Volunteers build a log fence. BLAKE MCCORD
In the arid Southwest, wetlands are hotspots for wildlife, native plants, and people alike. Fences keep vehicles on designated routes and help safeguard these rare water sources. Protecting wetlands is important in supporting resilient forests and meadows that can adjust to climate change and shifts in weather and precipitation.
On this trip, we’ll help the U.S. Forest Service build and repair fences on a high plateau in central Utah. These fences were built to shield delicate water sources from wandering recreational vehicles, but with time, the fences have fallen into disrepair. With a little bit of teamwork, we can help reduce recreation impact and keep sensitive wetlands healthy for years to come. While in the area, we will also take the opportunity to conduct beaver surveys of nearby streams.
Anyone! 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.
We’ll fuel up with coffee and breakfast in the mornings and spend our days fixing fences, building new fences, and documenting signs of beavers in nearby streams. We’ll return to camp in the evenings for free time, appetizers, dinner, and stargazing. We’ll hear from a Forest Service partner and Grand Canyon Trust staff about conservation work and ways to stay involved after the trip. On the last morning, we’ll break camp, pack up, and head home.
We will be based at a campground near Fish Lake, Utah. We will have pit toilets and a camp kitchen.
The Trust provides: All meals, water, snacks, field equipment, tools, and training.
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.
Lena is an experienced outdoor leader and social scientist who loves connecting people with nature. Trust trips combine her favorite things: passionate people, beautiful landscapes, and playing in the mud!
Mike loves the Colorado Plateau and working with volunteers to improve the conditions of the entire ecological community that makes these landscapes so special.
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 ›