Volunteering is a good way to learn about The Nature Conservancy, to assist with our work in North Carolina and to help the Conservancy protect nature and preserve life. Current volunteer opportunities are listed in the box on the right hand side of this page.

The North Carolina Chapter needs volunteers for specific tasks and projects. Some projects are one-time only and others are ongoing. Volunteer times and hours vary and can include weekdays and weekends. The minimum age for volunteers is 12. Volunteers aged 17 and under must have parental permission and any volunteers younger than 16 years old must be accompanied by a parent.

For office work, a supervisor will orient and train each volunteer. For one-day field work, the supervisor for the activity at the field location will orient and train all volunteers. 

Volunteers for prescribed burns must be at least 18 years old and able to pass a fitness test, in addition to undertaking classroom and hands-on training in use of the equipment, proper procedures and techniques. 

Some volunteer opportunities are available in our main office in Durham. These include field work in the Piedmont; general office work; assisting our communications, government relations and philanthropy staff; and helping with event-related mailings. Our fire program is also coordinated out of the Durham office.

Many volunteers work through our satellite field offices, which are in Halifax, serving the Roanoke River; in Southern Pines, serving the Sandhills region; in Wilmington, serving the Southeast Coastal Plain; in Nags Head Woods, serving the Outer Banks; and in Asheville, serving the Southern Appalachian Mountains/Hickory Nut Gorge/New River. For more information on volunteering, please get in touch directly with the volunteer contact for the opportunity in which you are interested.

Volunteer Contact:
Durham—Neal Cheek, ncheek@tnc.org or 919-403-8558,  ext. 1025
Hickory Nut Gorge/New River—Mountains Volunteers or 828-350-1431
Nags Head Woods—Aaron McCall, ajmccall@tnc.org or 252-441-2525
Roanoke River—Chuck Peoples, cpeoples@tnc.org, or 252-578-4115
Southern Pines—Jim Fields, jim_fields@tnc.org or 910-246-0300
Wilmington—Dan Ryan, dryan@tnc.org or 910-395-5000
Prescribed Burns—Maura High, mhigh@tnc.org or 919-929-9523

Nature picture credits (left to right): Volunteers plant longleaf pine seedlings in the Sandhills  © Jodie LaPoint/The Nature Conservancy; young longleaf pine tree © The Nature Conservancy.