Community Volunteer Ambassador - Town of Highlands, United States - Conservation Legacy

Conservation Legacy

Verified Company

Town of Highlands, United States

2 weeks ago

Posted by:

Mark Lane

beBee recruiter

Description

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Community
Volunteer
Ambassador
- Gateway National Recreation Area - Sandy Hook Unit**:

Location:
Highlands, NJ

Position
Details:

Stewards Individual Placements, a program of Conservation Legacy, provides individuals with service and career opportunities to strengthen communities and preserve our natural resources.

The Community Volunteer Ambassador (CVA) Program combines the strength of a national leader in conservation service with the National Park Service to train a diverse group of emerging leaders to assist park units in building lasting connections to communities.

The primary responsibilities of the CVA will be to expand upon the Shorebird Ambassador volunteer program.

The CVA helps to build community involvement and visit locations and events within the community, which includes farmers markets and community festivals.

They actively visit local communities and reach out to underserved audiences.

This would provide the community with the opportunity to become familiar with the park, its mission, and park personnel in a comfortable, familiar setting that would bridge the relationship between the community and the national park.

Our higher learning partnerships provide opportunities to reach diverse students in various fields of study and help reach audiences we don't normally reach.

The CVA shares and discusses park volunteer opportunities at university & college Career Days (or virtual career days) to engage and recruit young adult populations to become park ambassadors.

CVA's are encouraged to build relationships with environmentally conscious leaders and organizations that engage in programs aimed at preserving natural resources and protecting the environment.

The American Littoral Society, NJ Sea Grant Consortium, and Clean Ocean Action are all active park partners which focus on protecting New Jersey's water resources and coastal ecosystems.

The CVA is welcome to attend their programs and trainings to develop a networking with fellow conservationists to provide support, knowledge sharing and opportunities for collaboration.

The CVA assists the park with habitat restoration and trail maintenance projects, as well as organizing community clean-up events. This participation sets an example for citizen science projects and encourages others to follow suit. This also allows the CVA to experience and learn how to minimize human impacts in other types of habitats (i.e. maritime forest and upland communities).

Site Description:

GATEWAY NRA
The Sandy Hook Unit has a number of individual volunteer programs:

Shorebird Ambassador Program (100+)
Seal Education Team (SET) (20)
Group/School Beach Cleanups
Pathway Ambassador Program (10)
Sandy Hook Docent (Interp) and Living History Program (39)
Deer Survey Team

These programs are managed amongst the IE Supervisor, Volunteer Unit Coordinator, and the CVA. Volunteers are actively recruited, and new volunteer opportunities develop as park projects emerge.

The CVA assists the VIP Unit Coordinator with the Seal Education Team with recruitment, interviews, trainings, and in the field observations/evaluations, from September to January.

The CVA will switch gears in Feb & March to work on the Shorebird Ambassador Volunteer Program through August 2024.

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Position Responsibilities**:

The primary responsibilities of the CVA will be to expand upon the Shorebird Ambassador volunteer program.

The CVA is responsible for recruiting, training, coordinating, and scheduling volunteers to educate the public about threatened and endangered piping plovers and other nesting shorebirds at Gateway's beaches.

With an increased number of volunteers and with CVAs to help manage the program, the project footprint will expand to include all beaches where shorebirds actively along the Jersey Shore.

Park volunteers will help visitors learn how to share the beach by recreating responsibly and respectfully and provide formal educational programming at schools in neighboring communities outside the park.

They will share shorebird ecology information and increase visitor understanding of how their actions can make a difference in nesting shorebird species survival and perpetuation.

Volunteers will assist the park's Resource Stewardship Team installing symbolic string line fencing which designates closed areas, build nest exclosures, and monitor/collect data regarding beach use.

The Seal Education Team (SET) is a new piloted volunteer program kicked off in Both the Volunteer Unit Coordinator and the CVA work together to recruit, manage and assist SET volunteers.

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CVA
Minimum Requirements**:

Major in environmental sciences
Easy going, friendly, outgoing
Effective communicator
Flexible
Team player
Works independently
Participate in the CVA National Early Service Training in late November 2024 (date TBD)
Be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.
Be 1830 years old at time of serv