Volunteering

Focus on Volunteers: Summer 2009

Historical Dig at Two Harbors

Over 50 volunteers assisted the Trails and Waterways Archeologist on a week-long dig this past summer in Two Harbors. According to Larry Killien, Harbors Program Coordinator, Grand Rapids, the dig was designed to uncover some of the history of possible old home sites where a new Small Craft Harbor and Marina will be located. The digging continues and will be completed soon.

From left to right: Amanda Gronhovd, Amy Ollila, and Kelly Wolf take part in a historical dig in Two Harbors.

Waters Permit Scanning Projects

Two volunteers have contributed their time and talent to assisting the DNR Division of Waters with its challenge of scanning thousands of permits. Their work has resulted in improved access to file data and has greatly improved the timeline for project completion, while allowing DNR staff to remain focused on high priority issues.

Conrad Urbik Conrad has been a volunteer for DNR Waters in Sauk Rapids since 2005 involved with scanning DNR Waters Permit files. Donating over 2,000 hours of his time, the permit file-scanning project has now been completed for all four counties served by the Sauk Rapids office. Dan Lais, Area Hydrologist, Sauk Rapids, says, "Conrad is a retired police officer and continues to enjoy service to others. He has become a regular fixture in the office and his work is greatly appreciated. Conrad is now scanning all of our lake and stream files."

Jewel Pickert Jewel became a volunteer in 2008 and continues volunteering one day per week in the Central Regional Office in St Paul. According to Kip Langeness, Regional Secretary, "Jewel's contribution to the challenge of scanning thousands of permits is immeasurable. She truly is a gift and we are grateful for her talents."

Daniel Kent

Using his computer skills, Daniel Kent, Minneapolis, volunteered this past summer and fall to assist the Division of Trails and Waterways with their web pages. More specifically, Daniel spent time transferring web data into Word for editing purposes and then worked on editing water trail descriptions for canoe routes. Besides his web abilities, Daniel also helped the DNR with videotaping bicycle footage on trails and helped staff booths at the MN State Fair and Power Sports Expo. Thank you, Daniel, for sharing your talents with us!

Eagle Scout, Casey Viellieux

Eagle Scout Casey Viellieux (right) and, Kevin Krey (left) deliver field desks to the Cen­tral Office in St. Paul.

Casey Viellieux, a Boy Scout from St. Paul, recently walked into Renée Vail’s office, ad­ministrator of DNR Volunteer Programs, and asked about possible projects to do for his Eagle Scout award. Vail di­rected him to the DNR Web pages listing volunteer oppor­tunities. There Casey read about building field desks for schools involved in the School Forest Program.

These laptop sized desks encourage teachers to use their forests as outdoor classrooms. The portable field desks serve three functions: they let students carry into the field materials like paper, pencils and measuring tools; the removable clipboard/lid gives students a hard surface to write on; and the box itself allows students a portable stool to sit on.

After conferring with Laura Duffey, Project Learning Tree coordinator, Casey and his troop made 34 field desks. Byerly's donated clipboards for the desks and Menards sold the troop wood at a discount to build the desks. The total cost of the project was approximately $75. Duffey estimates the total value of all 34 desks to be about $510. The desks will be donated to a school in the School Forest Program.

Note - Building portable field desks and making tree cookies are excellent choices for Eagle Scout projects.  They can be done anywhere in the state, any time of year. Refer to the articles and directions for each listed on the DNR volunteer opportunities pages.

"Working with people to manage Minnesota's natural resources"

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) volunteer opportunities are listed by geographic location or by specific programs. (Check the links to the right.) "Statewide opportunities" indicate jobs that either are scattered throughout the state or that you can do regardless of where you live.

These listings do not include all DNR volunteer opportunities -- just those DNR staff have requested be advertised. If a volunteer opportunity is not listed for your area, contact your local DNR office to inquire about available volunteer positions. To find your local office, call 1-888-646-6367 for DNR directory assistance, or check the online office locator