Volunteer Land Steward Program

The Conservation Community (that’s you!) has helped Inland Northwest Land Conservancy to conserve over 21,000 acres of the beautiful wildlife habitats, waters, healthy forests, open spaces, and recreational lands that are essential to life in our region. Now it’s time to get to work caring for the lands we’ve protected!

One of the ways you can help is by becoming a Volunteer Land Steward! Stewards will design and complete habitat enhancement projects, monitor trails, educate public land users, and note wildlife, vegetative, and hydrologic trends on the land.

Your extra eyes and ears on the land help us to be more responsive land managers and your extra hands ensure that important projects get completed quickly.

The Volunteer Land Steward Program is a great fit for you, if:

  • You want to explore new places and enjoy being active in nature
  • You are interested in citizen science
  • You like taking initiative
  • You are good at educating the public on the work you’re doing and how they can help the land too
  • You like working independently or as part of a small group
  • You want to be part of a strong stewardship community

Volunteer Land Steward Program Manager

Steven Eddington

seddington@inlandnwland.org

Becoming a Steward

Phase One: Attend a virtual Zoom Training

To become a steward, volunteers must complete a 1.5-hour training with Inland Northwest Land Conservancy stewardship staff. This training outlines the steward’s role as INLC ambassadors, monitoring and reporting protocols, and safety in the field.

Due to Covid-19-related gathering restrictions at our downtown office, the training is now hosted virtually through Zoom. Please visit the events page on our website to see upcoming training dates and register to attend.

Inland Northwest Land Conservancy Upcoming Events

Becoming a Steward

Phase Two: Select a Property

Once you’ve attended the training, you can select a property from the list below. If you’re not sure what property you’d like to steward, please reach out to Rose Richardson. We’ll discuss what kind of projects you’d like to work on, how far you’re willing to drive to steward your site,

what landscape features you enjoy being near while you’re outdoors, etc. to get you matched with a place you’ll love.

When you’ve selected a property, we’ll send you some information about the property to get you oriented, including:

  • A baseline report – an inventory of species found on the property and a general description of the landscape.
  • Printable property maps
  • A digital Landscape handbook
  • Click here to view available properties!

Becoming a Steward

Phase Three: Schedule a Site Visit

The last step of the training process is a site visit to the property you’ve selected. INLC stewardship staff will walk you through heavily used trails, “hot spots” or areas that frequently see issues like garbage”, “photo points” or areas that are likely to change and should be repeatedly visited, and go over your Landscape Portal and how to use it in the field.

During the site visit, we’ll also give you your Volunteer Land Steward gear! We want to make sure your role on the land is clear and you feel you have the authority to complete stewardship projects without confrontation or issues. So, you’ll be getting:

  • A blue Volunteer Land Steward t-shirt;
  • A lanyard with a badge; and
  • A few iron-on patches for you to add to whatever else you may want to wear while you’re working!