Pascagoula River Audubon Center Volunteer Opportunities

1. Docents: PRAC could use them on a sporadic/inconsistent basis. I could use docents trained on giving tours of PRAC. These Tour guide docents would be perfect for our Saturday events or special events.  If folks would like to commit to a consistent schedule, the I can offer up Docent to teach or plan for our Nature Tots (every Thursday) and Audubon Academy Homeschool program (monthly for grades K-8).

2. Summer Camps: 

Co-Director for summer camp. This person could receive CEU's if they were a teacher, and/or volunteer hours if a master naturalist. I expect 5-8 days of a commitment in June to help plan and prepare for July camps. Then during our 3 weeks of camp in July, the co-director would lead activities for campers Grades K-8. Co-director would expect to be at PRAC from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Counselors: We also take Volunteers to help manage campers (be a camp counselor as a group leader) for each of the 4 sessions of camp during July. 

3. Phenology Trail: Volunteer position to record data in our Phenology Trail. PRAC provides the training & ipad & program that the data needs to be recorded into. This would need to be done weekly and takes about 20 - 30 mintues to complete. It can be done alone or in pairs. Doing it in pairs is helpful when findings need to be discussed. 

4. Invasive Removal: There are many plants that are invasive and need to be taken out! Invasive removal could be done year-round on an individual basis or in groups.

Litter Pick-Up/Grounds or Garden Maintenance: Volunteers can always clear trails, scan for litter, blow leaves off trails, weed gardens, or plant native plants in our gardens. General weed control, mulching, watering, and stick pick up is needed.

5. Composting: PRAC used to have a system set up for composting. If there is a manageable way to create another compost system on site, then PRAC would be open to it. 

6. Native Plants: PRAC hosts 2 Native Plant Sales per year, once in spring and fall. We could use people to help sell plants, water plants, & transplant them into pots. Native plant work is usually concentrated into Aug - October and February - April. Winter work can be done too. I could use a volunteer to plant/start seeds of native plants and vegetables for the spring. 

7. Bird Boards: PRAC has 3 dry erase marker boards located on site that need weekly updating. These boards are a written list of what birds have been seen on PRAC property. I am looking for volunteers to come to PRAC and do some birding 1- 3 times a week and to update the boards with their sightings. Ideally, volunteer would also complete on site E-bird reporting as well. 

8.  Citizen Science Projects: Projects like Feeder Watch, Climate Watch, Great Backyard Bird Count, or Christmas Bird count could be done on site. If a volunteer wanted to spearhead using PRAC as a site for any of these citizen science projects that would be fine.  

9.  Aquarium & Critter Care: We have an aquarium with 8 water tanks that need servicing or cleaning or scrubbing on a weekly basis. Volunteers can come monthly or biweekly or weekly. Volunteers can adopt one tank or service many tanks. Additionally, bird feeders need to be filled and hummingbird feeders need to be cleaned and re-filled. PRAC also needs volunteers to catch minnows as feeder fish for our tanks. Collection of feeder fish or other sources of food could be done on-site or off-site.

Dates and Times needed: 

Master Naturalists are encouraged to volunteer during operating hours, typically Tuesday - Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. On Tuesdays, PRAC is not open to the public, but staff is here in office for admin duties. PRAC is open to the public Wednesday - Friday. PRAC is open most Saturdays, either for a private event or public event. PRAC is closed Sundays and Mondays. Volunteers are accepted on consistent or inconsistent basis.