California State Parks

The maintenance & restoration team work on various projects throughout the park.

The Living History program at Railtown participates in special events such as History Train and Tales of the Roundhouse. Volunteers also demonstrate important skills such as blacksmithing.

The Depot Dogs team sells food and drinks.

Railtown photo club take photographs and video of activities throughout the park for use in volunteer recognition, social media marketing, etc.

Wilder Ranch has a history going back thousands of years including the indigenous Uypi people, the Santa Cruz Mission Period, the Mexican-owned Rancho Refugio, Moses Meder's dairy ranch, the Wilder-Baldwin owned (and later Wilder alone) operation, and finally to it's designation as a state park. If you're interested in local Santa Cruz history, this may be the volunteer job for you! Opportunities include:

Leading tours of the historic dairy ranch

Living history events

Operating and educating visitors about the Blacksmith Shop (certification needed) 

Operating and educating visitors about the water powered machine shop and Pelton wheel

Helping with school field trips and teaching small groups of children about the ranch's history

and more! For questions or more information, contact wilderranch@ports.ca-us