Hello,

Volunteer recruitment, training, management and retention are among the top concerns we hear as we continue our listening tour of microhabitat programs across the country. In this second issue of The Microhabitat Connection, we feature advice from a seasoned volunteer whisperer, Heather McCargo of Wild Seed Project, and a valuable, volunteer training and resource toolkit from the Nature Advisors program of Deep Roots KC. And speaking of whispering, we have more for your ear this year: our top picks for podcasts to add to your list for 2024.

Hope you enjoy.

CASE STUDY:

Building a Volunteer Cadre for Native Seed Collection: Lessons from Heather McCargo, Founder of Wild Seed Project

All microhabitat programs must ensure that their participants have access to native plants, preferably of local genotype. But the availability of these plants, and the seeds to propagate them, may be very limited because the careful gathering, processing and propagation of local seed (and the distribution of the propagated plants) is not always commercially viable. Microhabitat programs may then undertake this work themselves, by engaging volunteers.

Village and Wilderness connected with Heather McCargo, the founder of Wild Seed Project, a noted seed stewardship and distribution organization, to gather her wisdom on fostering a volunteer cadre for seed work. What we learned is that seed work lends itself very well to volunteers, and that with thoughtful management (for which McCargo gave us some detailed tips), a lot can be achieved with a relatively small number of reliable people. 

This case study is part of a series of written resource materials that Village and Wilderness is developing to share lessons and best-practices across existing and emerging microhabitat programs.

TOOLKIT:

Nature Advisors’ Volunteer Training and Resources Website

Nature Advisors has generously provided newsletter readers with access to its online volunteer training and resources tool. It features a self-paced curriculum for prospective “Nature Advisors” who conduct site visits; a quiz to determine volunteer eligibility; and additional resources such as a site report template. We hope that this will be a useful example for other programs to check out. Nature Advisors credits the Bring Conservation Home program of St. Louis Audubon for mentorship in building this curriculum and template. Click on the link below, and use the password makingadifference to access this online tool. 

PODCASTS:

Fill Your Y/ear With These Podcasts

Check out our list of the top podcasts for busy microhabitat program practitioners to stay attuned to important research, debates, perspectives, events and opportunities, while on the go. Each podcast host uses a unique lens to explore the topics of native plants, ecological landscaping and the natural world, with relevance to microhabitat programs and ecological restoration in human-dominated areas. Find these podcasts on your favorite podcast app and add them to your listening line-up for 2024.

Want to be added to our Resource Center?

We are compiling a database of online training programs and curricula for microhabitat volunteers. Do you have a volunteer training program that you would like to share with the community? Please send us your links and we will add it to the Resource Center.

What is a “Microhabitat Program”?

Microhabitat programs restore ecosystem function in the fragmented landscape be it for people or biodiversity or both. Examples include community-scale efforts to create backyard habitats, bioswales in urban areas, pollinator patches in agricultural areas and more.

Please share this newsletter with anyone who might be interested.
Have thoughts, ideas or feedback for us? Get in touch at info@villageandwilderness.org

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We help community-based organizations invent, share and grow replicable, climate adaptation solutions. Our flagship project is the Microhabitat Program Incubator.