Volunteer opportunities bloom at the Native Plant Center
Planning and conservation › Natural areas, parks and trails › Restoring the landscape › Native Plant Center › Volunteer fieldwork training
Learn about volunteer opportunities at the Native Plant Center that introduce you to local native plants in the Portland metropolitan area and some of the less traveled places where they thrive.
Indian plum blossoms in Douglas fir forests and Western saxifrage blooms dotting the rocky meadows of an oak prairie are sure signs of spring's arrival. Interested in enhancing your knowledge about the diversity of local native plants in the Portland metropolitan area while exploring less traveled places on Metro's properties? Consider becoming a volunteer Native Plant Center seed scout, conservation educator or assistant.
Conservation educators
The Native Plant Center serves as an outdoor classroom giving students hands-on, place-based experiences while encouraging their understanding of land stewardship and conservation. Enthusiastic volunteers who have an interest in native plants and/or gardening and are comfortable working with youth are needed. Expertise not required, but must be willing to get your hands dirty! For more information or to sign up, e-mail nativeplantcenter.volunteers@oregonmetro.gov.
Native Plant Center assistants
Volunteers assist in all aspects of propagating native herbaceous species – harvesting and cleaning seeds, planting native seeds, transplanting and potting seedlings, and setting out young plants into beds. Help with nursery operations: watering, weeding, seed bed preparation, general maintenance, data collection and filing. Learn about native plant conservation and local ecosystems while developing skills to work in Metro’s natural areas. This is a year-round position; duties and tasks change with the seasons. New recruits are asked to first attend an orientation at a Saturday volunteer venture to get firsthand experience and a tour of the center. For more information or to sign up, e-mail nativeplantcenter.volunteers@oregonmetro.gov.
Seed scouts
Fieldwork starts with a six-hour training in April followed by scouting sites to gain familiarity with the area. Volunteers collect phenology (the relation of climate to plant flowering) data for the plant center's Bloomtime Project and participate in targeted seed collection. Trained seed scouts are expected to visit their assigned sites for a minimum of six visits throughout the season. Seed collection sites focus on wet prairie, upland prairie, oak woodland and coniferous forest habitats. For more information or to sign up, e-mail nativeplantcenter.volunteers@oregonmetro.gov.
Seed collectors
What better way is there than to visit Metro’s natural areas on a bright, sunny June day and collect seeds from uncommon and threatened species? This position begins with a day of training in June to learn seed and data collection protocol, plus a site visit for a hands on experience and to form field teams. Collectors work with seed scouts to gather seeds from targeted species on a site-by-site basis, and record collection data while working outdoors in a beautiful Metro natural area. This position requires committing to collecting seed three times throughout the summer. Native plant identification is preferred, but not required. For more information or to sign up, e-mail nativeplantcenter.volunteers@oregonmetro.gov.
Seed scouts and seed collectors must fill out the Native Plant Center's 2011 fieldwork questionnaire. Download
For those with less time
Volunteers interested in less of a time commitment are encouraged to participate in group seed collection events led by experienced seed collectors or in seed harvest days at the Native Plant Center scheduled throughout the season. Volunteers will help to monitor and collect seeds from Metro natural areas with rare or unique habitats. Receive training in plant identification, seed collection and processing techniques and work outdoors in a beautiful Metro natural area.