Annual Volunteer Events

To promote long-term stewardship of the White River watershed, we organize numerous seasonal opportunities for people of all ages to do something good for their communities and their river.

April & May: Plant a tree

Each spring, hundreds of volunteers help us plant thousands of trees along the White River and its tributaries. We spend the summer, fall and winter recruiting willing landowners to participate in our Trees for Streams Program, designed to restore native vegetation along the banks of the river. This vegetation has many benefits, from improving wildlife habitat and water quality to stabilizing streambanks. We order trees and planting materials in December and January, plant the trees in late-April and early-May, and recruit volunteers all year long! Specific planting dates are posted in mid-April on our News and Events webpage.

June – September: Monitor water quality

Since 2001, the WRP has coordinated a Water Quality Monitoring Program to better understand potential threats to water quality and public health. Each summer, WRP staff and volunteers keep tabs at over 2 dozen sites throughout the watershed, including popular swimming holes and locations that have the potential to become contaminated. Every Wednesday from June through August, our volunteers measure water clarity and conductivity, and collect water samples that are tested for E. coli. We recruit new volunteers every spring as needed.

May – October: Cleanup the river

The WRP coordinates river cleanups from May through October in conjunction with American River’s National River Cleanup and the Connecticut River Watershed Council’s Source to Sea Cleanup. We focus our efforts on public access areas along the river, providing a valuable service to towns as well as private landowners who are generous enough to share their land with the public. And river cleanups are a fun way for the whole family to get their feet wet and their hands dirty while improving the beauty and cleanliness of the White River.