Be an educated park volunteer!

Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District has a new volunteer training program coming out this fall. The Environmental Education Volunteer Assistant (EEVA) Program will train adult volunteers to provide essential support for THPRD education programs.

All program participants must attend a one-day training that will cover basic educational techniques for all ages, as well as applicable Park District policies and procedures. Volunteers who successfully complete the training will be asked to give back a minimum of 50 hours of service over the course of a year.

THPRD Natural Resources Volunteer Coordinator Melissa Marcum explains, “This program is a stepping stone to having our own Volunteer Naturalist Program, much like Metro's. Since we want to engage a more dedicated volunteer who is interested in education, we will provide ongoing educational opportunities for program participants who would like to gain more skills in nature interpretation and a greater knowledge base in variety of environmental education topics. For example, we might do additional trainings on specific bugs, spring wildflowers or wildlife tracks. We haven't fully decided on the topics for these additional trainings yet, mainly because we would also like to see what the volunteers who enroll are interested in learning about.”

Some of the programs that these trained volunteers will be able to participate in are: Concerts in the Park; Ranger walks; Mayor’s picnics; special events (Newt Day, Bug Fest & Native Plant Sales); Nature Days; Summer Camp field trips; preschool programs; night hikes; Nature Mobile events; and Scout programs.

The first training session will be on Wednesday, October 19, from 9 am-5 pm at Tualatin Hills Nature Park Interpretive Center near Aloha. If you would like to register for this training, please visit: thprd.org/nature/volunteers/educationvolunteers.cfm

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