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Get Involved You can learn more and explore new places when you join the Conservancy's online community and build your own personalized nature page. Saugatuck Forest Lands, Dorr's Mill Fish Passage Project. Photo © Sally Harold/TNC For More Information Please contact Cynthia Fowx at theden@tnc.org or (203) 226-4991 Ext. 203. Calendar of volunteer workdays and special events.

Help us protect Connecticut's special places! Join us for volunteer opportunities in the Saugatuck Forest Lands.  You can choose from a variety of seasonal or ongoing activities.

Ongoing Volunteer Opportunities in Saugatuck Forest Lands: 
 

Trail Adopters: Volunteers who can commit to visiting the preserve at least once a season are needed to carry out basic trail maintenance. Equipment and supplies can be provided.

Workday Volunteers: Scheduled workdays can cover a wide range of activities and interests, including trail maintenance, removal of invasive plants and clean-ups of local beaches. Please contact us for a list of any upcoming work days.

National River Cleanup: In celebration of Earth Day, National Rivers Day or any time of the year volunteers are needed to organize other volunteers and pick up trash at sites on the Saugatuck River.

Saugatuck River Continuity Project: Poorly designed culverts and bridges can prevent fish and wildlife from reaching spawning grounds and other important habitats. Volunteers are needed to conduct surveys along the Saugatuck River, identifying problem culverts, dams and bridge crossings.  For more information, please download the flyer (.pdf, 40 KB).

Seasonal Volunteer Opportunities in Saugatuck Forest Lands:

Canada Goose Population Management (April-May): Stabilizing Canada goose populations can protect individual geese from inadvertent harm and improve water quality. Volunteers are needed to assist with this seasonal effort in the Saugatuck River watershed. 

Fish Monitoring (April–June): Volunteers are needed to monitor fish activity in the Saugatuck River. The resulting data is submitted to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection for assessing spawning runs of migratory fish and shared with town representatives through the Saugatuck River Watershed Partnership.  For more information, download the flyer (.pdf 116KB).

Horseshoe Crab Tagging and Surveying (May-July): Horseshoe crab populations are in decline and they need your help! Volunteers are need to record the presence of and tag horseshoe crabs on local beaches. Training is simple and does not require previous experience.

Lamprey Nest Surveying (June or July): A small number of volunteers is needed to locate and record lamprey nest locations in the Saugatuck River. This is a one day event and interested volunteers will be notified of the date on short notice.

Macroinvertebrate Monitoring (October 24 and 25, 2009): Volunteers are needed to sample freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates in the Saugatuck River watershed. These animals without backbones live in stream bottoms and are key indicators of water quality because they do not tolerate pollution. All training is provided.  For more information, please download the flyer (.pdf, 619 KB).