As a volunteer for VCE, you need not scale high peaks to count songbirds. But we wouldn't mind if you did. We won't ask you to leap into a cold lake to place a loon nesting platform. But it would great if you were into that sort of thing. And if you don't know a fern from a fritillary, we don't mind.
From bogs to backyards, you'll find many ways to help us unite people and science for conservation. But also essential to our work are the folks who help us indoors. If you'd rather not muck around a swamp or hike to a summit, you can still volunteer for VCE – even from the comfort of home.
Julie Nicholson Citizen Science Award
Julie’s extraordinary passion and commitment to birds and conservation remains an inspiration to all of us, We present the award each year to a volunteer who exemplifies Julie’s commitment to the causes of citizen science and conservation. Learn more about this award and past recipients
Citizen Science Projects
Contact us for general volunteer information or details about any of these projects. And check back here from time to time because our volunteer needs change throughout the year.
| Project | Description | Volunteers Needed | App-based | Experience Levels | Training Required? | Project Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vermont Vernal Pool Monitoring Project | Volunteers will visit “adopted” pools on an annual basis to assess biological and physical metrics to help assess the health of these vital wetlands. | Spring | No | Beginner to Expert | ✓ | Liza Morse |
| Vermont Loon Conservation Project | Help rescue injured loons, respond quickly to lake for a survey, help build and place nest warning signs and rafts, and more. | No | Beginner to Expert | Eric Hanson | ||
 | Join an online community of naturalists and biologists to document and share biodiversity observations across Vermont. | Year-Round | Phone & Web | Beginner to Expert | Kent McFarland | |
 | Help us track bird populations across the state and beyond using this real-time, online checklist program. | Year-Round | Phone & Web | Beginner to Expert | Kent McFarland | |
| LoonWatch | Join us for a single day during our annual loon count or monitor a lake or pond on a regular basis to provide essential data for the management, protection and continued recovery of Common Loons across Vermont. | annual loon count in July or monitor a lake or pond on a regular basis | Web | Beginner to Expert | Eric Hanson | |
 | Add your sightings and help us track butterfly populations across the continent using this real-time, online checklist and photo storage program. | Year-Round | Web | Beginner to Expert | Kent McFarland | |
| Vermont Vernal Pool Mapping | Volunteers help to “field-verify” potential pools, most of which we have identified by viewing aerial photos of Vermont. | Spring/Summer | No | Beginner to Expert | Steve Faccio | |
| Vermont Breeding Bird Survey | Help monitor bird populations along roadside routes as part of North America's longest running continental landbird monitoring program. | June* | Web | Expert | Steve Faccio | |
| National Park Service Landbird Monitoring | Help monitor birds at 11 National Park Service sites across the Northeast. | June* | Web | Expert | Steve Faccio | |
| Vermont Forest Bird Monitoring | Help track long-term changes in populations of interior forest songbirds as part of one of North America's longest-running studies of forest bird population trends. | June* | Web | Expert | Steve Faccio | |
Mountain BirdWatch | Choose from more than 100 montane hiking routes across New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine and survey during June for Bicknell's Thrush and nine other mountain songbird species. | June* | No | Intermediate to Expert | ✓ | John Lloyd |
*To participate in citizen science projects in June, please contact project leads well in advance.
