VOLUNTEER

Volunteers are a crucial part of WRWC’s efforts to steward the health of the Greenway, the Woonasquatucket River, and the communities in our watershed. We host Group Clean Days, Neighborhood Friends Groups, Forest Care Days, and a Watershed Monitoring Volunteer Program. All upcoming public volunteer events are listed on our Events Page.

We are hoping to expand volunteer opportunities and would love for you to be involved in our volunteer community! If you are interested in hearing about volunteer opportunities as they are scheduled and staying in the volunteer network, please fill out this form to give us your contact information and preferences. If you have any questions about volunteering with WRWC, email our volunteer coordinator at hsaiger@wrwc.org. 

Volunteers under 16 must be accompanied by a responsible adult, and all volunteers under 18 must have their waivers signed by an adult.

Current Volunteer Programs: 

Group Clean Days

Group projects on the Greenway offer opportunities for meaningful teambuilding and community service. Throughout the year, we partner with corporate groups, schools, and nonprofits to do projects that keep the Woonasquatucket River Watershed beautiful, safe, and healthy. Typically, projects happen between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm, and timing can be customized depending on group needs. Projects can include litter cleanup, invasive species removal, and rail painting. We ask volunteer groups from for-profit companies to provide a donation to help cover the planning and material costs of our volunteer events and to support the work of our non-profit.

To read more and request scheduling for a Group Clean Day, visit this link. 

Neighborhood Friends Groups

Friends Groups are a great opportunity to help steward your local green spaces while spending time with neighbors and the WRWC River Ranger team. These monthly events are open to participants of all ages and experience levels. Projects may include planting native species, removing invasive plants, litter cleanup, and spreading mulch. Participants will get their hands dirty, learn more about the greenway, and make an impact on the health of our public greenspaces! 

Our Friends Groups are held at Riverside Park in Central Providence and adjacent to the Goldsmith Fish Ladder in Johnston. Please register on our events page to receive more information and forward the link to a neighbor who might want to join! 

If you want to stay updated about upcoming Friends Group events, fill out this form. 

Nuestros Bosques Forest Care Days

Forest Care Days are part of the Nuestros Bosques Event Series, a bilingual (Spanish and English) program focused on forest stewardship, outdoor learning, and community engagement in Providence. Participants explore local woodlands, care for neighborhood trees and understory plants, and connect with the community. Projects will take place in different sites across 02909 and 02908 and might include invasive plant removal, litter cleanup, watering young trees, and spreading mulch. Forest Care Days welcome participants of all ages and experience levels, and provide food as well as activities for kids. Register on our events page  to receive location details and event updates.

If you want to stay updated about upcoming Forest Care Days, fill out this form. 

Watershed and Fish Monitoring Program

To restore habitat on land and in water, we keep tabs on water quality and fish communities: both those that live in the river and those returning to it. We use our data to help us understand what is happening in the river and share it with the state. Citizen scientist volunteers test water quality using URI Watershed Watch methods at four sites on the river. In spring, our volunteers count herring as they return to their historic spawning grounds in the Woonasquatucket River. WRWC also hosts fish monitoring events where we assess the river’s fish community with electrofishing. Volunteers catch fish, measure, count and ID them, and then release the fish back into the river. 

For water quality monitoring, volunteers will attend training sessions with URI Watershed Watch and sign up for locations to monitor throughout the season. For herring counts, WRWC will hold a brief training and then send volunteers to collect data on their own time. Electrofishing data collection opportunities are listed on our events page and are open to the public. No experience is required to attend those events. 

If you want to get involved in watershed monitoring efforts please, fill out this form. 

A Brief History of Volunteering with WRWC

Since the 1990s, WRWC has relied on volunteers to help shape the Greenway. WRWC Clean Days on the Greenway events have roots in both small neighborhood cleanup projects and larger, all-out cleanup events. Over the years, youth from the Olneyville, Manton and Hartford neighborhoods have worked as volunteers and then as Junior River Rangers, helping with cleanups and preparing the way for the Woonasquatucket Greenway Project. Additional volunteers from neighborhoods surrounding the river have joined in to pull refuse from the river and clean up dumping grounds that later became our parks. Volunteers brought positive spirit and energetic care for the area that inspired more groups to join the effort.

With the construction of the Greenway in the early 2000s, businesses, schools and other non-profits joined the WRWC and Junior River Rangers on special projects and regular cleanups. In 2010, WRWC hosted the first official Clean Days on the Greenway as a singular event. Since then, WRWC has continued to rally annually, often right around Earth Day, to bring hundreds of volunteers together to prepare for spring. In 2015, Clean Days became a branded, year-long program. Today, we continue our efforts, large and small, throughout the year, with roots in the original Clean Days model. Group Clean Days, Friends Groups, Forest Care Days, and Watershed Monitoring Projects all take inspiration from the original volunteers of the Woonasquatucket River Watershed. WRWC volunteer efforts have become one of the largest, on-going volunteer cleanup and restoration efforts in the region.