Volunteer with Friends of Hocking Hills State Park

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You can help the Friends of Hocking Hills State Park with education, outreach, event planning, and fundraising, as well as providing volunteers for needed Park projects and special events. Volunteers are a crucial part of our organization, and your time is just as valuable as any monetary contribution! Everyone is welcome, and we can match you with a project or activity that suits your interests and meets the needs of the Park.

Listed below are some of the many volunteer opportunities for those who want to support the Hocking Hills State Park. You may also think of ways that you can support the Friends and the Park that we haven't even thought of yet!

We are looking for a few hard working-trail loving recruits to help maintain and develop our world class trail system here in Hocking Hills State Park. Join with the naturalist as we meet one day a month to tackle a new project along our 27 miles of trail in the park. If you enjoy a little hard work outdoors, learning something new, protecting our parks and making new friends then this outfit is definitely for you!

To find out more about Trail Trolls, please feel free to visit their website, www.friendsofhockinghills.org. Or you may contact the park naturalist Pat Quackenbush at (740) 385-8003 ext. 213 or pat.quackenbush@dnr.state.oh.us.

Help maintain the butterfly habitat at the monthly butterfly garden party. Volunteers meet once a month April - October to pull weeds, fill the hummingbird feeders and prune plants.

The Hocking Hills Poker Run is held Spring and Fall with a 100 mile ride through five State Parks and Wayne National Forest. Beforehand, we need help in soliciting sponsors, and in event planning and advertising. The day of the event, we need help with registration, manning stops along the route, selling merchandise, and cleaning up.

Our nature photography contest is one of the largest in the region, and includes a 24-hour contest throughout four counties, as well as free programming open to the public all weekend. We need help in soliciting for vendors and sponsorships, advertising the event, and processing registrations before the event. At the event, we need help setting up, selling merchandise, manning vendor booths, helping with on-site registration, auditing, and cleaning up.

Thousands of Ohioans have volunteered at Ohio State Parks and have enjoyed their experience while at the same time providing an invaluable service to the park system. Why not join them in the VIP Program (Volunteers in the Park) and find out what a great sense of satisfaction you can earn while make a valuable contribution to your favorite state park - Hocking Hills!.

Each fall, a campout is held to thank all the volunteers for their service during that year. This year's volunteer campout was held at Hocking Hills State Park. Check out the photos from the weekend.

There are three categories of volunteers:

• Individual Volunteers sign up to do a variety of duties, such as helping park staff with programs, special events, trail maintenance, litter control, and monitoring blue bird boxes, to name a few. Youngsters aged 5 to 12 years can sign up as Junior Volunteers to work alongside their parents or guardians, while young people aged 13 to 17 can sign up as Green Teens.
• Campground Host volunteers work in state park campgrounds doing a variety of duties, such as greeting campers, helping them set up their site, assisting with special events, picking up litter to name a few. In exchange for 20 hours of work per week, the Camground Host is provided with a complimentary camp site.
• Group Volunteers include school, civic and scout groups that sign-up for such duties as trail maintenance, beach clean-ups, etc.

A wide variety of duties can be assigned to meet an individual's skills; parks will work with the volunteer on a flexible schedule.

To find out more, please feel free to visit their website, www.friendsofhockinghills.org.
Or you may contact Julieann Burroughs at president@friendsofhockinghills.org.
Thank you for your interest in supporting a great organization!