Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteer with Flathead Rivers Alliance

Over 300 volunteers generously donate together over 1,750 hours of their time to programs and events each year, on the three forks of the Flathead River. Every river season, demand for our volunteer opportunities grows, as does the need for community to actively boost stewardship, education, and citizen science. Summer volunteer opportunities include: serving as River Ambassadors at river access sites, floating on the river collecting river recreation/citizen science data, water quality monitoring, pulling noxious weeds, and cleaning trash from river corridors.

Interested in Learning More?

Interested in volunteering this river season or during the river “off-season”, but would like more information or have questions?

Complete the Interest Form below!

Are you or your group interested in volunteering for a one-day stewardship event? Tap on button below to learn more about our annual stewardship event offerings.

Become a
FRA River Ambassador

Do you love connecting with people and spending time at the river? We are looking for 30-40 volunteers to serve as River Ambassadors. Join our River Ambassador team and serve as liaisons with the public at popular river access sites along the Three Forks of the Flathead Wild and Scenic River. All we ask is a minimum commitment of four 2-hour volunteer shifts between Memorial Day and Labor Day. This summer volunteers will help:

• celebrate outstanding remarkable values of the river system;

• provide safety, ethics, and etiquette tips;

• offer information on river rules and regulations;

• reference maps to suggest floats;

• collect access site user related information;

• offer loaner life jackets through our partnership with MT FWP;

• and more!

If you are interested in being a FRA River Ambassador we will offer information sessions in the spring and training sessions in coordination with Flathead National Forest, Glacier National Park, and Montana FWP and outfitters throughout the spring and summer to onboard volunteers.

Become a FRA Citizen Scientist

In collaboration with Flathead National Forest and Glacier National Park, we’re piloting a citizen science river recreation monitoring program. If you enjoy floating the river and have a desire to be an active stakeholder while doing so, this volunteer opportunity is for you. Stakeholders are trained to conduct river recreation use monitoring using a Survey 123 mobile data collection app. This tool allows trained volunteers to collect river user, wildlife, and invasive species data as they float the river. Data collected will enhance data sets that are collected by agency partner river patrols and help us have a better understanding of where to focus education and resources.

WHY MONITOR
Flathead Rivers Alliance seeks volunteers to help with water quality monitoring efforts on the North and Middle Forks of the Flathead Wild & Scenic River. We all seek a better understanding of impacts that an increase in river users, population, and changing climate trends will have on the river corridor. Gathering baseline monitoring data will also help our stakeholder groups determine how to focus nonpoint source pollution education and outreach, and where and how to expand monitoring. Monitoring runs May through October.

TRAINING PARTNERS
Thanks to a grant from Montana Monitoring Waters (MMW) we are honored to host Dr. Rachel Malison, Jared Glass, and Brianna Elizondo from Flathead Lake Biological Station’s Montana Montana Waters program to lead the May 6th citizen science training.

Interested in Learning More?

Interested in volunteering this river season or during the river “off-season”, but would like more information or have questions?

Complete the Interest Form below!

Flathead National Forest, Glacier National Park and Montana FWP have and continue to be instrumental in assisting with training and providing education materials for our volunteer programs. Programming is made possible through partial funding from National Park Foundation, Flathead National Forest, Flathead County Resource Advisory Committee Title II Project funds, Whitefish Community Foundation, river community, partners, and donors.