Get Involved

Whether you want to further conservation, learn more about nature or share your love of the outdoors, you’ve come to the right place. National wildlife refuges provide many opportunities for you to help your community by doing what you love. National wildlife refuges partner with volunteers, youth groups, landowners and to make a lasting difference. Find out how you can help make American lands healthier and communities stronger while doing something personally satisfying.

Volunteering

Discover for yourself what tens of thousands of volunteers have learned: Volunteering for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is fun and rewarding in many ways. Learn new skills, meet new friends and enjoy a sense of accomplishment from doing your part to further wildlife conservation for the pleasure of generations to follow.

Our team of dedicated volunteers contribute their talent, energy and passion to making the refuge a gem in the community. Volunteers are involved in all aspects of refuge operations from trail maintenance to helping with public events to introducing nature to students.

Our volunteer team welcomes you to join us! Youth under 18 may volunteer for certain positions given signed permission by their parents or guardians on the Volunteer Services Agreement form.

Potential Volunteer Opportunities:

• Reforestation efforts
• Refuge clean-up projects
• Educational programs
• Maintenance of public facilities
• Trail construction
• Office work
• Special events
• Wildlife monitoring
• And more!

Our Partners

Nature does not recognize human-made boundaries. In order to conserve our natural and cultural resources effectively, we must work with others to bridge these boundaries. Partnerships foster creative solutions to challenging situations and often the results are greater than the sum of the parts. Learn more about our local partners.

Friends of Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge

The refuge has a special partnership with the non-profit group, Friends of Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge, which formed in October 2002 to support and enhance the public’s role in fish and wildlife habitat protection. Their goal is to promote public use of the refuge, along with educating visitors about the natural and cultural resources of the area. The group has sponsored events and built facilities on the refuge and represented the refuge at community and county gatherings. They also operate the bookstore in refuge headquarters.

They invite you to learn more about them by following them on Facebook!