Volunteers are the heartbeat of our programs. Volunteers teach in our Outdoor Science Education Program, help with resource management, and lead tours of the reserves. If you are interested in any of the opportunities below please contact those people directly using the links, or reach out to us at vesr@nrs.ucsb.edu.
Volunteer Opportunities
Outdoor Science Education Programs
These programs are led by our Education Coordinator and provide field trip opportunities for local elementary school children to SNARL in spring and Valentine Reserve in fall as well as weeklong programs at both sites in summer. Our volunteers that are part of this program assist the teachers with educational activities for children in the programs.
Valentine Reserve Public Tours
These programs are led by our Education Coordinator and provide opportunities for the public to visit Valentine Reserve in summer and learn more about the history, habitats and species of the reserve. The volunteers in this program act as docents to either lead or assist with the tours.
The Phenology Project
This program is led by Anne Barrett and is a citizen science program that utilizes local volunteers that are trained to collect data on several species of plants at Valentine Reserve and SNARL each week from Spring to fall. The data focus on the timing of flowering and leaf production and are entered into a national database to examine how certain species of plants across the country and beyond are responding to climate.
Land Stewardship and facilities
This is led by our Operations Manager responsible for maintaining the land and facilities of SNARL and Valentine. We love to have volunteer help in this realm ranging from trails maintenance, vegetation management, invasive species control and work on our facilities – particularly our 100 year old log cabins at Valentine. This year we hope to focus on caulking and sealing the log cabins.
