Thank you for your interest in OC Habitats™ (OCH). We are a grassroots nonprofit organization, founded in July 2017. We are passionate about habitat conservation and we have about 20+ dedicated volunteers. We are excited you’re interested in joining our team!
See below for our upcoming and ongoing volunteer opportunities and next steps for becoming a volunteer. Any experience or education level is welcome; we offer training for monitoring and education/outreach.
1. Habitat Monitoring (a.m. hours on Sun & Weds-Fri).
- Coastal Dune Monitoring. Monitor OC beaches, recording data on state of the habitat and species observed. OCH shares data with other partner agencies that help protect and conserve these habitats. Shift frequency depends on your availability.
2. Habitat Restoration (a.m. hours on weekends). No training required; tools are provided. Activities involve removing non-native plants, planting native plants, watering, etc.
- Marshland Conservation with Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy. Help with habitat restoration of the Magnolia, Brookhurst, and Talbert Marshes along PCH in Huntington Beach.
- Chaparral Conservation and Restoration with OC Parks. Restore the burned areas of our regional parks in Irvine, Tustin, Orange, etc.
3. Habitat Education and Outreach (weekdays and weekends).
- Beach Habitat Tour and Clean-Up. Lead beach habitat tours and do short beach-cleanups with small groups.
- Citizen Science on the Beach with OceanQuest Discovery Cube. Right on the beach, lead activities teaching about beach dune and shore habitats in partnership with OceanQuest’s ocean habitat program. Takes place on Balboa Peninsula.
- School Visits (weekdays – during school hours). Visit OC schools with other volunteers, leading habitat-themed activities.
- MPA Hike and Tidepool Exploration. Teach about the importance of the tidepools in our environment and point out different species observed. Takes place in Newport Beach at Little Corona Beach (off of Poppy), Laguna Beach (near downtown) or Dana Point (near Ocean Institute).
4. Administrative Opportunities:
- Event planning. Helping to plan events for our organization such as volunteer appreciation, training programs, and field trips
- Outreach marketing. Finding opportunities for our organization to reach a larger audience through outreach events such as speaking venues, career fairs, environmental fairs/events, and more.
- Administrative tasks. Scheduling events, programs, and monitoring shifts with public, schools, and OCH Volunteers. Provide data entry for our monitoring work and website maintenance to keep our site up to date for the public and our active volunteer crew.
- Human Resources and Volunteer recruiting. Help with finding new volunteers to work as monitors, educators, and restoration specialists for our various programs. Work with volunteers on their schedules and our programs. Help OCH develop and maintain certain protocols across our programs to provide a consistent message to the public.
Next Steps: If you are interested in any of the above programs and would like to join our team, please fill out our OCH Volunteer Application Packet and once we have reviewed, we will schedule an in-person interview. OC Habitats looks forward to working with you!
