Volunteers build a wooden fence around a spring. BLAKE MCCORD
Springs are rare in the arid Southwest. These small pockets of water can support a multitude of plants and animals, from pollinators to mountain lions. However, water also attracts cattle, which quickly trample the fragile native plants and diminish water quality. A sturdy fence can keep out cattle while still allowing wildlife access to the water.
On this trip, we will build a wooden fence to protect important springs and wetlands in Dixie National Forest, near Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. We'll be working in an area between high-elevation plateaus and the desert below — an important refuge for wildlife and precious wetland plants. After a few days of hard work, we'll celebrate our accomplishment with a hike in the monument.
Many of our trips are family friendly! Please see our FAQs for more information or email us with questions about particular trips.
Membership is optional, but we ask that participants who are comfortable financially become members of the Grand Canyon Trust with a $25 donation. Members receive a subscription to our biannual print magazine, The Advocate. Please contact us if you have any questions. You’ll also need to submit your volunteer application form to secure your spot on the trip.
NOTE: This trip is currently full. Sign up for a spot on the waiting list.
We’ll fuel up with coffee and breakfast in the mornings and spend our days fence building. We’ll return to camp in the evenings for free time, tasty appetizers, delicious dinners, and stargazing. We’ll hear from a U.S. Forest Service partner and Grand Canyon Trust staff about conservation work and ways to stay involved after the trip. On the last day, we’ll finish any remaining field work, break camp, and head home.
We will car camp next to our project site outside of Escalante, Utah. The Trust will provide water and a full camp kitchen. There will be a pit toilet on site.
The Trust provides: All meals, snacks, field equipment, and tools.
Participants provide: Personal transportation to the site, individual camping gear, coffee mug, lunch container, work clothes, work gloves, wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, rain gear, and clothes for warm days and cold nights. Please come prepared.
Our gear packing list will help you prepare. We can loan some items on a first-come, first-served basis — contact us for details.
Curious about logistics, the food you'll eat during the trip, or the difficulty of the field work? Check out the frequently asked questions ›
When you volunteer for the Trust, we make it worth your while. From eating good food, to learning new skills, find out the perks of volunteering.
Our top priority is the safety and comfort of our trip participants. Precautionary measures that will be followed on trips to avoid the spread of communicable diseases will be communicated in pre-trip emails. If we feel that a trip cannot be safely conducted due to public health conditions, or for any other reason, we will cancel the trip with as much notice as possible. Contact volunteernow@grandcanyontrust.org with any questions.
The Grand Canyon Trust is committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion at every level of our work. The conservation field and the Colorado Plateau have their own histories of racial injustice and exclusion and as a largely white organization, we know we have work to do. We are actively working to make the conservation field and the Colorado Plateau more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive. Read the Grand Canyon Trust’s justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion statement ›