People
Hike Coordinator
Avalonia is looking for a volunteer to coordinate hikes on Avalonia preserves. This coordinator is not expected to lead all the hikes; there are many Avalonia members willing to lead who have great hike ideas. We just need someone who can plan the details, keep the schedule, and get the word out. If you like the outdoors and organizing adventures, this is the job for you. Click HERE to register.
Group Volunteer Coordinator
Avalonia is fortunate that several groups in our community have offered their assistance. From scouts to the Coast Guard, a garden club to a football team, their many hands have joined ours to build bridges, remove invasives, clean out debris, and replant restored areas. These offers of help from local groups are often a “one-off” project to earn a badge, build team skills, or give back to the community. Our coordinator would work with the Stewardship chair to keep track of upcoming projects as well as maintain a list of community groups and contact information. If you enjoy working with scouts and other non-profits and are good at following up, we can use you! These projects come along only a few times a year, but when we need the help, the coordinator knows who to ask. Just click HERE to let us know if you are interested.
Event Planning/Coordinator
Avalonia is looking for volunteers to help plan and coordinate events. Examples of these relatively small-scale events include organizing preserve openings, lining up volunteers to staff tables at town functions, and planning recognition get-togethers. The Event Coordinator will call on other volunteers to help in these efforts. S/he will work with Avalonia’s Director of Development and Programming and Town Committee Chairs. If you’re interested in helping plan and coordinate events, click HERE to apply!
Stewardship
Trail Maintenance
Most of Avalonia’s properties are open to the public with hundreds of miles of trails winding through over 4,000 beautiful acres. These trails need to be maintained, marked, and monitored. We very much value and need volunteers willing to clear up work on the preserves. We have several volunteers who assist with stewardship by clearing blow downs and other obstructions on trails of preserves they walk frequently. In many cases hand saws and/or pruners are sufficient for the job. Dangerous trees should be reported, initially to the Chair of the Town Committee where the preserve is located.
If you like to hike and are willing to learn about our trail procedures, come and join this team. Trail Team volunteers must be 18 or older and willing to travel to any property within our service area (roughly New London County).
Boundary Walking and Marking
Avalonia’s stewardship policies require that we walk our 100 properties once per year and document the visits. We look for encroachments and changes in the conservation values of the land. Fall is the best time of year to monitor because the leaves are off the trees and markers are easier to see. Most stewardship decisions are made on behalf of Avalonia by a committee of residents who know their communities and the specific tasks that need to be performed on each town property. These town committees do a great job, but sometimes we just can’t get to all 100 preserves by the end of the year. That’s where the Boundary Monitoring Team comes in to ensure ALL the monitoring gets done.
Some preserves are small, just a few acres; others are hundreds of acres with all that nature and the rugged terrain of southeastern Connecticut can throw at us. We have developed a sophisticated ArcGIS mapping technology and are developing drone software to follow the posted waypoints to video our borders. Our drones will fly over sensitive or difficult to access areas such as rocky terrain and wetlands. Walking boundaries sometimes require bushwhacking, so you should come prepared when working in the field. Note that Boundary Walking involves rugged field work, bushwhacking and sometimes wet conditions.
In addition to walking our boundaries, Avalonia is required to mark the boundaries of each new property. It takes some time and skill to post the marker on the right tree—not a tree in our neighbor’s back yard. This is an essential duty of a land trust to clearly inform visitors where our property lines end and the neighbors’ begins.
Related to walking the preserve boundaries, we need a reliable team of qualified people who can post boundary signs to the documented borders of our preserves. You don’t need experience; we will teach you the basics. If you are handy with a GPS tracking device and/or a smartphone, you already have a good start. It’s like solving a puzzle and rewarding to see the job done right. Team members will need to be comfortable off trail in the woods, carry a light pack of tools and materials, and be willing to work with one or two other team members.
If you are willing to become part to the Boundary Waling and Marking Team, click HERE. Volunteers must be 18 or older and willing to travel to any property within our service area (roughly New London County). Boundary Marking involves rugged field work, bushwhacking and sometimes wet conditions.
TriTown Off-Trail Supervisor
If you’re interested, please click HERE to volunteer.
Special Skills Volunteers
Carpentry/Building
To maintain safe trails for our many visitors, we need a few skilled carpentry/building volunteers. The main focus of this work is building and maintaining bridges – over bogs, marshy areas, and streams. And, to ensure our properties are identified, carpenters are needed to build and erect large signs, and check and repair those already installed. If you have carpentry skills and would like to help us, sign up HERE.
Trees
Avalonia has a small Tree Team under the guidance of a former professional tree climber/arborist which tackles more difficult hangers and other dangerous trees on our preserves. Tree removal is a demanding and hazardous endeavor and Team size is deliberately kept small to ensure members are familiar with safety practices and with working together. Interest in learning new techniques and focus on safety are essential. For chainsaw users, chainsaw experience is required and completion of a training course such as “Game of Logging” is preferred. If you have experience and interest in this work, sign up HERE for consideration.
Stonework
Avalonia’s preserves have miles of stone walls, many of which are damaged or have partially fallen. While we won’t repair all of these, there are some that are close to entrances, or could be in better shape along the trails. Also, within preserves, moving larger stones and rocks could help with stabilizing trails and ensuring safety. This is heavy and difficult work, requiring skills in renting and using related equipment. If you have skills and interest in helping us with this work, sign up HERE.
Special Skills Volunteers must be 18 or older and willing to travel to any property within our service area (roughly New London County).
Finance & Development
Grant Writers
Do you have experience writing grants? Are you detail-oriented, organized and able to meet deadlines? You can help a dedicated team of Avalonia volunteers who write grant applications to foundations and government entities. This critically important job can be done from home and provides a significant portion of the income needed for our mission to conserve land. If you can help, click HERE.
Communications
Media and Press Release Assistants
Avalonia is looking for volunteers to help write and distribute web announcements, press releases, and postings on social media. We need help with proofreading and editing, along with creating copy. Final distribution of releases to press and Avalonia website is overseen by Avalonia’s Director of Development, Terri Eikel. If you have strong writing and copy editing skills, click HERE to apply!
Videographer
Avalonia is looking for someone to tell the story of the organization through video. The volunteer would be creating content for our website and social media pages. They will need access to good equipment and editing software. If you’re interested in using your creative eye to help Avalonia display our properties and events, click HERE to apply!