Volunteering Works

Volunteering is the HEART of HeartLands Conservancy

A dedicated group of volunteers have been monitoring bluebird boxes weekly during the breeding season. Bluebird nests successfully fledged at the Exploration Garden and Arlington Wetlands! There are several ways to volunteer with HeartLands Conservancy. From individual, self-paced commitments to attending large stewardship days, HLC has ways for everyone to get involved. The most common way to volunteer is by attending Stewardship Volunteer Days.

Bluebird Nest at Exploration Garden by Pam Belmonte

Tree Swallow and Nest at Arlington Wetlands by Kathy MacKay & Scott Gerstenberg Our staff and volunteers have been busy bees this spring! Over 650 volunteer hours have been logged in 2022. We logged over 300 hours in April alone! Many of our volunteer days have taken place in Metro East parks, like the Swansea Clinton Hills Exploration Garden and Arlington Wetlands. At our standing volunteer days (3rd Friday 9:00am-12:00pm at Signal Hill and 4th Saturday 9:00am-12:00pm at Arlington Wetlands), we have been diligently working on removing invasive species like bush honeysuckle, tree of heaven, Japanese honeysuckle, and phragmites. At Arlington Wetlands, volunteers have helped repair bluebird nest boxes and planted native plants around the welcome sign. At the Exploration Garden, volunteers helped install a rain garden and conducted species monitoring in the meadow.

These events are held at least monthly and are located throughout the entire region on public lands and HeartLands Conservancy properties. Anyone can attend these events. They are published on the events calendar online, in newsletters, and sent to our volunteers’ list.

HLC is always seeking individuals with unique skills, interests, and expertise to help our organization with a variety of conservation efforts. You can apply to volunteer via the application on our website at

https://heartlandsconservancy.org/volunteer/.

Steward The most common way to volunteer is by attending volunteer days. These events are held at least monthly and are located throughout the region on public lands and HLC properties. Anyone can attend these events, and they are published on the events calendar online, in newsletters, and sent to the volunteers list. Anyone interested in outdoor stewardship activities such as invasive removal, planting, seeding, litter clean up, and trail maintenance can participate. Stewards preserve and improve the physical and biological components of HLC‘s properties or community nature preserves.

Lead Site Steward Assist in the stewardship of HLC properties by walking the trails and boundaries of our preserves, doing light maintenance during these walks, and reporting on conditions to HLC‘s staff. Volunteers must be willing to submit to a background check.

Hiking Club Leader This position is for the sociable outdoor enthusiast. The bulk of this position includes planning and leading monthly hikes on our preserves. Volunteers must be willing to submit to a background check.

Bluebird Monitor People in this position check on assigned bluebird houses weekly, February through August.

Tree Steward Work with local parks and public works departments to help care for community trees. Must be trained in proper tree planting and care. We ask that Tree Stewards attend six weekly webinars, plant and care for a tree, and 24 hours of volunteer service annually in community forests, parks, and HLC projects such as at the Swansea Exploration Garden.

Master Naturalist or Master Gardener

Assist HLC staff with programs and educational outreach events. Help create educational materials for programs. Events may be indoors or outdoors and involve adults, children, or a mixture of both. Some events are group-oriented, while others involve working with individuals one-on-one, providing extra help to children needing assistance to complete a task. May also lead guided nature hikes. Assists with set-up and clean-up depending on the type of activity. Volunteers must have a certificate of completion for either Master Naturalist or Master Gardener coursework.

Jingle Hike Liaison Help plan the annual Jingle Hike Challenge (Thanksgiving Day - New Year‘s Day).

TREE WEEK

The third annual Metro East Tree Week took place between Earth Day and Arbor Day this April. HeartLands Conservancy hosted many experiential and educational events during the week.

We kicked off the week with a stewardship day at Arlington Wetlands, where volunteers helped install a nativescape around the welcome sign and received their own white oak seedling to plant at home. HeartLands Conservancy staff also participated in the Clean City Coalition/City of East St. Louis Earthday Stewardship Event, where over 15 partner organizations cleaned up 40 city blocks along State Street in East St. Louis. HeartLands Conservancy staff and volunteer Tree Stewards distributed 325 free trees to 17 Metro East communities, including Collinsville, New Athens, Trenton, Wood River, Edwardsville, Greenville, Shiloh, Swansea, Carlyle, Germantown, Granite City, Alton, and East St. Louis!

On Tuesday, April 26th, HeartLands hosted a tree identification workshop for Metro East residents, who learned how to identify trees and practiced their skills. This year, we added a big children’s event. We partnered with Fairmont City, IL, and two local schools for a Kids Experience Day, where 122 3rd-4th graders and 31 high school students participated in planting 25 trees in their community!

Each student received a white oak seedling to plant at home and a Hydro Flask water bottle, courtesy of a product donation from Hydro Flask.

Fairmont City Mayor and Staff

Fairmont City Elementary & Collinsville High School

Young Edwardsville Resident

TREE WEEK

EVENT RECAP

HeartLands Conservancy staff attended and participated in multiple tree planting events in observance of Arbor Day.

We joined the Valentine Conservation Community and planted 32 trees in Valentine Conservation Park and Nature Trails, a new park located in East St. Louis, IL. Staff also participated in the City of New Athens’ tree planting event at the New Athens Marina and Campgrounds. Thank you to all our volunteers who participated in Tree Week events and the Native Plant Sale! We truly appreciate your dedication to our mission.

Collinsville High School Students and Satff with Fairmont City Mayor

Fairmont City Elementary & HeartLands Conservancy Staff

HLC Tree ID Class

Village of Swansea Staff