Plant maintenance, education, critter care, and customer service...we need you!

Description of Volunteer Opportunities

1. Docents: PRAC needs docents on a sporadic and inconsistent basis. PRAC's volunteer docents would be trained to give tours of PRAC. The tour guide docents would be perfect for our Saturday or special events. Educators must also fill in docents for some of our extensive school field trips. All training for tours or educational field trips will be provided. Suppose folks would like to commit to a consistent schedule. In that case, PRAC can discuss including volunteer docents in our weekly Nature Tots program (ages 2-5) and monthly Audubon Academy Homeschool program (grades K-8). Docents working with children are subject to a background check.
2. Summer Camps: 
   1. PRAC is in search of a Co-Director for summer camp. This person could receive CEUs as a teacher and volunteer hours as a master naturalist. IPRAC expects 5-8 days of commitment in June to help plan and prepare for July camps. Then, during our three weeks of camp in July, the co-director would lead activities for campers in grades K-8. The volunteer co-director should expect to be at PRAC from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. during summer camp weeks.
   2. Counselors: PRAC also takes Volunteers to help manage campers and be a camp counselor/group leader for each summer camp session during July. Each camp focuses on a different ages group: Mini's (K-2), Elementary (3-5), and Middle (6-9)
3. Phenology Trail: PRAC could use a volunteer to record data on our Phenology Trail. PRAC provides the training & iPad that data needs to be recorded into. This must be done weekly and takes about 20 - 30 minutes to complete. It can be done alone or in pairs. Doing it in pairs is helpful when observations need to be discussed. 
4. Invasive Removal: Many plants are invasive and need to be taken out! Invasive removal could be done year-round on an individual basis or in groups. Training and some tool were provided.
5. Litter Pick-Up/Grounds or Garden Maintenance: Volunteers can always clear trails, scan for litter, blow leaves off trails, weed gardens, or plant native plants in our gardens. General weed control, mulching, watering, and stick pick-up are needed.
6. Composting: PRAC used to have a system set up for composting. If there is a manageable way to create another compost system on-site, PRAC would be open to it. 
7. Native Plants: PRAC hosts 2 Native Plant Sales annually, once in spring and fall. PRAC could use volunteers to help sell plants, water plants, & transplant them into pots. Native plant work is usually concentrated into Aug - October and February - April. Winter work can be done too. PRAC could use volunteers to plant/start seeds of native plants and vegetables for the spring. 
8. Bird Boards: PRAC has three dry-erase marker boards that need weekly site updates. These boards list what birds have been seen on PRAC property. PRAC is looking for volunteers to come to our property, do some birding 1- 3 times a week, and update the boards with their sightings. Ideally, volunteers would complete an on-site E-bird report as well. 
9. Citizen Science Projects: Projects like Feeder Watch, Climate Watch, Great Backyard Bird Count, or Christmas Bird count could be done on-site or within Jackson County. Suppose a volunteer wanted to spearhead using PRAC as a site for any of these citizen science projects. That would be fine. Otherwise, volunteers are always needed to participate in these citizen science projects.
10. Aquarium & Critter Care: PRAC has an aquarium with eight water tanks that need servicing or cleaning every week. Volunteers can come monthly, biweekly, or weekly. Volunteers can adopt one tank or service many tanks. Additionally, bird feeders must be filled, and hummingbird feeders must be cleaned and re-filled. PRAC also needs volunteers to catch minnows as feeder fish for our tanks. Feeder fish or other food sources could be collected on-site or off-site.

Dates and Times needed: Volunteers, Master Naturalists, and Master Gardeners are encouraged to volunteer during operating hours, typically Tuesday - Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. PRAC is open most Saturdays, either for a private event or public event. PRAC is closed Sundays and Mondays. Volunteers are accepted on a consistent or inconsistent basis. 

Call us for more information. (228) 475-0825

Or, email us and tell us how you want to help! Click HERE!