Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore - Volunteer (U.S. National Park Service)

Please consider volunteering your time and talent at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. You will enjoy putting your skills to work in this beautiful setting, and you will meet many other fine people who have similar interests. Contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Susan Sanders at 231-326-5134, ext. 507. She will match your interests, skills, and time availability with the wide variety of volunteer projects available.

If you are an artist and would be interested in our Artist-in-Residence Program, click the link for details and contact Lisa.

We are grateful for the generosity and dedication of so many volunteers who contribute their time and skills to making Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore the beautiful, educational destination that it is today. From October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007, 965 volunteers and groups donated over 30,000 hours to park operations and programs. That work is valued at over a half million dollars and is the equivalent of nearly 17 work years.

The following list provides a few examples of volunteer activities at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and demonstrates the breadth of volunteer opportunities that our Volunteers In Park (VIP) are involved in:

Port Oneida Fair
Tours and visitor services at the Visitor Centers and museums
Campground Hosts at DH Day and Platte River campgrounds
Major clean-up efforts to collect trash
Elimination of exotic weeds
Planting native plants
Monitoring endangered species (e.g. Piping Plover)
All park trails were adopted by VIPs who maintained the trails
Building and maintaining databases and this web site
Maintaining architectural drawings and library materials
Over 10,000 photographic slides were digitized
Manual labor to stabilize and rehabilitate historic structures and landscapes.

As our world becomes busier and more populated, we are grateful to people who are willing to share their time and talents in work that helps ensure that these public areas entrusted to our care and held in public trust are available for all to experience and enjoy.

If you are interested in finding volunteer opportunities at other National Parks, check out the following links: To view more NPS volunteer opportunities, go to http://data2.itc.nps.gov/vips/opportunities.cfm or www.volunteer.gov/gov