VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES

Bird Friendly City

 

Started in 2019, Nature Canada is leading a Bird Friendly City program to help cities and towns across Canada to become bird friendly. This includes a list of actions that a city can take, and builds on the three pillars of: addressing threats, restoring nature, and educating and mobilizing citizens. There are three levels of certification as a Bird Friendly City based on the number of actions taken. Nature Canada is aiming to certify 30 eligible cities as a Bird Friendly City by World Migratory Bird Day 2022. Regina would like to be one of these, and Nature Regina and Nature Saskatchewan are working together towards this goal.

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Volunteers are needed to join our Bird Team for Regina. Bird Team members will collaboratively identify Bird Friendly City criteria currently in place in Regina, and priority action items that need to be addressed. Members can then choose priority action items to support and campaign around. Our first workshop will be in 2021.

 

If you are interested in joining our Bird Team, please email natureregina@gmail.com.

 

Bird Safe Initiative

 

The Bird Safe Initiative, in association with BirdSafe.ca, helps to bring awareness to the issue of bird building strikes while promoting the idea and reporting these strikes to the database on BirdSafe.ca. It helps to encourage the public to find ways to mitigate this issue. Collisions with glass comprises one of the top three human-caused sources of bird deaths in North America.

Volunteers can help with this initiative by participating in events that we organize in the spring and fall. During a one-week period during migration season volunteers meet in downtown Regina at 6:30 a.m. to look for birds that had collisions with glass buildings during the night. Or volunteers can search other areas of the city. Birds that survive collisions are kept in a quiet environment for a few hours then released. Bird fatalities are offered to the Royal Saskatchewan Museum to be used as specimens. All birds are reported on BirdSafe.ca.

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Please watch for notices in our e-news and newsletter for when and how to participate.

 

Board Member

 

Become a member of Nature Regina and serve on our volunteer Board of Directors. Directors are elected each year at the Annual General Meeting in the spring. Executive positions are elected directly (president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer). Other directors are elected in-general, and board tasks are then divided amongst members by mutual agreement. Board members must be 18 years of age or older. There is opportunity to be appointed to the board between AGMs if vacancies occur.

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If you have an interest in being on the Board, please email natureregina@gmail.com.

 

Christmas Bird Counts

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Christmas Bird Counts are bird population surveys conducted throughout North America in late December and early January under the auspices of the Audubon Society. Nature Regina participates in the Regina, Craven and Balgonie counts.

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On the count day volunteers fan out across the count area to identify as many birds and mammals as they can. As volunteers usually go out in groups and each group is led by someone with strong bird identification skills, so even someone that doesn't know birds well can prove to be a valuable spotter. However, ability to identify the 30-40 species likely found in Regina over the winter is an asset. These counts start in the morning around 8am and often finish in the late afternoon between 3:30-5:00 pm, although it is also possible to come out for a portion of the day.

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Please watch for the notice in our November/December newsletter for how to participate.

 

Education & Public Outreach

There are many volunteer opportunities with our nature education Get Outside! programs.

Volunteers share their knowledge of wildlife, birds, plants, insects and general nature to the development of the Outdoor Adventure Guides used in the Wandering Wednesdays social media campaign.

Volunteers help to make the Kids Club a great success.

Our Free Public Events need volunteers to help lead walks that teach about birdwatching, native plants and other nature knowledge, as well as help with nature-themed games.

If you have knowledge to share, ways you can volunteer include helping to create a set of identification sheets for birds, insects, animals, or plants found in the city, and about what they eat, where they live and their habits. Maybe you have some other ideas too!

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If you are interested in volunteering at one of our Get Outside! programs, email us at natureregina@gmail.com.

 

Field Trips/Outings

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Under the direction of the Field Trips and Outings Coordinator, volunteers assist with planning and leading nature outings such as birdwatching and exploring our natural environment. Outings range in length from two hours to full days depending on the location and event.

1. Field Trips Coordinator – You maintain a list of, and contact with, the field trip leaders and assistants. You’ll also be the support person that offers advice and mentoring to our Field Trips/ Outings team

2. Field Trip Leaders – We have a great cast of characters in this regard, but could use more.  Your job is to pick a date and a place that you’d like to lead a field trip to – this could be a birding spot, a great native plant spot, or any other outing you think would be of interest to our membership – then do a write up describing your field trip (we can provide a template) so our publicity person can promote it. Or, we can provide suggestions of places.

3. Field Trip Assistants – Your job is to handle some logistics the day of the field trip, e.g., introductions, getting the participants to sign in, assigning someone to record plants, birds or other depending on the nature of the trip, making any necessary announcements, and then you enjoy the field trip the same as any other participant. If you’re already coming on field trips this is the perfect job for you.

4. Publicity – Working with a contact list already in existence, your job will be to promote the event using a variety of methods, including Facebook.

 

If you are interested in helping with field trips or outings, email us at natureregina@gmail.com 

 

Hidden Valley Sanctuary

 

The Society (Nature Regina) is the registered owner of one-half section of land along the Qu’Appelle Valley called Hidden Valley Sanctuary. The purpose of the Sanctuary is to preserve and protect the wild flora and fauna and the natural environment of the area in its natural state as representative of the surrounding natural environment.

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Hidden valley is looked after by the Hidden Valley Committee which consists of those members who choose to be involved. One may be a member of the committee, or simply a working volunteer.  The committee meets once or twice a year to discuss what needs to be done at Hidden Valley. Also, Committee members and other volunteers meet for occasional work bees, depending on current needs, to do things like trail development and maintenance, fence maintenance, and invasive weed management. 

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If you wish to learn more or be part of the volunteer group, email us at natureregina@gmail.com.

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Native Plant Garden

 

Since 1994 Nature Regina has nurtured the native plant garden, an oasis of natural beauty at the entrance to the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. In 2018, our volunteers began an ambitious rejuvenation of the garden. Those volunteers wanting to work directly in the garden meet weekly in the morning from spring through fall, choosing one of Tuesday or Thursday, and work under the guidance of the Native Plant Garden Leader.

Volunteers help with transplanting seedlings, removing sick or overly rambunctious native plants, collecting seeds, labelling plants, and weeding. There’s also the opportunity of sharing native plants and growing plants at home for the garden using seeds from the garden. We welcome novice and experienced gardeners.

If you want to help at the native plant garden, email us at natureregina@gmail.com. 

 

Butterflyway Project

 

The David Suzuki Butterflyway Project is a volunteer-led movement establishing highways of habitat for local bees and butterflies in communities across Canada. Nature Regina has at least half a dozen members participating in this program in 2021 by becoming Butterflyway Rangers. Regina volunteers have brought together Butterfly Rangers from across the province to support each other through regular zoom meetings.

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You can be a volunteer Butterflyway Recruit under a Butterflyway Ranger, who will help you find creative ways to establish pollinator-friendly habitat in your community. Each Ranger is tasked with organizing a small local team to help them plant at least a dozen pollinator patches.

Ways to volunteer for this project can include: growing pollinator plants at home for the Butterflyway, working on a Butterflyway project, or creating a boulevard garden in your own neighbourhood.

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Several Nature Regina Members are Rangers with the David Suzuki Butterflyway Project. For information on how you can participate, please contact: The Butterflyway Project - David Suzuki Foundation.

 

Pollinator Corridor: In tandem with the Butterflyway, Nature Regina members are very enthusiastic about developing a pollinator corridor through the city and beyond! This would create a highway of habitats for bees and butterflies through Regina and extending north to Last Mountain Lake and south to the border. Ways to help include planting pollinator plants, and joining in activities at the Native Plant Garden or Butterflyway Project.

 

Nature in the Community

 

As a volunteer with Nature Regina, you can be part of various activities such as:  

• clean up and enhancement of nature park and other public areas in and around Regina

• coordinate and participate in nature festivals

• participate in Citizen Science projects

• assist with BioBlitzes (an event that focuses on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area over a short period of time)

• assist teachers and other educators by conducting nature interpretive activities

• assist the Royal Saskatchewan Museum with nature-oriented programs such as monarch butterfly rearing and release

 

Watch for these opportunities, advertised from time to time in our e-news, bimonthly newsletter and on our website: natureregina.ca.​

 

Regina Urban Wildlife Project

 

This collaborative project of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, University of Regina, Nature Regina and other nature based non-profit organizations is in the planning stage. Working closely with Wascana Centre and the City of Regina, 25-30 biodiversity monitoring stations will be established with various automated recording units to document wildlife occurrences (including bird songs and other wildlife vocalizations, bat detectors, and trail cameras for larger animals). This project can provide the City of Regina and Wascana Park with important information for urban planning that balances economic expansion and biodiversity.

Nature Regina is an active partner in this project and there will be volunteer opportunities in the project.

 

If you are interested in volunteering once the project is underway, please email natureregina@gmail.com.

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Social Coordinator

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We may be looking for a Social Coordinator (or helper) once we are able to have in-person meetings again at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. This person looks after light refreshments, such as tea/coffee and cookies, at general meetings and other events as may be requested. A record of money collected at meetings and expenses for the cost of the refreshments is maintained. A brief report to the Treasurer at year end of revenues and expenses, and funds retained, is provided.

If you are interested in helping in this way, please email natureregina@gmail.com. 

 

In existence since 1933, Nature Regina’s Mission is to foster a greater appreciation of all aspects of the natural environment through presentations, field trips, education programs and environmental advocacy.

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Newsletter, Website & other ways to Volunteer:

 

Volunteer opportunities include:

• Being a photographer for Nature Regina activities, and submitting photos

• Being a reporter for Nature Regina activities, and submitting articles

• Creating a set of articles on a nature topic

• Presenting at a Nature Regina General Meeting on a natural history topic

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