WE NEED YOU!
No Experience Necessary
The Sierra Club's true strength and ongoing ability to protect the natural heritage of current and future generations exists with you, our members and supporters. Without you as our eyes and ears, we are blind and deaf, and consequently we become mute. No experience is necessary, just an enthusiasm for wild nature and an inquisitive mind and spirit. There are Juniper Group opportunities to work on the following:
- Outings (hikers, snowshoe, Nordic ski and trip leaders)
- Wild areas protection designations (Keep Waldo Wild, Owyhee Canyonlands)
- Political activism
- Education outreach - presentations at local schools on area issues
- Event tabling
- Newsletter articles
- Wildlife protection
- Federal timber sales
- Forest Plan and Travel Management Plan revisions
- Off Road Vehicle policy
- Grazing on Federal lands
Volunteer Roles You Can Help With Now
Below is a list of volunteer activities you can start doing now:
Volunteer Roles
| Short Name | Role Description |
|---|---|
| Multimedia | |
| Media files | Take photo, video and audio clips on outings, field trips, hikes, campouts, tabling events, etc. |
| Edit media files | Edit multimedia files for YouTube, the Internet, group presentations, and tabling displays |
| Maintain our Facebook page for Keep Waldo Wild. Create and maintain a page for the Juniper Group | |
| Meetup website | Maintain our Meetup.com web page for Juniper Group events (outings, program nights, etc.) |
| Communications | |
| Publicity/Outreach/Media Coordinator | Coordinate public relations, write press releases, become liaison/contact person for media. Lead Letter to the Editor campaigns, prepare op-ed pieces, arrange for responses to press inquiries. Announce group events in newspaper and TV community calendars. |
| E-Newsletter Editor | Create/edit newsletters for Juniper Group and/or Keep Waldo Wild campaign in html format and publish them using the Sierra Club ListServ. Gretchen Valido is our current newsletter editor, but she will happily mentor a replacement. |
| Letters to Editor | Coordinate Letters to the Editor campaigns on current environmental issues when appropriate. |
| Tabling Participants | Table at community events. |
| Educational institution outreach | Network with high schools and college/university department heads in outdoor education, recreation programs, forest management, etc. and arrange presentations. |
| Collaboration | |
| Environmental groups | Network with allies from other environmental groups and supporters to create opportunities for collaboration. |
| Recreational associations | Research historical positions of Central Oregon recreation groups, clubs, and manufacturers for potential supporters of our campaigns. Establish points of contact with them and advocate for their support. |
| The Arts | Identify potential allies, such as authors, writers, poets, musicians, and artists. Create opportunities for collaboration. |
| Political organizations | Attend public meetings and establish contact points with local politically active progressive organizations, such as Democrats and labor unions. |
| Volunteer Recruitment and Coordination | |
| Volunteer Coordinator | Create and maintain a Juniper Group and Keep Waldo Wild volunteer database; communicate with Bend volunteers and Eugene Volunteer Coordinator; create plans for volunteers; maintain Excel spreadsheet on public outreach events. |
| Waldo Campout Coordinator | Plan and coordinate Waldo campout (Aug. 15-17, 2014) arrangements, distribute hike schedule/sign-up to participants, outreach to all 5 club groups, send campout publicity to Group Chairs, Group Outing Chairs, and Chapter Outings Chair about dates, hikes, pre-registration how-to; distribute and collect liability waivers from participants. Welcome/check-in participants and guide them to camp sites, plan campfire time, and work with campout hike coordinator. |
| Program Night Organizer | Plan our Juniper Group program nights. This includes finding arranging speakers, topics, venues, dates, any AV equipment, refreshments, and publicity (paper, TV, radio). |
| Trail Maintenance Organizer | Kickoff a trail maintenance program on Forest Service lands, locating trails needing maintenance, obtaining approval/permits from Forest Service, publicizing, signing up volunteers, organizing carpools, obtaining equipment, and supervising the maintenance. Must be Sierra Club certified Outings Leader and complete Forest Service training, and we can help you obtain that. |
| Fundraising | |
| Fundraising | Identify opportunities and implement fundraising activities. |
| Build Political Support | |
| Political Chair | Chair our Political Committee. Gretchen Valido is our current chair, but she has a lot of irons in the fire and will gladly mentor her replacement. |
| Political Committee | Join our Political Committee to administer candidate questionnaires and conduct interviews, evaluate the candidates, then make a recommendation to the Juniper Group for those we should endorse. |
| Identify political players | Identify political players—local, county, state and federal government representatives/officials (DeFazio, Blumenauer, Bonamici, Wyden, Merkley, Deschutes and Lane county commissioners, etc.). Identify people who know the political players and gain the support of those people and from them gather lay-of-the-land information about those political players to gauge their probable support of KWW; capture/record this information in a database. |
| Identify government agency players | Identify agency players—Deschutes National Forest, Willamette National Forest, ODF&W, other Oregon agencies |
| Voting record database | Track local politician voting records on environmental issues (city, county, state representatives). |
| Research | |
| Recreational associations | Research historical statements of opposition from Central Oregon Trail Alliance (COTA), other mountain biking groups, OHV clubs and manufacturers, recreation industry. |
| Timber industry | Research historical timber industry positions. |
| Political assessment | Research historical positions of political figures: local, county, state, Congress. |
| Federal agencies | Research historical positions of Federal agencies: Forest Service, ODF&W, etc. that will be involved in decision-making input on legislation |
| KWW Flora/Fauna Summary | Using Forest Service and other survey documents, create a summary catalog of wildlife and plant life in the proposed Keep Waldo Wild protection area, focusing on unique species that will convince the public and politicians to set this area aside for the future. |
| Federal Projects | |
| Lands Protection | Monitor land's protection initiatives by Sierra Club, politicians and other environmental organizations (such as ONDA and Oregon Wild) for their desirability, status, and whether we should consider endorsement and participation in the campaign. |
| Federal Projects | Review Forest Service lands management proposals and environmental assessments for vegetation management, logging, trail construction, riparian management, wildlife, and water quality projects. Develop Club positions on projects. Write comments on Forest Service documents for transmittal to Forest Service as formal club positions. |
To Volunteer:
Fill out the Volunteer Form to let us know your contact information and how you want to become involved. This form will be emailed to the Juniper Group Chair and Volunteer Coordinator Gretchen Valido. She will contact you to help you involved.
Volunteer Resources
Juniper Group
The Juniper Group Executive Committee sponsors as many local activities as there are volunteers to support. Many of the opportunities are listed above, but if have an idea that excites you or a special interest, we're open to that. Take a look at Our Goals and Take Action pages to find issues that interest you. Both of these web pages will tell you what we have been doing and the issues we think we want to work on, but much of what we do is driven by your interests and energy, so don't feel limited to these issues. The Juniper Group also has an active Outings program led by Kelly Smith that includes summer and winter outings. For more on the Outings program, see the Juniper Group Outings page.
Oregon Chapter
The Oregon Chapter has many committees and issue coordinators who are focused on specific environmental issues. For a complete listing of these leaders, look at the Oregon Chapter Contacts page under Chapter Issue Coordinators and Additional Chapter Leaders. Or look at the Chapter "Our Goals" web pages. Of special interest to Central and Eastern Oregon are the Protect Our Wild Forests and the High Desert Committee pages.
National Sierra Club Resources
As Sierra Club members, we have access to resources and educational materials on important global, national, and regional issues. Books, publications, DVDs, informed speakers, and resources on topics from global climate change, energy, public lands, forests, fires, wildlife, waterways, population, OHVs, toxins, and proactive ecological solutions to the problems of today are available for use in your community, workplace, school, group, or with friends and family. Ongoing volunteer community outreach and educational presentations help increase conservation awareness, changing the world for the better, person by person. Sierra Club resources include DVD movies and CD PowerPoint presentations on important conservation issues from global to local, ready for public viewing. For resources and help in reaching people in your community contact us!