This article was published in The Villager Magazine April 1st, 2025
Tuesday started with snacks. In place of our regular staff meeting, The Couchiching Conservancy was doing professional development training. We’re fortunate to have hundreds of volunteers and this leadership seminar was to make sure we’re having as big an impact as possible. Intriguingly, this seminar materialized similarly to the biggest lesson of the day.
The seminar leader, Natalie had been to a few of our nature events. Jane, a board member, realized she hadn’t met Natalie and sat with her one afternoon at a documentary screening. They started chatting and Natalie mentioned she had a corporate background and suggested ways she could help.
We tend to volunteer where we have a connection and stay where we feel part of the team and appreciated.
This came up over and over in our Tuesday training.
It made me want to understand our volunteers more. I started asking about their impetus to join.
Kyle, a new volunteer interested in maintaining hiking trails, is a teacher. His school runs a breakfast program where he met our former Executive Director Mark while Mark was volunteering.
Evelyn and Robert’s neighbours donated their land to The Couchiching Conservancy, so they wanted to learn more about us. They now have put regulations on their property to ensure it will remain in its natural state to create habitat for amphibians, bats and turtles.
Trudy and Meagan have been volunteering to monitor water quality at our nature reserves for over a decade. Meagan started because she was loves environmental field work. Trudy helps because she loves getting to spend a few hours a month watching her grown daughter follow her passion.
These people are all donating their time because protecting nature is important to them, but they’re also doing it because it’s bringing them closer to others with the same values.
The Couchiching Conservancy just finished our annual volunteer recruitment. For the first time, the average age of our volunteers is 36. It’s very hard to volunteer in your 30s. Not impossible, but not easy either. Those in their 30s are establishing their careers and it’s quite likely they have young families. The fact that this demographic has been able to find time to volunteer with a land trust tells me people are putting nature first. The average person is now starting to get really worried about this planet and is looking for something tangible they can do.
Sometimes we do things because they’re the right thing to do. We can do it on our own, but it’s infinitely harder. It is easier with friends. As our morning of professional development was winding down, our leader said goodbye and that she’ll see us at the Annual General Meeting. She smiled and said ‘Your AGMs are so good.’
If you have spent any time working with a charity, you’ll know this is not a commonly uttered sentiment.
Our Annual General Meetings aren’t fancy. They don’t have party tricks. There aren’t any laser shows. But they are well attended. Our board hosted one on the weekend and over 200 people were there. It’s because we have so many dedicated supporters. It’s easier to tackle hard problems with others. Please join us. Nature needs you.
The Couchiching Conservancy is a non-profit land trust that protects over 15 000 acres of land in the Orillia region.
