Volunteer

Join our community of volunteers who help make a difference in the Lower Haw River State Natural Area!  We have a variety of opportunities and flexible time commitments.  Contact lowerhawevents@gmail.com and let us know your interests.

Current volunteer opportunities include:

Whack Attack! Invasive Plant Removal Workdays

Friends of Lower Haw holds invasive plant removal workdays with State Parks biologists. Invasive plant workdays typically involve identifying and removing non-native plants using clippers, pruners, saws, or any other non-motorized hand tool. Only State Parks staff will be able to use motorized equipment like chainsaws and brush saws for larger plants. Learn about invasive plants and removal techniques. Bring your own loppers or hand pruners, work gloves, insect repellent, and water. Wear long pants, long sleeve shirt, and sturdy closed-toe shoes. There are no restroom facilities at our workday location. Canceled: Our Whack Attack planned for October 19, 2024 has been canceled due to State Parks staff deployed to western North Carolina to help with clean-up. We're holding a pollinator garden workday instead. See below.

Pollinator Garden

Friends of Lower Haw partnered with a Boy Scout in 2019 to create a pollinator garden as part of his Eagle Scout Service Project.  Our pollinator garden is located near the US 15-501 parking lot by the Haw River. We partnered with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation to make our garden a Pollinator Pitstop on their Butterfly Highway program. We need volunteers to help with weeding, removing invasive plants, and continuing to plant more native plants to enhance our pollinator garden. This is a good opportunity to learn about native and invasive plants, or to put your knowledge of native and invasive plants to good use. Bring your own lopping shears, hand pruners, or trowels, drinking water, insect repellent, and work gloves. We recommend wearing long pants, long sleeve shirt, and closed-toe shoes. There are no restroom facilities at this location. Directions: The pollinator garden is located at the US 15-501 parking lot by the Haw River. The address is 4551 US 15-501 N, Pittsboro NC 27312 (GPS 35.77657, -79.14726). From Chapel Hill, take US 15-501 South towards Pittsboro and the parking lot will be on the right before crossing the Haw River.  From Pittsboro, take US 15-501 North towards Chapel Hill and cross over the Haw River, make a left U-turn after crossing over the river, and head South a short distance to the parking lot on the right.  We are holding a Pollinator Garden workday on October 19, 2024 from 9:30 to 11:30 AM. Contact lowerhawevents@gmail.com if you would like to volunteer.  


Birdhouse Monitoring

Friends of Lower Haw uses volunteers to monitor our birdhouses in the Lower Haw River State Natural Area.  The birdhouses were funded by a generous donation from bePhilARThropy's Bynum Bridge Fest. Friends of Lower Haw and New Hope Audubon partnered on a bird nest box project by installing 15 nest boxes intended to accommodate a variety of bird species. Volunteers sign up to monitor one or more boxes between February and June every two weeks for nesting activity, then weekly if there is a nest, and report the results.  Adoption is a commitment for the entire breeding season.


Wildlife Camera Monitoring

Friends of Lower Haw uses volunteers to monitor our wildlife cameras in the Lower Haw River State Natural Area.  The wildlife cameras were funded by a generous donation from bePhilARThropy's Bynum Bridge Fest. We installed 3 wildlife cameras to capture wildlife activity and need volunteer monitors for each wildlife camera.  The wildlife cameras are monitored year-round, downloading the images every month. See a presentation by Matt Spangler at this link and on our Publications page about the Secret Life of Animals based on our wildlife camera images.


Trash Can Litter Reduction Team

We initiated an ongoing project to help with the trash problem along the riverbank. We installed trash cans at popular access points at the Haw River, and volunteers empty the bins on a regular basis, since State Parks does not have the staffing resources to do it. Locations include Bynum Mill (upper and lower parking lots) and US 64 on the SE side. We augment annual clean-up efforts by tackling the trash problem on an ongoing basis. Litter is not only an eyesore that detracts from the beauty of this state natural area, it also harms wildlife, their habitats, and water quality.  This project has been successful in reducing the amount of litter from recreational use at popular access points!  Join us in helping to keep the Lower Haw River State Natural Area beautiful. Volunteers sign up on a monthly basis.


Trail Building Crew

We are partnering with the Chatham County Parks & Recreation department's Trails & Open Space Planner to recruit volunteers for our trail building crew. We hope to begin our first trail construction volunteer project sometime this summer. If you are interested in joining our volunteer trail building crew, please contact us at lowerhawevents@gmail.com. 

Clean-Up Events

Friends of Lower Haw is not offering group volunteer clean-up events. If you are interested in volunteering for clean-up events, please visit the Clean Jordan Lake website to see their upcoming events or find out how to adopt a shoreline or feeder stream.  Even though Friends of Lower Haw is not offering group volunteer clean-up events, you can still help do nature a favor by taking a trash bag and work gloves with you when you go for a walk along the Haw River and pick up trash along the way.

Volunteer to help make a difference!