Volunteers

People who share their time and skills to benefit nature in our region are at the heart of what we do. It is thanks to hundreds of volunteers that we're able to accomplish so much, and make a difference for the species who call this area home.

Please review each job description carefully, determine which are the right fit for you, and complete an application so we can chat further.

Our Community Science program is open for intake annually from January - February.

Please note that you may not bring dogs on monitoring trips.

Our thanks to everyone who applied to volunteer for the 2023 field season! Our volunteer recruitment period is now closed, and will re-open in January 2024.

Fill out our Volunteer Interest Form to be notified of our annual recruitment period

Meghan & Thomas monitoring water at Taylor Nature Reserve (A. Aggarwal)

Volunteer Resources

Join our Newsletter

Become an Ambassador

YEAR-ROUND OPPORTUNITIES

Grant's Greeters

Commitment: 2 hours per month
Timing: Spring-Fall
There is no limit on the number of people who take on this job!

Share your love & passion for land conservation by becoming a part of a special team of trained volunteers who spread word about the Conservancy. Chat with trail users, help at events, call supporters, and share photos!

Office Support

Commitment: 2 - 4 hours/mo
Timing: All year

Data Entry: Input & archive various pieces of supporter information, reports, photos, newsletter subscribers, and more.

Must be good with computers.

Mailing: Help us stuff & seal our snail mail!

Barred Owl, T. Rowland

Special Skills

If you have any of the following skills to contribute, we want to know!

Photography/VideographySocial MediaWritingEnvironmental EducatorNaturalistBirdingEvent CoordinationFundraisingGovt Legislation & Policy

Bufflehead, J. Burnie

Land Stewards

Positions available: 26

Every Conservancy nature reserve has a team of two land stewards that are the eyes and ears on the ground. Land stewards are the trusted experts of their property and gain their knowledge through exploration of the property, meeting staff and other volunteers, and review of stewardship plans.

The main job of a land steward is to know their property. They monitor the property perimeter and trails for human incursions, safety hazards, vandalism, and maintenance issues. Land stewards submit a report after each monitoring visit. We encourage land stewards to

identify species–at-risk and invasive species, and report these findings back to staff
work with staff to plan and lead maintenance and stewardship projects, which could include helping to repair signs, installing trail infrastructure like boardwalks, managing invasive species, and habitat restoration projects
provide input in stewardship plans

Skills and Equipment Needed: In order to monitor the property boundaries and trail, volunteers should be able to navigate on-trail and off-trail using a smartphone GPS app or a map and compass in forests and grasslands in all seasons. We provide geo-referenced maps for each property and encourage volunteers to use them with a smartphone GPS app or a compass to help with navigation. We also encourage (but don’t require) land stewards to use their smartphone to record GPS coordinates and associated photos of any issues they find. Snowshoes for going off-trail in winter are recommended. Volunteers may also want to bring binoculars, a camera, field guides or a species ID app. Some light computer skills are handy for submitting reports and photos, though not necessary.

Commitment: Eight half days per year (spring, summer, fall, and winter) for property visits, plus additional paperwork and reporting. Participation in property maintenance work parties is also encouraged.

Training Required: We provide

General orientation of the Couchiching Conservancy
Invasive Species ID and Species-at-Risk ID courses
one-on-one field orientation of the property
a walkthrough of the Land Steward Monitoring Report
Smartphone GPS app training

Note that you may not bring dogs on monitoring trips.

Volunteers repair a bridge at Adams NR

Property Maintenance

Positions available: 4

The Property Maintenance volunteers are a roving team with carpentry and chainsaw know-how. They take on larger maintenance projects such as foot bridge construction and maintenance, erecting new property signs, and keeping our office in good repair.

Conservancy staff call upon Property Maintenance volunteers as work comes up and staff plan and lead all outings and projects. Work can vary from clearing fallen trees from trails, to simple repairs to our office, to more elaborate projects like installing a foot bridge on a trail. In 2023, if there’s enough interest, we plan to establish a Women’s Property Maintenance team, in addition to our existing Property Maintenance Team.

Skills and equipment:

Carpentry skills, mostly woodworking (foot bridges, boardwalks, and other outdoor structures) but additional skills are handy, such as plumbing and working with concrete.
Chainsaw training and experience.
Experience using weed trimmers and brush saws.
Ability to work outdoors in remote areas in varying conditions (warm or cold weather, buggy, etc.)

Commitment: Eight half days per year (spring, summer, fall, and winter).

Training: We provide

General orientation of the Couchiching Conservancy
Smartphone GPS app training
Tool safety and use, if needed.

Note that you may not bring dogs on Property Maintenance trips to Conservancy properties.

musical mystery tour at scout valley musicians playing guitars

Musical Mystery Tour, B. Deck

Passport to Nature Marketing Assistant

Assist with creating material for our Passport to Nature program to communicate with our supporters. This will mainly include contributing material for our social media, website, newsletter, and print materials. In this role, you will have the chance to use your creativity to inspire a passion for nature protection in your local communities.

Tasks:

Finding and creating content for our social media, newsletter, and blog posts
Developing video content for social media and YouTube (planning, filming, editing)
Graphic design
Collecting and analyzing annual communications data from our social media accounts, website, newsletter, and other online communications applications
Strategic promotion: sharing our events with related organizations to help with promotion
Drafting and sending media releases for our Passport to Nature events
Reporting to the Engagement Organizer

Skills and Experience (No prior experience is needed, but the following will be helpful):

Knowledge of, or interest in, nature and ecology in the Couchiching-Severn region
Strong writing and communication skills
Experience with creating or editing communication work designed to be shared with the public
Experience with social media
Experience in basic video creating and editing
Experience writing media releases
Graphic design or other artistic skills
Access to your own camera (it doesn’t have to be anything fancy, your cell phone camera is fine!). We can lend out a laptop for video editing if needed.

Time Commitment:

Planning for the Passport to Nature program takes place with the Passport to Nature committee September – January (monthly meetings). Meetings are typically 1 – 2 hours.
Passport to Nature usually runs from the following April – March and includes in-person events, virtual seminars and downloadable activities. Marketing of the program happens generally spring to fall. We estimate 5-10 hours will be needed each month.

Training:

Watching our Conservancy 101 - Who Are We? video
Basic guidelines will be provided for creating, collecting and analyzing communications content, and we will provide guidance on the best practices that align with the Conservancy’s values.
Your work will be submitted to the Engagement Organizer who will review and approve your work, as well as provide constructive feedback.

Spring Flower Photography, C. Curran

COMMUNITY SCIENCE PROGRAM

Daytime Frog Monitors

Positions available: 2

This program targets Western Chorus Frogs, along with Wood and Northern Leopard Frogs, whose mating calls can be heard in the daytime March to May.

Skills and Equipment Needed: Good hearing is required. Listening devices with headphones are used to verify calls.

Commitment: Volunteer teams of two head out for afternoon visits in the early spring. Three trips of fifteen minutes, are all that’s required. You must be available from March to the end of May to participate in this activity.

Training Required: New volunteer orientation (1.5 hr - March). Online frog call monitoring course (2 hr - due April 1). In field training (2 hr - mid April).

Note that you may not bring dogs on monitoring trips.

Mink Frog, T. Rowland

Evening Frog Monitors

Positions available: 7

There are one toad and nine frog species in our region, and volunteers are trained to identify their calls both individually and in a chorus.

Skills and Equipment Needed: Good hearing is required. Listening devices with headphones are used to verify calls.

Commitment: Volunteer teams of two head out 1/2 hour after sunset to a Conservancy wetland. Three trips of fifteen minutes through the spring and summer, at different temperature thresholds, are all that’s required. You must be available from late April to July to participate in this activity.

Training Required: New volunteer orientation (1.5 hr - March). Online frog call monitoring course (2 hr - due April 1). In field training (2 hr - mid April).

Note that you may not bring dogs on monitoring trips.

Bat Monitoring

Positions available: 4

There are eight species of bats in Ontario, and four of them are listed as endangered. Bats are active at night, emitting echolocation which cannot be heard by humans.

Bat Monitoring teams of 3 are assigned a property and cover a designated route 1/2 hour after sunset. Using an Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro, you will record the echolocation calls of bats which can then be analyzed to determine species.

Commitment: Must be available to make three evening visits of approximately 2 hours each in June and July, during your assigned dates (we organize monitoring dates based on everyone's availability on the program).

Skills and equipment needed: You will need a headlamp and something to protect you from the bugs – a bug jacket and gloves are recommended. You need to be confident that you can navigate along a trail in the dark, and be comfortable using a smart phone/tablet.

Training Required: There is no experience necessary, we will train you on how to use the bat monitoring equipment. There will be a new volunteer orientation session (1.5 hr – March), online training (2-3 hr – April), and outdoor training (2-3 hr - mid May).

Note that you may not bring dogs on monitoring trips.

Grassland Bird Surveys

Positions available: 2

Grassland birds are one of the fastest declining groups of birds in North America as they contend with land use changes and pressures throughout their entire range. In our region we are lucky to have the Carden Alvar, with habitat suitable for a wide variety of grassland birds, but this is still not enough space in the larger scheme of the declines they face. For these surveys we are focussing our efforts on private agricultural land where we hope to find breeding birds. We will then approach those farmers with incentives to adjust their agricultural practices slightly to allow the young birds to fledge successfully.

Commitment: Grassland Bird Surveyors (usually a team of 2) are assigned a route, or stations, where they will conduct 5-minute point counts of our three target species, Bobolink, Eastern Meadowlark, and Barn Swallows. These routes will be located along roads within our Conservation Acquisition Corridors throughout the region. When conducting surveys teams need to go out early in the morning (between 7-10am) at least 2-3 times between the end of May and mid-July.

Skills and equipment needed: Good hearing and eyesight are required. You will need access to a vehicle, binoculars, and comfortable using a smart phone.

Training Required: There is no experience necessary, we will train you on how to identify the target species and how to conduct the surveys. There will be a new volunteer orientation session (1.5 hr – March), In-person and online training (2-3 hr – April), and outdoor training at Bluebird Ranch (2-3 hr - late May).

Note that you may not bring dogs on monitoring trips.

Monarch Monitors

Positions available: 2

This program supports the national milkweed watch initiative and mission monarch . Since the Milkweed plant is the Monarch's sole source of food, both of these programs target milkweed in order to track the health of Monarch Butterfly populations.

Volunteers will count both milkweed plants and monarch caterpillars found on the plants, and submit data to us for inclusion in the milkweed watch and mission monarch studies.

Commitment: Volunteer teams of two are assigned a Conservancy property with suitable habitat for milkweed and monarchs. Four trips of approximately 2 hours are required in September and October. The timing of visits is critical to success.

Training: Take our brief monarch monitoring course during the summer, and either our GPS basics or Avenza map app course.

*Note that you may not bring dogs on monitoring trips to Conservancy properties.

Note that you may not bring dogs on monitoring trips.

Reptile Monitors

Positions available: 6

Volunteers stealthily follow a designated route, looking for basking & nesting turtles, snakes, and on some properties the five-lined skink. Many reptile species in our region are at risk either federally, provincially, or both and because of this we want to get a picture of what species we have on each Nature Reserve. This allows us to then better manage it with those species in mind. No experience is necessary, we provide training.

Commitment: Teams are assigned a Nature Reserve to monitor, each one has lookouts and other focal points where you will look for reptiles. Teams are asked to go out once a month, in nice weather when the reptiles are out. This is during the active reptile season which can run from April to October. Each site visit varies in length depending on the Nature Reserve, but is generally around 2-3 hours.

Training Required: There is no experience necessary, we will train you on how to identify the reptiles in our region, and how to conduct the surveys. There will be a new volunteer orientation session (1.5 hr – March), online training (3-4 hr – March - early April), and outdoor training (3-4 hr - late April – early May).

Equipment Needed: Binoculars and a camera with a zoom lens (we have easy-to-use cameras we can loan you - your smartphone camera is not up to this job). A smart phone that you can use to submit monitoring visits through the Landscape mobile app (we would provide you with an account).

Note that you may not bring dogs on monitoring trips.

Salamander Monitors

Positions available: 4

Volunteers monitor salamander boards, that have been placed in the forest, checking for any salamanders that are using them for cover. Some teams will also be checking vernal pools (temporary ponds) in the early spring for salamander and frog egg masses.

Commitment: Teams of two are assigned a Nature Reserve to monitor, each one has roughly 10 salamander boards that are checked 3 times in the spring and 3 times in the autumn. Some teams may also make additional visits in the spring if they have vernal pools at the Nature Reserve. Each site visit varies in length depending on the Nature Reserve, but is generally around 2-3 hours. The timing of visits is critical to success (the conditions should be wet or damp), and volunteers need to have enough flexibility in their schedules to make their visits under prime weather conditions.

Training Required: There is no experience necessary, we will train you on how to identify the salamanders in our region, and how to conduct the surveys. There will be a new volunteer orientation session (1.5 hr – March), online training (3-4 hr – March - early April), and outdoor training (3-4 hr - late April – early May).

Equipment Needed: A smart phone that you can use to submit monitoring visits through the Landscape mobile app (we would provide you with an account). Wet weather clothes, rubber boots, and a bug jacket/net.

Note that you may not bring dogs on monitoring trips.

Eastern Red-backed Salamander, P. MacLachlan

Water Quality Monitoring

Positions available: 4

This is our benchmark Community Science program, which began in 2015.

Water Teams test for up to 9 different water quality parameters on-site including Temperature, Depth, pH, Dissolved Oxygen, Phosphates, Turbidity, Alkalinity, Nitrate-Nitrogen, Conductivity, and sometimes Chlorides.

Skills and equipment needed: some monitoring sites require walking down sloping stream banks. No previous monitoring skills required.

Measuring water temperature of Mill Creek in Scout Valley

Scout Valley (J. Burnie)

Wildlife on Roads

Positions available: 1

Roads impact species movement and cause animal mortality. The data from this project helps us understand what species are impacted and supports the need for mitigation measures.

At least once a month from spring – fall, trained volunteers walk along their assigned section of road and record observations of dead/injured/alive animals using iNaturalist.

Skills and equipment needed: walk ~1 km with frequent squatting/bending down to inspect small things on the road. A cell phone.

Invasive Species

Positions available: 10

A group of dedicated volunteers working hard to protect our nature reserves from introduced species that threaten the integrity of native ecosystems. The Invasive Species Team uses research-based techniques to manage the spread of invasives.

Under the leadership of Conservancy field staff, the Invasive Species Team moves between nature reserves to manage known populations of invasive species. For example, in June, the team may spend a morning pulling garlic mustard at Carthew Bay Nature Reserve, while in July, they may spend an afternoon spading phragmites at Sweetwater Farm Nature Reserve.

Skills and equipment: Invasive species control can be physically demanding requiring repetitive motions such as bending, pulling, and spading. Some invasives can take root in hard to access places, like wetlands, though they often invade high traffic and disturbed areas such as trail edges and old fields. While the Conservancy has plenty of equipment, volunteers may be asked to bring some of their own gardening equipment, such as work gloves, a spade shovel, or pruning shears.

Commitment: 5-10 half days per year. Invasive species control can take place throughout the year, though the majority occurs in late spring, summer and fall depending on the species.

Training: We provide

General orientation of the Couchiching Conservancy
Invasive species identification and management training
Species-at-risk identification training
Smartphone GPS app training

Note that you may not bring dogs on Invasive Species trips to Conservancy properties.

Wild Columbine. Cassie Pellerin.

Trail Cameras

Positions available: 1

We would like to create a Zooniverse project that will give our supporters the ability to help us go through our trail cam footage. We are looking for someone with the technical skills to create the project in Zooniverse.

Most of the project would be built using Zooniverse’s user friendly/WYSIWYG web developer, though some parts will require Python coding. You can visit the Zooniverse website and have a look at how to build a project to see if you would be able to help us with this.

Questions?

Email Madeleine Fournier at engage@couchconservacy.ca for inquiries.