Our valuable volunteers

Trish MacDonald and Joss Haiblen have recently embarked on a project to review and enhance visitor information at Boolcoomatta Reserve. Photo by Katrina Blake.

Volunteering is another way we connect like‑minded people with what we do, and volunteers help us stretch our resources to achieve more of our conservation priorities. 

We have 430 active volunteers in our database and 70 more registered and waiting for the right chance to get involved. On average, we receive two enquiries and one new application a day.

Over the past year volunteers have contributed 14,000 hours to support our work.

We are careful to induct, supervise and evaluate each volunteer role because it is worth that investment. Volunteers contribute across all our operations from weed control to Wiki development and financee to feral animal control. We have volunteers as ambassadors at community engagement events, and to lead projects like working bees and ecological surveys.

Among their ranks are students, Natural Resource Management professionals, keen naturalists, interested locals and even Bush Heritage staff (yes, some of us volunteer in our holidays!) – all united by a shared conservation vision and a strong desire to do something about it.

When we ask them how they want to be thanked, they say, "Just give us something meaningful to do and let us do it". We do and we will, but as May 12-18 was National Volunteer Week, we also want to reflect on their contribution and publicly say a big "thank you."