Backpacker Magazine – April 2005

Help Wanted: Outdoor Volunteer Opportunities

How to make a difference outdoors--without swinging a Pulaski

by: The Backpacker Editors

Tags:
• Skills
|

---

Trail Work is cool--you help a park, you help yourself--but there are many other ways to volunteer outdoors. Here are some of our favorites.

On the trail Get kids fit and fired up about the outdoors by leading hikes for after-school programs. Or man a trail water station for Take-A-Hike, a fundraising series for cancer research (www.eitakeahike.org). More ideas: www.volunteermatch.org.

In a park Help protect at-risk species by participating in wildlife counts. Teach LNT know-how as a volunteer ranger. Or put your GPS to good use: Map habitat areas or collect wildlife data. More ideas: www.volunteer.gov/gov (click "Natural Resources").

On vacation Sign up for a week of service on an archaeological dig or environmental research project. Go to www.sierraclub.org/outings/national/service.

Subscribe to Backpacker magazine
Sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter