The Northwoods Volunteer Connection (NWVC) is seeking help with several projects on northeastern Minnesota’s public lands in the months ahead. Opportunities include everything from trail-clearing to boardwalk-building to invasive species-clearing.
NWVC is a nonprofit based in Tofte which partners with the the Forest Service, outfitters, and other groups to connect volunteers with maintenance and restoration efforts in and out of the Boundary Waters. (For more information, read Alissa Johnson’s article in the summer 2015 issue of Wilderness News: Cultivating Stewardship in Northern Minnesota.)
This year, the organization has added five-day wilderness trips to its single-day events. There are also two new ways to get involved: Visitor Use Monitoring and Adopt-an-Entry-Point programs. Visitor Use Monitoring volunteers will be assigned a travel route and date and spend part of the time monitoring use from a campsite and part of the time while traveling. Adopt-an-Entry-Point volunteers make two-year commitments to help keep wilderness accesses clear of vegetation and litter.
NWVC also works with groups interested in service to find projects that align with their interests.
All volunteers receive training based on the type of work they will be doing, participate in a safety talk before starting, and receive water safety training if traveling by canoe. To use chainsaws or cross-cut saws, volunteers must be certified through a Forest Service training course given in the early spring.
Learn more and get involved at the Northwoods Volunteer Connection website.