Help Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument recover from a recent fire
Do you live in southern Utah? Join us April 17, 2026 to build erosion control structures in a burned area of the monument.
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument encompasses 1.8 million acres of desert canyons, colorful cliffs, and forested plateaus in southern Utah. In July 2024, the Deer Springs Fire burned approximately 11,766 acres of pinyon and juniper woodlands, gambel oak stands, shrublands, and ponderosa pine within the monument.
Although fires in these ecosystems are natural, we can give the land a helping hand toward recovery.
On this trip, we will continue the restoration work we started with volunteers in 2025. Under the guidance of the monument ecologist, we will create erosion control structures using natural materials to trap sediment in gulleys, reduce erosion, reestablish vegetation, and help heal the local watershed.
Location Utah
Contact Volunteer Program
Open to Southern Utah residents preferred
Trip Rating Difficult
Topics Forest Ecology, Habitat Restoration
Who can sign up?
We encourage everyone who is excited about conservation on the Colorado Plateau to sign up for our trips. Our trip ratings will give you an idea of the physical work, terrain, and accommodations involved. This trip is rated as difficult.
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.
Preference will be given to volunteers living in southern Utah, including: Kane County, Garfield County, Washington County, and Iron County. If you are signing up for this day event and are not local to one of these areas, we may place you on the waitlist.
What to expect
We’ll spend the day gathering local materials and creating erosion control structures. If time permits, we will visit areas where vegetation is returning and identify plants to aid monument managers in their efforts to ensure a healthy recovery of the landscape.
We’ll hear from Bureau of Land Management partners and Grand Canyon Trust staff about conservation work and ways to stay involved after the workday.
Accommodations
This is a day trip with no overnight camping. We’ll share the meeting location in pre-trip emails.
The Trust provides: Water, snacks, field equipment, tools, and training.
Participants provide: Personal transportation to the site, a sack lunch, backpack, refillable water bottle, work clothes, close-toed shoes, wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, rain gear, and clothes appropriate for the weather.
How to sign up:
- Select “SIGN UP,” and follow the prompts.
- Check your email for further instructions.
- Send in your volunteer application form for the year.
- Become a member of the Grand Canyon Trust.
- A Trust trip leader will confirm your spot.
Questions? Email volunteernow@grandcanyontrust.org
Trip packing list
Our gear list will help you prepare. We can loan some items on a first-come, first-served basis. Contact us for details.
Frequently asked questions
Curious about logistics, the food you'll eat during the trip, or the difficulty of the field work? Check out the frequently asked questions.
7 perks of volunteering with the Trust
When you volunteer with the Trust, we make it worth your while. From eating good food, to learning new skills. Find out the perks of volunteering.
Public health considerations on volunteer trips
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. Volunteers or participants may reach out to 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
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