Volunteering at River Bend

River Bend Nature Center is a great place to volunteer your time and talents! We have a wide variety of volunteer opportunities throughout the year.

Who volunteers with River Bend Nature Center?

Volunteers come to River Bend Nature Center with a variety of ages, interests, skills, and desires. From families with young children to service groups to seniors, we welcome the opportunity to work with a
broad base of people dedicated to helping us pursue our mission.

Whether you have a few hours a week, some extra time on weekends, or an interest in coming occassionally during the year, we have volunteer opportunities to meet your time commitments and
interests.

Volunteering with River Bend is a rewarding experience that benefits not only the environment and
our visitors, but enriches the lives of our volunteers. We hope you will become part of our dedicated group of volunteers.

Volunteer Opportunities

Below you will find descriptions of many of the volunteer opportunities we have at River Bend. If you have other interests, ideas, or special skills that you would like to share with us, please let us know. We will work together to develop a project that is meaningful and mutually beneficial.

Volunteer Naturalist
Over 14,000 elementary students visit the center each year. These visits provide students with a unique field experience taught by both staff and trained volunteers. A desire to learn more about nature and a willingness to share your enthusiasm and knowledge with students is all that is needed to be a volunteer naturalist. Prior experience is not necessary since training is provided. Many volunteer naturalists spend three hours each week during the program season assisting with classes and attending the Friday morning training sessions.

Office Volunteer
Many hands are needed to operate River Bend, especially when it comes to folding letters, preparing mailings, labeling envelopes, answering phones, and greeting visitors. If you have time during the day, we can use your assistance. About once a month, office volunteers come together to work on projects.

Special Events
River Bend holds several special events each year with many opportunities for volunteers. Set up, food preparation and selling, parking, gift shop, leading walks, and helping with clean-up are some of the areas where we need assistance.

Group Service Projects
If your scout group, service club, or other type of organization is looking for a meaningful service project, please give us a call. We may have projects in mind that would fit with your goals, or we can work together to develop a project that would meet both of our needs.

Maintenance
With over 700 acres and several buildings, help is always welcomed to keep things looking good for visitors. Maybe you could help us maintain trails, put up wood for maple syruping, do some cleaning, or help with repairs. If you have woodworking skills we may need help with special projects. Sometimes we just need a helping hand with a special task. Work days are occasionally scheduled for large projects. See also River Bend Rangers and Buckthorn Management.