International Conservation Volunteer Program
Placement number: 0019
Location: USA
Preferred Languages: English
Date: Anytime
Minimum Period: 6 weeks
The Great Basin Institute is an interdisciplinary field studies organization that promotes environmental research, education, and conservation throughout the West. The Institute advances ecological literacy and land conservation through educational outreach and direct service programs.
Over the past two field seasons, GBI has collaborated with numerous international environmental exchange programs, attracting some 95 students and young professionals from England, France, Sweden, New Zealand, and West Africa to serve on conservation projects throughout Nevada.
Volunteers spent their time in the US working side-by-side with NCC members and GBI students at Lake Tahoe, Lake Mead, the Santa Rosa Mountains, and the Black Rock Desert, assisting with field research and restoration projects. Josh Powell, GBI's Volunteer Coordinator, has developed strong partnerships with the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV), the UK's leading charity in creating environmental service opportunities for volunteers, Working Abroad, Green Volunteers, Conservation Volunteer Alliance (CVA), Green Volunteers, and Ecoteer.
In exchange for their service, Josh leads the ICVE volunteers on educational trips, introducing them to premier spots in the west: central Sierra hot springs, Yosemite National Park, Big Sur coastal beaches, and high desert ranges.
Duration
A typical service week will involve 4 and 8 10 hour days in the field followed by either 3 days or 6 days of leisure time respectively. This schedule includes travel time to/from the job site, as well as educational sessions provided by our agencies. The schedule is set up this way to allow participants extra leisure time to explore and travel at their will.
Project Descriptions
Trail Construction and Maintenance at Lake Tahoe
Locations
DL Bliss California State Park, Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park, Tahoe Rim Trail, and Mount Rose Wilderness Area.
Type of Work
Volunteers will construct and maintain trails within the Lake Tahoe Basin. Work hours are long and difficult, and may require hiking up to three miles per day in strenuous landscapes.
Work will include a variety of trail construction techniques used to design minimum impact trails and control erosion throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin. You will learn the art of dry stone masonry, using it to construct retaining walls, switchbacks, water bars, and riprap erosion control barriers.
Other responsibilities will include recreating tread surface to allow for proper trail run-off and also removing encroaching vegetation from the trails.
Benefits of the Work
The Lake Tahoe area is confronted with the challenge of providing ecologically sensitive recreational activities for the thousands of visitors enticed to the natural beauty of the area. Recreational activities often result in cumulative impacts that are destructive to the very environment that these people come to enjoy. Improperly maintained and/or constructed trail systems provide access to remote regions, but in the process can contribute to erosion and gradual pollution of the Lake.
Land management agencies in Lake Tahoe Basin have initiated a program to reduce the sources of soil erosion and the amount of algae-encouraging nutrients that reach the lake and rob it of its world famous clarity. Your work will help preserve this clarity and natural splendor of Lake Tahoe.
Trail Construction and Maintenance in the Great Basin
Locations
Great Basin National Park, Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, and other areas throughout the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests.
Type of Work
Work hours are long and difficult, and may require hiking up to three miles per day in strenuous landscape. Work will include a variety of trail construction techniques used to design minimum impact trails and erosion control throughout the Great Basin region. You will learn the art of dry stone masonry, using it to construct retaining walls, switchbacks, water bars, and riprap erosion control barriers. Your responsibilities will also include resurfacing trail tread to allow for proper trail run-off and removing encroaching vegetation from the trails.
Benefits of the Work
The landscape of Nevada is the most mountainous and geologically diverse the United States has to offer. With a life zone ranging from a couple of hundred feet to over 13,000, Nevada also harbors some of the most sensitive and fragile species of flora/fauna found in North America. From the low arid desert to the peaks of the Spring Mountains, these plants/animals are suffering from the increased use of human recreation in all regions. These projects will build/maintain trails to protect these natural resources from erosion and unhealthy recreation practices, and maintain this area's natural beauty.
Trail Construction and Maintenance at Lake Mead and Black Rock
Locations
Black Rock Desert and Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
Type of Work
Both of these projects can include a variety of restoration practices from removing illegal roads to restoring the native vegetation that once thrived in these desolate and beautiful lands. For road decommissioning, volunteers will decompact illegal OHV roads and transplant native vegetation to the area. Native plant restoration will involve the removal of non-native invasive plants, and the transplanting of native plant seedlings.
Benefits of the work
The fragile desert ecosystems of the Great Basin have been severely impacted by renegade off road vehicles. Lake Mead provides critical habitat for the endangered desert tortoise, the threatened desert Bighorn Sheep and many other species of plant and animal life that is endemic to the upper Sonoran Desert. The Black Rock Desert is a unique segment of the Northern Great Basin and contains a broad representation of the many landforms, cultural and natural resources available in the area. These include historical landmarks, golden eagles, sage grouse, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, wild horses and burros, native fish that are protected by the Endangered Species Act, and many sensitive plants species. Through these projects, international volunteers will join NCC volunteers in closing and obliterating illegal roads, constructing barricade fencing to prevent encroachment, re-vegetating native plants, and converting closed roads into trails. Thus protecting this very unique desert ecosystem.
Work Environment
Crews work within a variety of locations throughout Nevada. A majority of the job sites are remote, but provide an outstanding opportunity to view the beautiful areas of the state.
Accommodations
While in the field, crew members will be either camping in primitive wilderness settings or in developed campgrounds. Living in the field can be hard work, however, living like this also means good company beside a campfire, watching for shooting stars, and enjoying the peace and quiet of a short respite from the city.
Tents are provided by the host. Members are responsible for sleeping bags, sleeping mats, clothes, and other desired personal items. Weather in Nevada can be unpredictable, so warm and wet weather gear is highly recommended.
Food
Food and cooking gear will be provided by the host. Every meal will be cooked at camp in a communal kitchen environment. Special dietary requests can and will be catered to by crew supervisors upon request.
Why Do This?
Well, the answers are many and varied. Many members actually enjoy the labor, the feel of muscles tensing and working, the Zen-like silence in your mind as you allow it to rest while the body works, or the feeling of accomplishment looking back at a hard earned staircase or a beautifully constructed rock wall. Others enjoy the smell of pine and sage as they work, the feel of the sun on their back, the knowledge that what they are doing will help protect a wild place and the creatures who live there. All the while aiding children and adults who are looking for wonderful environmental experiences.
For others, it is a chance to learn in a real and direct way what "natural resource management" really is; to gain skills in restoration techniques that will aid them in their chosen career field. Most crew members find that despite the work, they look forward to their field experiences and enjoy camping in a variety of different landscapes throughout the year. Whatever your reason might be, the work is strenuous but rewarding, and one leaves with an incomparable sense of place and accomplishment.
Cost
A food stipend is provided for time in the field and for time off.
Accommodation is provided for volunteers.
Travel
Pickups for volunteers will be arranged.
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