Partner spotlight: Clark County Public Works volunteer opportunities
Guest post contributed by Cindy Gonzalez, Volunteer Coordinator, Clark County Public Works
Clark County is such a beautiful place, and volunteers are essential to keep it that way. Clark County Public Works has a variety of volunteer opportunities, providing the community with the opportunity to enhance the beauty of this wonderful place we call home. Clark County's Parks and Lands division cares for over 11,000 acres and 84 parks spread across 650 square miles. Community volunteers are essential stewards of these areas. Here are some of the ways you can get involved with caring for these spaces:
Adopt-A-Park
Volunteers work with the program coordinator to choose a park, trail or open space to adopt. With our assistance, volunteers organize and facilitate one volunteer activity each month April through September, and at least once between October and March. Volunteers most often pickup litter but can also clean picnic tables, add bark chips to playgrounds and trails, trim vegetation near a trail, remove staples from picnic shelters, and more. We provide all supplies, tools, and materials and the training needed to complete the job and stay safe.
Partner events
During the warmer months, we partner with the Watershed Alliance to host beach cleanup events. Their focus is to engage, educate, and inspire the community to be more aware of the impacts each of us have on our local environment. Events are held once a month at Frenchman’s Bar Regional Park. These events are open to anyone who wants to help with litter clean-up. Registration can be found on their website. You can also check the Clark County volunteer website for more volunteer opportunities with our partners.
Group volunteering
Many times, schools, church groups and others want to do a one-time event. This year, we’ve had several groups reach out to us to schedule events. HP helped with a litter clean-up at Pacific Community Park. Their efforts resulted in the collection of a total of thirteen bags of garbage.
More recently a Key Club group helped at Captain William Clark Regional Park at Cottonwood Beach. The group collected twelve full bags of garbage. To schedule a one-time volunteer activity for your group, contact our volunteer program coordinator.
Storm drain medallion installation
Volunteers can install medallions next to storm drains to raise awareness that only rain should go down the drain. These medallions serve as an important reminder that our community can help protect water by preventing pollution, like detergents, chemicals, and pet waste, from entering storm drains. During the dry season, groups of two or more can borrow a kit to install medallions at unmarked storm drains. Volunteers can install medallions on storm drains located on public roads with speed limits of 25 mph or less. We provide the supplies, tools, and training needed to complete the job, stay safe and have fun.
Clark County Public Works’ volunteer program also facilitates volunteer opportunities with our Roads Maintenance and Operations division. Our Adopt-A-Road program also helps volunteers safely pick up litter from county roadsides. To learn more about all of our volunteer opportunities, please visit clark.wa.gov/public-works/volunteer.
