By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Annual Yosemite Meadows Project Seeking Volunteers
Yosemite pic

Nature Corps, a nonprofit volunteer conservation organization, is offering a rare opportunity to go behind the scenes with the National Park Service to help restore Yosemite Valley’s beautiful meadows. The next ‘voluntour’ is scheduled for Sept. 6 through 8 and is dedicated to helping the Park Service implement the Merced River Restoration Plan. A significant portion of the plan focuses on restoring the valley’s life-giving meadows. While meadows represent only two percent of the entire Sierra Nevada landmass, they support 75 percent of the wildlife in the region.

“Healthy meadows are vital for wildlife populations,” said Mark Landon, Nature Corps’ Executive Director.

Approximately two-thirds of California’s birds and amphibians depend upon meadows for their survival. During the summer months, meadows are the single most important habitat for large and small mammals, birds and amphibians.

Over time, invasive nonnative species, foot-traffic impacted habitat, road-building, development, and catastrophic wildfires have resulted in the widespread deterioration of many of the 10,000 meadows in the Sierra Nevada.

Volunteers are urgently needed to protect the remaining meadows by extracting conifers and nonnatives plant species before they overtake the meadows. The volunteers will also collect seeds to propagate native flora for future meadow restoration plantings.

Nature Corps volunteer vacations are not all work and no play. Volunteers will enjoy delicious cuisine prepared by trained chefs.

To celebrate Yosemite’s stunning display of glacial domes and wildflowers, volunteers will also be able to participate in a variety of organized nature and photo walks to capture some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world. To learn more go to: https://www.thenaturecorps.org/yosemite-2/.

This rewarding and memorable volunteer vacation is available to individuals and families; children eight-years-old and older are welcome.

Nature Corps is a 501c(3) nonprofit volunteer conservation organization established in 1987. It has received several national and state awards for its conservation efforts, including a Congressional “Take Pride” award for planting 20,000 trees throughout Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

The organization offers a variety of youth programs and voluntours in Yosemite, Sequoia, Hawaii, Big Sur and Morro Bay State Park.

Nature Corps also provides companies with all-inclusive employee volunteer opportunities and teambuilding outings. Proceeds from company sponsorships and the voluntours are used to support low-income youth that wish to volunteer in the parks. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

To learn more about their voluntours visit www.thenaturecorps.org or call 1-800-774-PARK.