Volunteering with the North East Rangers

Last year, volunteers and groups supporting the NE Ranger Service contributed a total of 2,080 hours of service – this is exactly equal to one full working year of time (calculated at a 40-hour week x 52 weeks per year).

And it’s not a one-way benefit. A great many of our volunteers have been with us now for several decades, which must be testament to the unique set of outcomes that come from volunteering – and quite possibly from volunteering outside in our beautiful countryside.

Life is about making memories, and the most vivid memories are those laid down in pleasant surroundings with pleasant people. This thought was in mind when our 90-year-old Conservation Volunteer Alistair recently ‘retired’ (although our door is always open). When asked, over a cup of tea, what his favourite memories were, he struggled to put one above all the others but recalled our Conservation Days.

There are others whose tenure has been as long. In those remembered days, the sun is always shining ... even if it was raining. And it is the legacies of such conservation days that remain – I remember planting that tree; do you remember we put that bench in? Do you remember how we dug a hole to put the legs in and it was nothing but boulders, so we dug another hole? And so it goes on. Often, the memories are sweeter if the achievement came with a challenge.

Our Conservation Volunteers do a remarkable breadth of jobs. From tree-planting to removing protective tree tubes that are no longer required, to putting non-slip chicken mesh onto boardwalks and taking it off when it gets worn; from invasive species control to pathwork, painting waymarkers, meadow cutting – the list goes on and on. These are all things that visitors are grateful for too, and it is an added benefit to hear them thank us as they pass!

Our Ranger Volunteers also acquire skills applicable to the job, whilst helping our team at the same time. Fiona has recently carried out ecological surveying, a skill that is transferable elsewhere. She has innovated with novel deadwood tree-protection structures and set up schemes for monitoring bracken density. She has learned skills for work, skills for her own life, and an increased knowledge of the environment and appreciation for the work that goes into conservation.

Another volunteer has contributed to structure repairs, bringing his already impressive knowledge of countryside management, and feeds into a national monitoring survey by surveying the local heronry. As the days go by, the achievements accumulate and the environment we live in prospers. And it’s not all in the great outdoors – we have a volunteer who is digitising boxes and boxes of notes, correspondence and reports that exist only on paper in the office.

Going back to Alistair, there is another output to volunteering: being proud of achievements rubs off. It rubs off on paid staff, other volunteers, and even passing visitors. It’s like ripples moving outward, making the whole community feel better about itself and the work to improve the world.