Volunteer vacations allow you to give back.
Volunteer vacations allow you to give back.
Use axes and rakers to clear foliage, prepare hiking paths, save the seas, and teach others about what you take for granted.
Sixteen-year-old David Trone is learning to use a specially designed ax and a two-sided rake to clear foliage in a dense woodland. Nearby, Mary Beers, age 79, is patting down soil that will soon be a path for hikers and backpackers.
David and Mary are among the people who volunteered to help reroute a section of a trail in the Natchez Trace State Park & Forest in Tennessee. They’re working with other folks of various ages who also offered to donate their time and toil for a project sponsored by the American Hiking Society. That organization works to preserve trails and the areas surrounding them.
The nonprofit enterprise is one among many which employ volunteers to help them achieve their goals. Activities in which unpaid helpers may participate around the United States and worldwide range from maintaining historic buildings and participating in conservation efforts to assisting scientists in conducting research and helping at-risk children.
Giving back to the trails you love
As the American Hiking Society points out, “trails don’t maintain themselves.” It urges those who enjoy the outdoors to “Give back to the trails you love, meet new people, and enjoy the experience.” In addition to rerouting trials, other activities include clearing vegetation, planting trees and even sprucing up around historic sites. (americanhiking.org)
Maintaining historic structures is also a focus of those who enjoy volunteer vacations with the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation. They also open trails, battle weeds, and restore heavily used areas in a 1.5-million-acre area of Montana. Located in the northern Rocky Mountains along the Continental Divide, this primitive spread is the country's most ecologically complex complete mountain wilderness. (bmfw.org)
The National Park Service gets into the act by inviting people to volunteer for periods ranging from a day to year-round. You may sign up on your own or with family and friends and opt to work close to your home or at a far-flung destination, including U.S. Territories. Activities include supporting or leading education, serving as a campground host, monitoring animals, and conducting research. (nps.gov)
Volunteering from Maine to Peru
The investigation also is an objective of other volunteer opportunities. Earthwatch connects scientists around the world with people who are passionate about the work they’re doing. In the granite mountains and craggy coastline of Acadia National Park in Maine, that means adding to more than 120 years of detailed observations to measure the impact of climate change on the abundant wildlife that lives in or migrates through the area.
Supporters in the vast Amazonian forests of Peru help develop conservation strategies intended to offset current weather patterns and ensure the sustainability of indigenous monkeys, pink river dolphins, and other land, rivers, and sky residents. (earthwatch.org)
Studying and saving the seas
Sea life and its challenges also occupy those who travel with the Oceanic Society. Since 1969, it has worked to improve the health of the world’s oceans by addressing human behavior like overfishing, pollution, and activities that hurt the climate.
Its worldwide marine research and conservation efforts include studying coral reefs, sea turtles, dolphins, and much more. Experts and their charges in Indonesia explore how plastic pollution affects the most biodiverse marine regions on Earth. (oceanicsociety.org)
Marine conservation is also among over 150 projects under the GVI USA umbrella, covering various alternatives. They also include animal care and health care, wildlife conservation and women’s empowerment, teaching English, and renovating educational facilities. The company supports programs lasting from one week to six months and concentrates its efforts on some of the most vulnerable habitats on the planet. (gviusa.com)
Focusing on people rather than place
People rather than place is the primary target of the Global Service Corps, whose volunteers live and work in the community they’re serving. For example, their temporary home in Cambodia might be with a family, at an orphanage, or in a Buddhist monastery.
Volunteers assist in training locals on public health issues, conducting youth leadership workshops, and teaching basic English language classes. They receive a basic Khmer linguistic course, sightseeing trips to historically significant places, and weekend excursions to UNESCO World Heritage Sites. After Russia invaded Ukraine, based upon a survey of significant needs, the Global Service Corps instituted programs in conversational English for refugees from that beleaguered country. (global service corps.org)
These kinds of trips may not be everyone’s idea of how to spend a relaxing vacation. Still, those who welcome something different can explore a new part of the world while participating in an assistance or research program. Then there’s the bonus of introducing people to the destination and immersing them in their culture and way of life.
For some volunteers, learning about the lifestyle, beliefs, and other aspects of different societies is the most important and lasting benefit experience. Adding to the appeal is that many, if not most, participants return home feeling that they got much more than they gave.
Photo credits
American Hiking Society: American Hiking Society
Oceanic Society: Oceanic Society
Bitterroot National Forest 1: Jeremiah Su/Dreamstime.com
Bitterroot National Forest 2 : Shannon Loehrkell/Dreamstime.com
Volunteer distributing food: Chernetskaja/Dreamstime.com
Volunteer in Africa: Lifeontheside/Dreamstime.com