Tenafly Nature Center - Volunteering

As a Tenafly Nature Center volunteer, you become part of the solution, helping to protect our clean air, clean water, and preserve wildlife and the community. You can help us keep our mission of environmental education and land stewardship alive. In turn, you will work with our staff, gain unique experiences and deepen your environmental awareness.

Want to help, but you’re under 14 years old? You can! You need to have a parent or adult work with you. You don’t need an adult if you are applying for the Counselor In Training (CIT) program. Follow the procedures below for filling an application and make sure your adult fills one out too.

Tip- We encourage teen applicants to call for themselves. This way they can learn about the nature center on their own and we can learn about them too.

3. Wait for our call. After we receive your application, we will call you to discuss matching your special skills and talents with our needs.

Note- Volunteer opportunities are limited. Availability is determined by the seasons, weather, skills offered and supervision/leadership available. Thank you for your interest in volunteering with us!

Symbols:

● Adult ☺ Weekly

◘ Teen ☼ Seasonal

◙ Groups

Office Work: ●◘ ◙☺☼
We are looking for people who are courteous, professional and efficient. During our office hours, you are a welcoming face to greet hikers, show off our exhibit animals, answer phones and questions about the nature center. You may also assist with important mailings, organizing our library, and other short projects. This is a great position for learning more about wildlife, meeting new people and being a tremendous help to our staff.

Outdoor Events: ● ☼
Experienced volunteers can lend a hand at tabling events at earth day festivals, local street fairs, and at open houses for other nature organizations on the weekends. As a representative of the TNC, you will be providing information about our programs and sometimes (in May/June) selling raffle tickets. This job requires being able to carry and set up a card table folding chair and being friendly and knowledgeable when handing out brochures.

Animal Care (Our Education Animals):
1 Indoor Animal Care Volunteer- ●◘☺ (position filled)
Assist with amphibians and reptiles: cleaning tanks, feeding and caring for them in the nature center building.

1 Bird Care Volunteer- ●☺
Work with one of our educators in the aviaries of our Barred Owl and Red-tail Hawks. This job entails care, cleaning and maintenance of the aviaries. It is a messy job and you must love birds!

Trail Maintenance: ● ◘ ☼
During the warmer weather, you can help out in making the nature center look good with distributing wood chips, repainting blazes, repair broken signs, remove excess vegetation from Pfister’s pond and remove invasive plants on the trails. You will fill our bird feeders so that our winged friends can continually visit us. We also have our annual boundary walk where you will join other volunteers to pick up litter around the edges of the nature center that has been blown in from the street or personal property. This is one of our most physical and active jobs.

Gardener: ● ☺
Gardeners will maintain the Tenafly Nature Center’s model backyard habitat by planting, mulching, weeding, and trimming. They will maintain and beautify this space for the public enjoyment, education and for our programs. Gardeners will also keep a garden journal as a reference for the nature center and future gardeners to use. Our garden is a Master Gardener’s approved site for volunteer hours.

Groups & Projects: ◙ ☼
Is your corporate team looking to volunteer? Do you have a school project to sae the Earth? We have some big and/or timely projects that could use your help. Past volunteer projects included: building canoe racks & trail bridges (Eagle Scout); litter clean-ups (Tenafly High School Sierra Club student chapter); invasive plant removal (BMW Corporate Finance Team & high school senior service); bake sales (TMS Saves) and many more.

Counselor In Training (CIT): ◘ ☼
CIT’s assist professional TNC education staff with children’s’ day camps in the summer and year-round. Help prepare, lead and clean up camp crafts and activities. Must love working with the little ones! Gain valuable leadership experience and it looks great on a resume!

Committees of the Board: ● ☼
We are always looking for diverse members of our community who want to serve our mission. Committees meet regularly at the convenience of its members. You may want to join us on Building & Grounds, Development, Finance, Membership, or Special Events. Currently, we are also looking for a CPA, event planners and people with marketing/advertising skills. Please call nominating committee chair, Debbie Abitante or executive director, Jennifer Kleinbaum for more details and information.

Other Volunteer Opportunities: ● ☼
Have a special skill to offer? Let us know! Right now, we are looking for light carpentry help and handy people. We also need our 1 year old deck washed and sealed. We are looking for creative people as well, such as for painting and murals. If you have a portfolio, we would love to look at your art work.