Volunteer
The Santa Fe Conservation Trust could not do its work without the help of amazing volunteers. From land monitoring and stewardship to maintaining and building trails, planning and setting up events and community engagement, or simply helping out around the office, we always have ways that volunteers can get involved with our programs.
If you would like to get started, please subscribe to our e-newsletter to receive updates on what we are up to and where we could use some help:
If you know what you’d like to do and want to jump right in, here are some specific areas in which you can help:
Land Monitoring & Stewardship
As an accredited land trust, we monitor the thousands of acres of our conservation easements in northern New Mexico every year, and a few more boots on the ground is always appreciated. After an initial training session to learn how to use GPS equipment and reporting on monitoring visits, you can explore our beautiful landscape with us!
SFCT owns the 300-acre Galisteo Property in the Galisteo Basin, where we are always hard at work restoring the beautiful landscape, showcasing ways of revitalizing this area. Reseeding, creating erosion control structures and measuring our progress with bull’s eye monitoring are all carried out on a regular basis.
If you are interested in either of these land program activities, please contact our Land Program Manager, Melissa Houser at melissa(at)sfct.org.
Trail Maintenance & Construction
SFCT maintains some 55 miles of soft surface (dirt) trails in and around the City of Santa Fe, including the Dale Ball Trails, La Tierra Trails, the Dorothy Stewart Trail and the Sun Mountain Trail. SFCT also implements trail planning and construction of key trail connections to fulfill our vision of a unified and comprehensive trail system in the area. Tim Rogers, our Trails Program Manager, coordinates all of our trail activity, so if you would like to get on his list for volunteering, please contact him at tim(at)sfct.org.
Community Conservation
The Vamonos: Santa Fe Walks program offers a number of one-hour walks per month (May-October). Most are after-work hours on paved ADA accessible trails in the city except for one per month on dirt trails. The hikes on dirt trails take place on Saturdays and are usually two hours in length. Volunteers are needed at every walk to walk along with participants ensuring that everyone can walk at their own pace. You would also help to distribute a sign-up sheet before walks begin and a brief survey after. You can sign up to volunteer for one or more walks/hikes by letting Brian Jensen, our Organizational Advancement Officer, know at brian(at)sfct.org, or Joanne Smogor, Events and Development Officer, at joanne(at)sfct.org.
Special Events
We are also grateful to our volunteers for helping plan special events such as the Banff Mountain Film Festival each March and our annual Stand Up for Nature (SUN) celebration each fall. Banff requires volunteers at the Lensic for two nights in March, and SUN is planned by a volunteer committee, staff, and board. The committee begins meeting in late winter/early spring through August to plan all aspects of the fall celebration, providing input on speakers, entertainment, menu, logistics and event schedule, décor, etc. In addition to the planning committee, volunteers are needed on the day of SUN for set up and take down, and sometimes during the event for roles such as serving food and drinks.
Volunteers are also needed for other events, such as stargazing parties, donor appreciation events and insider tours.
Have other talents, such as graphic design or photograph? We can put those to good use too!
If you would like to help us with any of these events, contact Joanne Smogor, Events and Development Officer, at joanne(at)sfct.org.
Other Volunteer Opportunities
SFCT will send out emails when other work is needed, such as sending out our mailings and other office work. Please sign up for our email list:
Thank you to all our volunteers, past and future!
Upcoming Events
