Environmental Stewardship Opportunities for Volunteers

The Adopt-A-Park Program utilizes volunteers to enhance city parks, trails and facilities. The program is structured to insure the success of each volunteer project by establishing project parameters, detailing responsibilities of both the volunteer and the department. Citizen volunteers agree to maintain their designated park, trail or open space quarterly for at least one year.

Adopt-A-Stream volunteers are environmental stewards who play a vital role in keeping Raleigh's streams healthy throughout the year. Volunteers organize stream clean ups on their adopted stream and lead stream walks to look for signs of pollution. Adopt-A-Stream volunteers can range from individuals and families to civic groups and businesses.

The Raleigh Parks and Recreation Department is always looking for new residents to join the Volunteer Program to make a difference in our community. Individuals, families, students, businesses and organizations have an opportunity to contribute time, talents and resources to our City Parks. You may volunteer as an individual or as part of a group on a one-time or ongoing basis. Volunteers can enhance City parks through gardening, landscaping, removing invasive plants, litter pick-up, tree plantings, painting, and rehabbing playgrounds.

Raleigh Recycling Block Leaders promote community awareness of waste reduction, reuse and recycling. Block Leader contributions can be as quick as forwarding emails to your friends, or as involved as adopting a recycling drop off center for clean up, teaching composting classes, or volunteering to work at a neighborhood festivals. Find out about all the opportunities by joining the Recycling Block Leader email distribution list.

Volunteers learn how to evaluate the health of their stream by using monitoring kits to measure water quality parameters such as nitrogen, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity. Volunteers also evaluate stream health by performing benthic macroinvertebrate surveys. After data is reported to City staff, volunteer groups can view and share data from different monitoring locations across the City.

Volunteers attach storm drain markers to stormwater drainage inlets promoting a message to prevent water pollution and illegal dumping into Raleigh's streams and rivers. These plastic, colorful markers carry the message "No Dumping - Drains to Neuse River" so everyone will know that the stormwater inlets are not for dumping waste.