Volunteer Opportunities

Date: Saturdays throughout the year
Garden Volunteering in open space park behind Lady Liberty.
Organization: Friends of Liberty State Park
Time: 8am - 11am
Contact Name: (for more information or to sign up) Maria Wakefield
Contact Phone Number: 201-915-3418 weekdays or 201-915-3403 on Saturday
Contact Email: gardening@libertystatepark.us or schatzidog@earthlink.net
Description: Volunteers are always welcome at NJ’s urban state park to participate in a friendly atmosphere in gardening to help beautify LSP. No experience is necessary. The Friends welcome individuals or groups including corporate employees. Wonderful views of harbor and Lady Liberty and Ellis Island.

River Cleanups
A big part of Hackensack Riverkeeper's mission to protect, preserve and restore the Hackensack River watershed is to engage the people of our watershed to take responsibility for it. Throughout the year, we invite the community to participate in the many River Cleanups we host in various locations in the watershed.

At most cleanups, we work on foot to clear trash and other debris from the banks of the river as well as pulling trash out of the river from canoes. Cleanups generally last about four hours, and Hackensack Riverkeeper provides all the canoes, PFDs (personal flotation devices), paddles, hip waders, garbage bags, gloves, pickup sticks, rakes, shovels, meals and refreshments that you will need to get the job done. Just be sure to wear clothes that you don't mind getting dirty.

Individuals and families are encouraged to just show up and get to work. We also welcome scouts and other civic groups but ask that you let us know how many folks you're planning to bring so we can be sure to have enough food and supplies on hand. There is no age requirement to participate, but children must be supervised. You must be 16 or older to PADDLE a canoe (some exceptions may be made based upon experience level, and two paddlers are required per canoe). For more information, or to be placed on our contact list, please sign up below or contact Lisa at 201-968-0808, or lisaryan@hackensackriverkeeper.org.

Pinelands Preservation Alliance
Bishop Farmstead, 17 Pemberton Road, Southampton, New Jersey 08088Phone: 609-859-8860 Fax: 609-859-8804

E-mail: ppa@pinelandsalliance.org Website: www.pinelandsalliance.org
Pinelands Preservation Alliance
Volunteer Opportunities

To learn more about our volunteer opportunities please contact Volunteer Manager, Mike Pippin at mike@pinelandsalliance.org or by phone at 609-859-8860 ext. 15.

Pinelands Watch network: This is our action alert network. We will mail you alerts on issues as they arise and provide suggested actions, such as contacting government officials, that will support our efforts on each issue. I have included a recent example of one of these alerts.

Office volunteer: Volunteers help us with activities such as mailings, research, manning the Pinelands Visitors Center, and so on. Schedules are flexible, and we would provide any preliminary education or training you might need.

Fairs and Festivals volunteer: Volunteers man the Pinelands Preservation Alliance table at the many fairs and festivals where we go to meet people, distribute literature, and get folks interested in the Pinelands. We provide the necessary training and can team you with experienced staff or volunteers.

Garden volunteer: If you are a gardener, or are interested in getting into gardening, we are looking for more people to join our Garden Committee and help us manage our native landscaping and historic garden beds at our headquarters. These gardens are just getting going, so it is a good time to get in on the ground floor.

PPA Committees: If you want to get really involved, we have various committees that work on advocacy issues, our annual Pinelands Discovery Festival, education projects, and so on. If you like events, working on the Pinelands Discovery Festival, held in October at Whitesbog Village, is a good way to get to know people and learn more about the Alliance.

Your own idea: Sometimes people come to us with their own ideas about how they can contribute to our work, and we are always open to this approach.

The New York- New Jersey Trail Conference has many trail related opportunities for volunteers. We work directly with groups and individuals to set up trail work days that are crafted to fit what the group or individual wishes to experience, and geographic location is flexible as well. We can handle groups in size from 1 to about 50 on relatively short notice and larger groups with a little more notice. We also need volunteers to help us with office work, but these positions are generally set up on an individual rather than group basis. The contact person is Brenda Holzinger, the NJ Regional Coordinator for the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, via work phone (201-512-9348 x 25), cell (973-303-3538) or email (Holzinger@nynjtc.org).

Other Volunteer Opportunities

Land Management
Assist our land manager in trail maintenance and other projects to help preserve the Nature Center property. Contact Park Ranger Marc Dwyer for more information at (201) 567-1265 x204.

Companies and Groups
Many companies or organizations have volunteer groups that help local organizations with a variety of projects. Recently volunteers from Starbucks, GlaxoSmithKline, and KPMG helped Flat Rock Brook with land management projects, the Bell Telephone Pioneers built our boardwalk trail, and a group of Boy Scouts recently refurbished our aviary. If you are part of a volunteer group call the Steve Wiessner at 201-567-1265 to discuss the available projects might be suited to your group.