Join the Volunteer Team
at Baltimore Woods
The vibrant community of volunteers at The Woods is a group of individuals who share similar interests and a passion for environmental stewardship and education. Whether it be contributing to the health of our natural world through maintaining the land, or being a friendly, helpful face around the Interpretive Center, each volunteer is essential to keeping our organization running smoothly.
To learn more about volunteer opportunities or to sign up,
email [email protected] or
call the office at (315) 673-1350.
Why volunteer with us?
At our annual community dinner, volunteers and other community members gather to celebrate and reflect on the past year.
Volunteers at our annual Autumnal Fairy Festival usually embrace the magic of the event and dress up as fairies and other magical creatures!
At Baltimore Woods, our volunteers are essential for our organization to function and meet its mission of conservation and place based nature education in Central New York. All volunteers are able to contribute their personal skills and talents to better The Woods each day, while channeling their energy into positive pursuits – of which there are many!
The volunteers at Baltimore Woods are not just helping hands, but also an amazing community! Volunteers often gather for trainings or special projects related to ongoing research on the preserve, and to learn more about their passions, including birding, local foods, and forest ecology! Join us in appreciation at a volunteer lunch once a month and our annual community dinner. Every Wednesday from 9:00-9:30am, our stewardship crew, “The A-Team,” gathers for coffee, snacks, and socializing. All volunteers are welcome to join in this social half hour to meet new people and enjoy a treat!
“I love the sense of community at Baltimore Woods. The ecological community makes the hiking great, but the human community is engaged and I feel connected to them.”
– Fran Lawlor, Front Desk Volunteer &
A-Team Member
“I keep volunteering at the front desk because I love seeing the smile on kids’ faces when they like to tell me what they saw out in the woods (the adults, too – but mostly the kids.”
– Linda Garner, Front Desk Volunteer
Volunteer Spotlight
In October, we hosted our annual Autumnal Fairy Festival. The event was a huge success, thanks to the many volunteers that helped us make it possible. This year, we had 36 volunteers helping at the event, which is one of our largest groups ever! From helping visitors park, to checking them in, and running dozens of activities throughout the woods – the volunteers did it all.
The volunteers transformed into different characters to make the event extra magical. As visitors traveled through the “enchanted woods,” they encountered parking gnomes, wizards, various fairies, and more volunteers in character. This year, we had enough volunteers that we were able to have characters wandering throughout the enchanted forest interacting with visitors and making the experience even more immersive. Some of them gave the visitors clues that helped them find the Fairy Queen’s stolen spellbook!
Board members Gary Germain and Paula Conan that volunteered at the event said, “The kids were so excited to be there and to be face painted and everything. It was great to see.” The volunteers bring so much joy to this event, but we also often hear from them about how this is their favorite event to volunteer at. Paul, one of the parking gnomes said, “Seeing all of the fairies coming out of their cars and getting dressed up and excited is always my favorite thing every year!”
There were also dozens of volunteers that helped beforehand to prepare for this event. Our A-Team volunteers set up tents, cauldrons, collected wands, and more the week leading up to the event. The front desk volunteers assembled hundreds of check-in envelopes, made troll coins, and gathered hundreds of crafts for visitors. Dedicated volunteers came early in the morning to help with set-up the day of the event and stayed late to help with cleanup afterwards. One of our volunteers Rose Burdick, who runs the fairy village, has been collecting supplies for fairy house building all year!
In the middle of the event, we had a plumbing crisis that forced us to shut down the bathrooms. Thanks to quick action from our volunteers who helped us spread the word about the issue, clean, and unclog the issue, we were able to get the bathrooms reopened in under an hour. A special thank you to Ken Kaufman, Paul Mooney, and Ken Burdick for helping us unclog the plumbing.
Thanks to Marcellus High School teacher Maria Antil, for helping us get the word out about this event to students. Thanks to her help, we had 14 Marcellus High School students volunteering at the event. The students helped with games, food, crafts, and as wandering characters. Having these extra hands was a huge help, and the students were all so excited to dress up and become a part of the event. We’re excited to have this partnership with the high school for future volunteering events!
Thank you to all of our fairy fest volunteers, without volunteers this event would not be possible! Are you interested in becoming a volunteer? Fill out our volunteer interest form: https://baltimorewoods.org/volunteer-request-for-information/
Upcoming volunteer opportunities!
Stewardship Work Days
at Baltimore Woods
Saturdays from 9:00am – 12:00pm
Saturday, November 1
Saturday, December 6
Saturday, January 3
Saturday, February 7
Click to learn more!
Common projects for these volunteer opportunities include invasive species removal, trail building, mulching, gardening, and more. The exact project will be selected and sent out to participants closer to the date based on weather and registration.