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Hello  ,
Welcome to our pilot volunteer opportunity board!
Thank you for signing up to receive volunteer opportunities from Ontario Nature. We are grateful for your interest in conservation.
This email launches a new pilot project, intended to match volunteers with environmental organizations. Postings are from Ontario Nature and the 150 member groups that form the Nature Network.
We will send these emails at the beginning of each month and then reassess in the summer.
VOLUNTEER BOARD POSTINGS
Advocacy Committee Member, Toronto Field Naturalists
The TFN Advocacy Committee raises awareness on the value of urban nature and ways to better protect nature across Toronto. We speak up for nature at City Hall, sit on advisory committees and raise awareness. If you are passionate about nature, have strong research and writing skills, and are not afraid to speak up, contact us about joining this committee.
Habitat Restoration Action Days, Friends of Wye Marsh
- Location: Midland
- Start: May 24, 2024
- Duration: May – July 2024
- Time: Saturdays, 9–11am on May 25, June 1, June 8, June 15 and June 22
- Time Commitment: 2 hours/week
- Contact: Heather Keery, hkeery@wyemarsh.com or 705-526-7809 ext. 205
As pretty as some exotic plants look, they can have devastating impacts on the local environment! Help restore wildlife habitat at Wye Marsh by removing invasive species and replacing them with indigenous ones! Join us for just two hours on any day listed below, and you can make a difference this summer. Registration preferred, drop-ins are welcome.
Snake Survey, Ontario Nature Conservation Science Team
- Location: Lost Bay Nature Reserve (nearest town Black Rapids, eastern Ontario)
- Start: May 1, 2024
- Duration: 8 – 16 weeks
- Time Commitment: Approximately 1 hour per week (one survey every 5 to 9 days)
- Contact: Teagan Netten, teagann@ontarionature.org
Ontario Nature’s Conservation Science team is looking for volunteers to assist with implementing our Long-term Monitoring Protocol to survey snakes. Volunteers will adopt a transect of 24 coverboards, which will be surveyed once every five to nine days. Each survey takes approximately half an hour to an hour and is conducted within two hours of sunrise or sunset. Surveys involve looking under each coverboard for snakes and recording number of individuals, species, and age and sex if possible, as well as recording weather and location data. This position begins on or around May 1st for at least eight surveys, ending around July 15th, with the possibility of extending up to eight more weeks. Familiarity with Ontario snake species is an asset, but we will provide additional training resources. Volunteers must have access to their own transportation and be willing to travel to and from Lost Bay Nature Reserve for weekly surveys.
Snake Survey Volunteer, Ontario Nature Conservation Science Team
- Location: Norfolk County
- Start: May 1, 2024
- Duration: 8 – 16 weeks
- Time Commitment: Approximately 1 hour per week (one survey every 5 to 9 days)
- Contact: Teagan Netten, teagann@ontarionature.org
Ontario Nature’s Conservation Science team is looking for volunteers to assist with implementing our Long-term Monitoring Protocol to survey snakes. Volunteers will adopt a transect of 24 coverboards, which will be surveyed once every five to nine days. Each survey takes approximately half an hour to an hour and is conducted within two hours of sunrise or sunset. Surveys involve looking under each coverboard for snakes and recording number of individuals, species, and age and sex if possible, as well as recording weather and location data. This position begins on or around May 1st for at least eight surveys, ending around July 15th, with the possibility of extending up to eight more weeks. Familiarity with Ontario snake species is an asset, but additional training resources will be provided. Volunteers must have access to their own transportation and be willing to travel to and from the survey site in Norfolk County for weekly surveys.
Phragmites Fighter, Friends of Wye Marsh
- Location: Midland
- Start: Jul 6, 2024
- Duration: July – August 2024
- Timing: Saturdays, 9 am – 11 am July 6, July 13, July 20, July 27
- Time Commitment: 2 hours/ week
- Contact: Heather Keery, hkeery@wyemarsh.com or 705-526-7809 x205
While native Phragmites are a natural part of our local ecosystem at Wye Marsh, the Eurasian form is not. Alien to our wetland, it grows in tall, tight stands that are destroying vital turtle habitat. Help our turtles. Become a Phragmites Fighter! Just two hours CAN make a difference. Registration preferred, drop-ins welcome.
Plant Stewardship Volunteer, Friends of Second Marsh
- Location: Oshawa
- Start: May 11, 2024
- Duration: May – October
- Time Commitment: 2 hours a week
- Contact: Wioletta Walanick, wwalancik@secondmarsh.ca
- Qualifications: People who love to be outdoors and want to help heal the land
Volunteers will help with plant management activities (e.g., pulling, digging, cutting, spading) dominant introduced (invasive) plant species. We will provide training, and most equipment and supplies. To learn more about our Plant Stewardship program, please visit: www.secondmarsh.ca/plant-stewardship.
Social Media Marketing Manager, Heart Lake Turtle Troopers
- Location: Brampton
- Start: Mar 1, 2024
- Duration: Ongoing
- Time Commitment: 2 hours a week
- Contact: Lori Leckie, lori.leckie@gmail.com
Looking for a person who is familiar with social media and conservation. We would welcome a high school student or university student.
Stewardship Team Member, Toronto Field Naturalists
TFN has both long-term monitoring programs and stewardship sites within Toronto and at our nature reserves. We need volunteers with strong flora or fauna identification skills, but also people who want to learn identification while restoring and maintaining natural areas. If you are interested in stewardship and would like to be part of native plantings, invasive management, field studies, trail maintenance, photo monitoring, data processing and reporting, or stewardship planning and administration, please contact us for more information.
Walk Leader, Toronto Field Naturalists
- Location: Toronto
- Start: Apr 6, 2024
- Duration: Ongoing, or a single walk
- Time Commitment: Around 10 hours per walk, depending on the length of the walk
- Contact: Lynn Miller, volunteering@torontofieldnaturalists.org
Do you know a natural area that others might enjoy? Do you have a passion for an aspect of our natural heritage that you want to share? Help connect people with nature by leading a walk! A Walk Leader helps people gain an appreciation for the natural world and our environment. Walk Leaders encourage the public to participate in protecting and preserving geographical areas such as forests, parks, rivers, and wetlands. Walk Leaders get people outside who might otherwise be hesitant to walk alone. Qualified candidates will have knowledge of some topic (e.g., birds, trees, flowers, history) and the ability to lead participants through an area of Toronto’s parks and ravines system. We will provide training on how to conduct a walk.
FURTHER OPPORTUNITIES
Looking for other ways to get involved with Ontario Nature and the nature community?
If you know anyone who wants to sign up for this list, they can do so on our volunteer webpage.
If you are a member group and have an opportunity, please fill out this form to have it included in the next newsletter. Groups are responsible for vetting, training and the safety of volunteers.
Sincerely,
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