Wilderness Volunteers

Wilderness Volunteers (WV) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created in 1997 to organize and promote volunteer service to America's wild lands. WV works with public land agencies including the National Park Service, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. They offer adventure service trips with a variety of projects including trail construction and maintenance, campsite restoration, revegetation, invasive plant removal, and cleanup. All trips are led by volunteer leaders. Trips are one week long and are limited to 12 or fewer participants. Wilderness Volunteers teaches and follows Leave No Trace outdoor living skills and ethics.

Mission Statement

-- stewardship of America's wild lands through organizing and promoting volunteer service in cooperation with public land agencies.

Organization

Wilderness Volunteers is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors, each serving a three year term. A president is elected annually by the Board from among its members and is not paid. The Executive Director runs the day-to-day operations of the group, and is a paid staff member. In addition to the Executive Director, there is one part time reservationist working remotely. There are approximately 85 volunteer staff who lead the trips in the field, giving generously of their time and resources to support the program.

External links

*http://www.wildernessvolunteers.org

* [http://www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/review.jhtml?id=6383 Forbes.com Best of Web Directory]
* [http://www.natlforests.org/wilderness_stewardship_past_awards.html National Forest Foundation Wilderness Stewardship Challenge Award]

* [http://www.usaweekend.com/07_issues/070603/070603travelsmart.html USA Weekend Magazine Article on Volunteer Vacations]
* [http://www.partnershipresourcecenter.org/resources/volunteers/index.php National Forest Service Site]
* [http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/07/30/news/local/news04.txt July 30,2007 Missoulian article]