Each year, hundreds of volunteers donate hours of their time to help The Trustees clean up beaches, cut new trails, and otherwise care for our reservations. Now, a pilot program is underway to transform individual volunteers into skilled, self-sufficient work crews that will make an enduring difference at select reservations.
Participants in the program will receive extensive training on tools, safety procedures, and on-site resources. As five-to-six-person work crews, they will spend one day a week on specific long-term projects such as grasslands restoration. Over the course of
a year, their collective efforts will equal the labor of one full-time employee.
John Schmadeke, a former volunteer with The Nature Conservancy and a volunteer at Castle Hill and Long Hill, is heading the program. As Volunteer Project Manager, he's working closely with The Trustees' regional directors to identify properties where the work crews can make the biggest difference: Appleton Farms in Hamilton and Ipswich, Long Hill in Beverly, Crane Beach in Ipswich, Rocky Woods in Medfield, and World's End in Hingham.
“The volunteers have done a tremendous job removing invasive species on Choate Island in Essex,” says Regional Director Wayne Mitton. “It's work our staff wouldn't have had time to complete.”
The volunteers are equally enthusiastic. Melanie Pirotte, who volunteered to attack bittersweet on Choate Island, calls the surrounding region her favorite place on earth.
“When I first heard about the program,” she said, “I thought it would be a chance for me to give something to this special place and help The Trustees in their worthwhile but never ending efforts. For me, the bottom line is that it's fun and rewarding.”
Over the next few years, John hopes to build on the success of the pilot program and start work crews at other properties.