California Conservation Volunteer Project

I have now finished both my California and North Carolina terms and just wanted to say thank you for everything, these last 4 months have been the best of my life and have loved every single minute of it. I am flying back to England on the 15th July. Thanks again and I’ll be in touch about other potential programs you might be able to offer me

I really enjoyed my time with them. The first project I worked on was not what I was expecting, as rather than being in the wilderness, it was located in the suburbs of LA. However I had a good time, as everyone is really nice, so the location didn’t matter that much. I did also get to experience backcountry projects later on, brushing and creating tread (restoring/creating a footpath) in Ventana Wilderness.

These were sometimes challenging, but I learnt a lot and very much enjoyed the experience. We also had some rest days in between projects, which was nice as it gave us the opportunity to visit other areas of California.

I’m a South Korean, who has never been outside Asia before this programme, and I spent about 6 month s there. For me, in one word, it was just FANTASTIC, the BEST 6 MONTHS for my entire life. I reckon most of the volunteers would agree with me.

The projects are great, full of breathtaking moments. Working in a Grand Canyon. For example, I had to walk all the way down to the bottom of the canyon everyday. But I can’t really forget any moments working there, hiking down (was literally breathtaking for everyday to hike the Grand Canyon), and  having fun with lots of global people after coming back from the work. I think working in those kind of wonderful places is like a privilege.

The organization culture is better than any org I have ever been belonged to. This is kind of weird, if you think, because they actually let volunteers work as they want (they don’t force volunteers to work harder) but all the people do work very hard. I think this is one of the most valued asset of this programme, that you cannot easily notice from outside. The staff do help volunteer workers very well and work really hard and they are also very professional.

I spent 10 weeks volunteering from the Santa Cruz base. I had a fantastic experience, many of the people who I volunteered with are some of my closest friends to this day.

My favourite project was in the backcountry of Kings Canyon. This was a truly remarkable experience spending a month in the high Sierra nevada mountains. A challenging experience but one that has stayed with me since then.

I think this is a great project and a good way to do meaningful voluntary conservation work.

I wanted to travel and see the world by myself, to go out of my comfort zone & I found this project.

I had a great experience with them, the organisation is great and well made (form the day I landed in San Francisco to the day I left), the staff is very friendly and always here if you need help or some piece of advice.  I discovered a lot of wonderful places that I won’t have known if I were travelling alone.

The crew leaders are all professionals and very fun at the same time. They know how to motivate their crew in the target of working as a real team and in good mood but always in safety !

All my projects were a good experiment for me but if I have to pick one I would choose the project in Sequoia National Park. First of all because it’s a wonderful place but also thanks to the partners who are great !  I also loved the time that I spent in my off days in the 2 diferents houses (Santa Cruz & Lake Tahoe) : I met a lot of wonderful people from all around the world.