Volunteers-In-Parks

Volunteers-In-Parks participants work side-by-side with National Park Service employees to preserve the United States’ natural and cultural legacy and to help visitors discover the resources, meanings, and values found in its national parks.

Anyone can be a “VIP”: individuals, couples, families, students, and organized groups from all over the United States and the world. Become a VIP and put yourself at the heart of the park experience!

Volunteers-In-Parks participants play an ever-increasing role in national parks through a variety of jobs, including answering visitor questions at an information desk, presenting living history demonstrations in period costumes, building fences, painting buildings, making cabinets, giving guided nature walks and evening campfire programs, assisting with preservation of museum artifacts, maintaining trails, building boardwalks, designing computer programs or park websites, and serving on a bike, horseback, or beach patrol.

What Can Volunteers Do?

• Lead or support education and public-facing programs
• Maintain or rebuild trails or historic buildings
• Conduct research or monitor wildlife to preserve our natural resources
• Help families make memories happen as a campground host
• Teach others about the park and swear in new Junior Rangers in the visitor center
• Support libraries, archives, and museums in parks to preserve our cultural resources
• Produce art while staying in a park as an Artist-In-Residence
• Educate train travelers on the natural and cultural heritage of a region through the Trails & Rails program