filling a particular need at UVLT. Contact us.
Volunteer Activities
Easement Monitoring: UVLT's volunteer Land Stewards help UVLT meet one of its most fundamental obligations: the periodic monitoring of conserved lands to ensure compliance with our easements. Training is provided by UVLT staff. Volunteers may take on as many (or few) monitoring assignments as they wish. Volunteers may work in pairs or solo when visiting conserved properties. Training for monitoring volunteers is offered twice yearly. Check here for our 2008 Fall training date. To learn more about easement monitoring, contact Stewardship Coordinator Monica Erhart.
Trail Building: UVLT needs volunteers to help create or improve trails on UVLT-conserved lands where landowners have generously allowed for public access. There are many ways you can help:
- Join a group of trail-volunteers for a single workday;
- Help us organize a trail building project in your neighborhood or community;
- Work on special trail building projects throughout the region.
No prior trail building experience is required – just your energy and enthusiasm! There is plenty you can do to help that does not require heavy work or specialized equipment. For more information, contact Pete Helm.
Trail Stewardship: Adopt a trail in your community. In order to make trails available to the public on conserved lands, UVLT needs local trail stewards to take on maintenance of UVLT trails, keeping trail routes well-marked and clear of fallen limbs, and consulting UVLT should other problems arise. Individuals, families, or groups may adopt a trail. Contact: Pete Helm.
Connecticut River Campsites: Thanks to our volunteer campsite stewards, hundreds of paddlers enjoy UVLT’s primitive campsites along the Connecticut River every summer. If you would like to help out with periodic campsite maintenance throughout the paddling season, or assist with special campsite improvement projects, contact Pete Helm. Click here for more information about our campsites.
Field Trip Assistant: Helping out with UVLT’s field trips can involve greeting and signing in participants, hiking at the back of the group to do “sweep” or helping with shuttle service on one-way hikes. And you get to participate in the event! See our field trips calendar for details of upcoming trips. Contact us.
Leading Outdoor Programs: Do you enjoy sharing your knowledge and love of the natural world with others? Lead a field trip for kids or adults to one of UVLT’s conserved properties to look at birds, wildflowers, wildlife signs, or some other aspect of a site’s ecology, discover land use history, or teach an on-site workshop on photography, painting or… you name it! UVLT staff provides logistical support, event promotion, and registration. Contact us.
Town Land Records Research: One way to help build greenways of contiguous conserved parcels – as well as build UVLT's membership – is to notify neighbors when we conserve an adjacent property. We rely on volunteers to identify these abutting landowners by collecting information from town tax maps and public lists and records. We’ll help you get started. And for those who really like to have their head in the books for brief periods of time, some deed research would also be helpful. Contact: Peg Merrens
Photographing Conserved Lands: Got a camera and an eye for photo composition? Visit recently conserved lands to take photos for use in UVLT’s publications, slides shows, and website. Contact us.
UVLT Information Table: Help us spread the word! Travel to fairs, farmers’ markets, and other special events around the Upper Valley to help us staff our information display. Those who are willing to volunteer their time in support of UVLT are some of our best spokespersons. Contact us.
Writing: Looking for an outlet for your writing skills? We periodically need help with newsletter articles on recent conservation projects, press releases, and other special writing assignments. Contact us.
Photo exhibit: We’re looking for a visually inclined volunteer to update our traveling photo exhibit of conserved lands. UVLT has conserved 100 additional parcels since this exhibit was first created in 1997. We need a volunteer to select a dozen new pictures from our photo archive, have enlargements and mats made, and put them together with short project descriptions. Contact us.
UVLT “Protected Lands” Book Update: This important book contains a photo and brief description of each parcel UVLT has conserved, and we need help bringing it up to date. If you enjoy putting words and pictures together to tell a story, this project is for you. We have plenty of photos and written information for you to draw from. Contact us.
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Friendraising Events: Do you like to throw a party? Among UVLT’s most effective membership building tools are the gatherings hosted by UVLT members in their homes to introduce us to friends and neighbors. You provide the food and drink; we do the talking. This is one of the best ways you can help build understanding and support for land conservation in your community! Contact us.
Community Membership Liaison: Here’s another way to help UVLT build membership in your community. Once a year, we’ll ask you to send us 10 names and addresses of people in your community who think would be likely supporters of UVLT’s work. Contact us.
Baking and Food Prep for special events: If you enjoy baking and cooking and sharing your creations with others, UVLT can supply an appreciative audience! We periodically need help baking cookies, preparing simple finger foods, or making pies for UVLT meetings and events. Contact us.
Mailings Team: When you receive a mailing from UVLT, it has likely passed through the hands of one of our mailing volunteers, a lively bunch who gather to collate, stuff, and seal our membership mailings. Contact us.
News Clipping: Do you subscribe to a local newspaper such as the Eagle times, the Vermont Standard, or Littleton Courier? You can help us stay on top of local coverage of UVLT projects and other conservation news by clipping and sending relevant articles. Contact us.
A Project of Your Devising: If you’d like to volunteer for UVLT, but don’t see an activity here that matches your skills and interests, let’s talk! We’re happy to work with you to find a project for you that meets your objectives while filling a particular need at UVLT. Contact us.
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