Trail Work & Maintenance 

• Trail Crew - With over 95 miles of trail and counting, many hands are needed to maintain this vast network! If you like to work outdoors or spend time on the trail with others, this is a great way to become more active in your community and give back. Trail work days typically involve trail pruning, blazing, bridge building, or down tree removal for 2-3 hours and occur periodically through the season. No prior experience with tools is needed, tools and training are provided. Come join the fun, vibrant community of volunteers maintaining our trails! You can participate once a year or once a month as your schedule allows.

• Preserves Trail Steward - Adopt a trail section and make sure it stays accessible and inviting to all visitors! Trail stewards walk their trails ~4x/year and report maintenance needs (i.e. broken bridge, down trees, signage needs). This is a great role if you already frequently visit a preserve and are looking for a way to deepen your connection to it by stewarding the trail.

• HVNC Trail Steward - Adopt a Trail at HVNC. With over 25 miles to choose from we're sure to have something for everyone. Help by hiking or biking your adopted trail once a month and reporting issues like erosion, down trees, pruning needs, etc.

Invasive Plant Removal

• Land – There is nothing more satisfying than watching the pile of invasive plants grow as you clear habitat for native plants to thrive! Invasive plant work days entail removing plants with loppers, hand saws, shovels, weed wrenches, etc. for 2-3hrs and occur periodically from spring-fall. No prior experience with tools is needed, tools and training will be provided. You can participate once a year or once a month as your schedule allows.

• Water - Adopt a section of Damariscotta Lake to survey for invasive aquatic plants in the late summer, manage IPP volunteers, and/or allow your property to be utilized to house IPP equipment and coordinate volunteers. 

Oyster Aquaculture

• Help us in the important work of ensuring the health of our oysters by flipping oyster cages at our Limited Purpose Aquaculture sites in the Sheepscot River as part of our Regenerative Oyster Restoration project. 

HVNC Welcome Center AMBASSADOR

• The Roland S. Barth Welcome Center is the first point of contact for most visitors to Hidden Valley Nature Center.  Welcome Center Ambassadors meet and greet visitors, and help them get launched on their adventures. It’s a great place to volunteer for anyone who loves to use their people skills and is passionate about our mission! Learn More Here. 

Leading Nature Education and/or Outdoor Recreation Programs

• HVNC Program Leader - We're always looking for folks with knowledge to share. As a program leader you can lead a forest walk about your favorite natural history subject, lead a full moon paddle, or a full moon hike, lead mountain bike clinics, lead cross country ski clinics, and more. 

Water Quality Monitoring

• Sheepscot River – You can help us by adopting a site on the Sheepscot River or one of its tributaries and monitor water quality every other Tuesday morning from May to October, or by collecting those bacteria samples from several locations within the Sheepscot River watershed and delivering them to the lab in Augusta. You could also use your organizational experience to help us coordinate these efforts.

• Damariscotta Lake – Come out on the lake with a staff member to help us as we collect water quality data on Damariscotta Lake. 

Property Monitoring 

• Help ensure that all is well on our conserved lands! Property monitors walk Midcoast Conservancy's preserves and easements every summer to check for activities that might negatively impact the property (ex. timber trespass). If you like to hike and explore new places where few people visit this is for you. The degree of difficulty varies by preserve so you can choose whether you'd like to stroll on woods roads and trails or bushwhack deep into untouched woods. You can sign up for one preserve (typically 2-3hr commitment) or multiple.

Serving on our Local Councils

• Midcoast Conservancy has all-volunteer councils for each of our major geographic regions. Local Councils comprise region-specific volunteers who put our mission to protect and restore vital lands and waters on a scale that matters into action. Each council has its own unique character shaped by the community of volunteers who know the local history and landscape and work in coordination with Midcoast Conservancy staff to ensure the integrity and stewardship of the region. Council members use their skills and experience to inspire local communities to conserve the natural world that makes all life possible. Council members play a key role in carrying out the mission of Midcoast Conservancy through their passionate commitment to protecting the land and water in their region now and for future generations. Learn More Here. 

Supporting Fundraising Events and Activities

• Many hands make Light work! Come help at one of our Signature events, such as our Annual Gala, or our Biathlon, Live Edge Music Fest, or Race Through the Woods. We can also use help with Fundraising activities in our office, such as helping with mailings and more!

Sustainable Forestry Program

• Timber Stand Improvement - Every year we thin and prune selected trees on 15 – 20 acres. By removing and making use of lower-quality trees – trees that are out-competed, diseased or in decline – we are investing in our future. The healthiest trees continue to grow in value. Our investment will be realized many years down the road. Come help us with this labor-intensive project.

• Lumber – Help us to mill lumber harvested from our sustainable forest. The logs we cut are turned into lumber by Richard Hatch’s bandsaw mill. We sell our lumber for building projects, our community saves and we can maintain our program.  

• Firewood processing/Stacking - If you like meditative work this job is for you. We process over 40 cords of firewood at HVNC each year. Come help split & stack firewood for use here at our many wood heated buildings.

• Sustainable Forest Furniture – Join us to build our forest furniture! We have a limited number of tables and funky benches available for sale each summer. They are made from eastern white pine harvested at HVNC. Proceeds from sales go back into our conservation efforts, giving new meaning to “buying local.”

• Timber Frame Courses – Volunteer to help facilitate our Timber Frame Courses. Each year we hold several 4-day workshops where you can learn how to make a timber-framed home, barn or other structure. 

• Learn more about our sustainable forestry program here.