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Bush Heritage staff member“The thing I enjoy most about working with volunteers is the satisfaction we all get from achieving something together as a team.”
Volunteers are at the heart of Bush Heritage’s mission. Whether on the ground at one of our reserves or supporting our team remotely, volunteers contribute their skills and passion to vital conservation efforts.
On-Reserve, volunteers help with a wide range of activities, from land management tasks such as fence removal, weed control, and ecological monitoring, to maintaining the reserves that serve as critical habitats for Australia’s native species.
We also offer opportunities for volunteers to contribute from home and from our offices, helping with research, administration, and data analysis. While these roles are less frequent, they're essential to the smooth operation and success of our organisation.
Every role, whether on-site or from a distance, is invaluable, and we’re deeply grateful for the time and energy our volunteers dedicate to our cause.
Opportunities are available across select reserves and are often guided by specific needs and skill sets. Volunteering isn't always about availability—it's about finding the right match between your skills, the work required, and the conditions of our remote and beautiful reserves. Below, you’ll find details about where you can volunteer, the types of work offered, and prerequisites to consider before applying.
Hear from Scottsdale Reserve Manager Phil Palmer and a crew of volunteers who, over seven years, helped plant over 40,000 trees.
Just 75 km south of Canberra, Scottsdale is one of our most accessible reserves and offers regular volunteer placements. Activities include nursery work, track maintenance and weed control. Affectionately known as 'The People's Reserve', volunteers have been critical to restoration works, as heard on our podcast, Big Sky Country.
In the video below, long-term volunteers Tony and Meredith Geyer discuss their involvement and attachment to Boolcoomatta Reserve in the arid rangelands of South Australia. Placements often involve hard physical work such as brush packing scrub into erosion gullies to slow the flow of water, or winding up barbed wire to remove pastoral fences and allow wildlife free movement across the landscape. The rewards include time on country with wonderful staff and fellow volunteers, as well as a sense of contributing to something meaningful.
Our Volunteer Advisory Committee is a team of self-nominated volunteers from across the nation. They give us a user's perspective in the review of our volunteer systems and processes.
The committee also supports the development of new and inspiring opportunities to engage volunteers.
Each placement has specific needs, and we aim to match volunteers to the right opportunities. Before submitting an expression of interest, consider:
