Boothbay Region Land Trust relies on the assistance of over 100 volunteers each year to support our conservation, education, and public access goals. The generous support of many helping hands throughout our community has fostered our growth and success over the years. We are deeply appreciative to all who donate their time and expertise to benefit our mission.
Volunteer Opportunities:
Stewardship Volunteers: Boothbay Region Land Trust relies on a large team of stewardship volunteers to assist us in maintaining trails on our 26 public preserves throughout the year. Prime months for stewardship work are between May and October, but we do continue to need occasional assistance in the colder months as well. Depending on a volunteer’s background, experiences, and interests, we work to ensure that your time is well spent and that your contributions are personally fulfilling. From basic trail upkeep and maintenance, to invasive plant removal, mowing, chain sawing, kiosk repair and updating, and much more, we have a wide variety of tasks that ensure our preserves are well-maintained throughout the year. Beneficial skills include carpentry experience, landscaping and gardening, and plant identification among others. BRLT offers special trainings throughout the year designed to give volunteers skills that will better enable them to assist in a variety of ways on the trails.
CLIP: CLIP stands for Committee to Limit Invasive Plants. Volunteers will be helping eradicate invasive shrubs and vines (bush honeysuckle, oriental bittersweet, multi flora rose, autumn olive, and Japanese barberry) on BRLT preserves. Work will consist of pulling, cutting, and piling invasive brush that will be chipped or burned later. No prior knowledge or experience with invasive plants is needed. Training will be provided including species identification and removal techniques. Some tools will be available, but volunteers are welcome and encouraged to bring their favorite pruning shears, loppers, or pulling/cutting devices. Long pants, long sleeve shirts, and gloves are recommended as well as bug spray and water. This group meets during the growing season and throughout the fall on a regular schedule. Drop-ins are welcome. To see schedule dates for CLIP work parties, please see our events calendar or contact our stewardship manager.
Water Samplers: Our Coastal Water Monitoring program is a citizen-science program that utilizes volunteers to sample coastal sites on a biweekly basis between early May and October. Volunteers sample a specific assigned site for pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, and turbidity. Specific dates and times are disseminated to volunteers in late April. Each volunteer is assigned a testing site based on availability and preference, if possible (please note that BRLT currently has 11 sampling sites, and therefore participation in this program is limited). A water sampling kit is provided for each site, which is picked up by the volunteer at the BRLT office the week of sampling and returned with the completed report directly after sampling. BRLT provides training for interested volunteers to learn how to use the equipment provided in the kid and to better understand the measurements and data being collected.
Apple Corps: Apple Corps is a program under stewardship designed to revitalize and care for the many apple trees across BRLT preserves. BRLT maintains several apple orchards as well as stands of apple trees which contain a wide variety of apples including heirloom varieties. This program is particularly looking for volunteers who can assist seasonally in the spring months (April-June) to prune and remove deadwood from trees. All trees have a tag and volunteers will inventory and track individual tree health, and steward the apple trees using best environmental practices. BRLT offers training to new volunteers and this group typical meets for a number of scheduled work-parties throughout the spring season as well as in the fall.
Administrative Support & Events: For volunteers interested in light office work, administrative support, or events planning and support, we have occasional need for assistance throughout the year. This work is on an as-needed basis and can include helping with mailings, office tasks, events coordinating including volunteering in a public-facing role at events, planning events, setting up for or clean up after events, etc. We maintain a contact list and reach out to groups of interested volunteers on an as-needed basis to assist with these special events and administrative tasks.
Occasionally we have volunteer needs outside of those outlined above. If you have skills and knowledge that pertain to forest management, environmental education, wildlife biology, botany or other areas related to our work, we would welcome your support. If you have an interest in volunteering and a skill that you believe could be of use to our work, we encourage you to contact us.
Interested in volunteering? Fill out the form below!
