Whether you are a hands-on person who likes to work on trails and assist visitors on our properties, an outgoing person who likes to organize events and connect with local landowners, or an organizational guru who likes filing photographs or tracking easement monitoring, your talents are welcome and valued at NEFF. Our volunteers exponentially increase NEFF’s reach and impact. Providing local eyes and ears in our woods, volunteers alert us to conservation news in their towns, and share important information about conservation and management with friends, neighbors, and fellow landowners.
Volunteering with NEFF offers the opportunity to join a diverse and conservation-minded group of people across New England.
Primary requirements are an ability to commit your time on an ongoing basis, a willingness to learn, and enthusiasm for forestry and conservation. To get started, please review the opportunities below and fill out an application.
Volunteer Positions
Forest Stewards
This position requires an interest in spending time in the forest in all conditions, maintaining trails, monitoring boundaries, assisting in projects when necessary, and being “hands-on.” It also requires a willingness to serve as local “eyes and ears”, keeping NEFF abreast of local conservation activities, and being a proponent for NEFF, conservation, and sustainable forestry in their community.
Responsibilities: Monitor forest a minimum of once per season, involving general surveillance of property; walking and maintaining trails free of brush, trees, and trash; walking and monitoring boundaries once per year for maintenance needs or encroachments; noting and reporting any vandalism or misuse of the property; acting as an ambassador for NEFF in the community; attending volunteer workshops and other NEFF events; submitting a monitoring report by December 31 each year. Other activities, such as leading trips or coordinating community activities at the forest, also are encouraged and are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Time requirement: A minimum of 4 visits per year, 25 to 30 hours per year. Additional visits are always encouraged.
Community Outreach
Landowners face multiple complex decisions regarding their land, and the implications of these decisions are wide-ranging. Forestlands provide vital ecosystem services, including clean water, clean air, and wildlife habitat, as well as a number of forest products upon which our lives are based. Approximately 56 percent of all forests in the United States are owned by 11 million private owners. Of these owners, 92 percent are family forest owners who control 62 percent of our country’s private forestlands. The collective decisions of these forest landowners will determine the future of the landscape.
Responsibilities: Our outreach volunteers are not expected to be experts in forestry or conservation. Rather, they need only have an interest in sharing relevant information about conservation and forestry with friends, neighbors, family members, and fellow landowners so that they will be better equipped to make informed and proactive decisions about their land both now and in the future. Because peers invariably trust others in their social circles, individuals who are willing to share reliable information with their circle will have a tremendous impact on the future of our landscape.
Research and Photography
Ecological or historical research: NEFF is always interested in learning more about the rich history and archaeology of our forests. If you have an interest in this topic and would like to help, please let us know!
Photography: If you are an amateur photographer interested in sharing photographs of our forests, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us with our volunteer form to discuss the details.