Hillsborough County recently put out a request for volunteers in the parks. Volunteers help the parks remain looking great by maintaining trails, landscaping, cleaning, camp hosting, and a variety of other tasks. No matter what your skill set, you can help out in a park and enjoy the beauty of Florida wildlife while you’re at it.
Volunteering with Hillsborough Parks
Volunteers can do anything from helping out with landscaping to keeping the bathrooms clean. It all depends on the park.
“Gardening is needed in a park like Eureka Springs where the horticulture is in display and a main focus of the park,” says Ashley Martin, Program Coordinator with Conservation and Environmental Land Management. “Or in parks like Upper Tampa Bay or Lettuce Lake that have native plant and pollinator gardens that need care and attention.”
They also need skilled volunteers who have experience in electrical work, carpentry, land management, and the ability to remove invasive plants by hand. Park staff love it when volunteers already have some baseline skills and knowledge, but you don’t need to be a professional. Also, volunteers can learn on the job.
Related: Hillsborough FL Nature Tours App Gives Visitors Info About Local Parks
“Volunteers interested in gardening at Lettuce Lake can join along on a workday with the Florida Native Plant Society (they host a work day there once a month). They can learn hands-on how to plant, about native plants, and more,” Martin explains.
Volunteers can choose where and when they volunteer. Time and schedules are planned between the park staff and the volunteer to meet everyone’s needs.
Other volunteers can sometimes live in the campgrounds and work as camp hosts, assisting campers, rangers and helping maintain the park.
Click here to see a full list of volunteer positions.
Trail CATS
A great way to get into volunteering is to become a member of the Trail CATS. This is an especially great group if you want to volunteer with a friend or as a family. Trail CATS, or County Associated Trail Stewards, is a newly established team of volunteers. They assist the Hillsborough County Conservation and Environmental Lands Management (CELM) staff. Some of their tasks include blazing and trimming trails, inspecting trails, installing signs, and all other trail-related tasks.
Related: Hillsborough County Parks Recognized as One of the Best in the Country
The team consists of three different volunteer roles to appeal to a broad range of individuals, groups, and families. Each role needs a varying degrees of experience and availability:
- Trail Scout — They hike nature preserves using an app to identify and flag confusing intersections, hazards, and other issues. Provide feedback and suggestions to improve trails.
- Trail Blazer — They trim trails, blaze and mark trails. They assist with the installation of trail markers and signs. Provide feedback and suggestions to improve trails.
- Trail Boss — Lead volunteer workdays and ensure that trails are marked and maintained according to CELM’s Public Trails SOP. They Work independently to address issues identified by Trail Scouts.
Click here to see all the available projects for Trail CATS.
