Adopt-a-Plot is a volunteer environmental stewardship opportunity for people interested in preserving and enhancing the Franklin Trail by adopting a small, pre-selected habitat within a mile-long section of the trail.

As an Adopt-a-Plot volunteer, you will receive your own 10 x 30-foot plot that you can maintain on your own time. A once a month site visit is requested for a minimum 1-year commitment. Under the guidance of a naturalist or program advisor, your onsite volunteer activities may include the following:

• Removing Invasive Plants.
• Collecting and propagating the seeds of native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers to eventually transplant into your adopted plot.
• Nurturing the reestablishment of selected native plants in your plot to help improve habitat health and function.

Benefits include:

• Direct, hands-on instruction and involvement in restoring ecological health to a local natural area.
• Periodic, seasonal explorations of your plot with a naturalist to learn about its plant and animal life.
• Ongoing opportunities to observe and assess how nature responds to your plot habitat management and ecological restoration activities.
• Developing an intimate connection with the natural community of life in and around your plot space.

Your habitat improvement efforts will also benefit your community by:

• Providing a model project to act as a catalyst for more community members to learn about invasive species, wildlife habitat management, and ecological restoration through program participation.
• Offering continued opportunities for Franklin Trail hikers to directly observe and experience native habitats that are characteristic of our coastal region.
• Maintaining important natural processes that help keep our air, soil, and water healthy, and our surroundings biologically diverse.
• Fostering a community wildlife conservation ethic on into the future.

For more information, contact Dale Parks, the Trails Council's Trail Stewardship Committee Chair, by e-mail at hike@nullsbtrails.org

Register to Volunteer