New and Ongoing Volunteer Projects

Become a Member

Black Warrior Riverkeeper is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the Black Warrior River and its tributaries. Our full-time staff relies heavily on the dedication of our many volunteers. Volunteers founded Black Warrior Riverkeeper in 2001, and have been increasingly crucial to our advocacy and education campaigns ever since. Please see the list below and let us know which project(s) you would like to lend a hand. To sign up for a project, or to simply donate much-needed funds to the organization, please email or call Charles Scribner at [email protected] or (205) 458-0095.
Learn more at http://blackwarriorriver.org/volunteer

RIVERKEEPER “ACTION ALERT” RESPONSE TEAM
Volunteers will pledge to follow up quickly on all “Action Alert” emails that Nelson Brooke, our staff Riverkeeper, sends to our email list. Examples include signing petitions, or calling public officials about an upcoming decision that affects water quality.

RIVER CLEAN-UPS
Volunteers will help organize a river clean-up sponsored by Black Warrior Riverkeeper. Coordinating a river clean-up will include identifying the location, advertising the event, securing press coverage of the event, arranging for recycling and waste disposal, etc.

EVENT PUBLICITY TEAM
Volunteers will put up fliers on campus and town sites, in stores, etc. This will help us advertise fundraisers and educational events, and also get our name, logo, and contact information more visible in the community.

MYSPACE.COM OUTREACH
Volunteers will receive instructions about how to perform various types of public outreach to Black Warrior Riverkeeper’s 11,250+ Friends on MySpace.com, as well as to potential Friends. Black Warrior Riverkeeper was one of the first non-profits to use MySpace for education & outreach.

VILLAGE CREEK DVD VIEWINGS IN SCHOOLS
Volunteers will contact teachers in and near Birmingham about showing Riverkeeper’s Village Creek Documentary to their classes. This 10-min DVD features celebrities, local experts, and Riverkeeper staff, and spreads the word about a vital yet polluted creek.

RIVER AMENITIES RESEARCH AND OUTREACH
Volunteers will help identify and catalogue river amenities such as marinas, restaurants, camp grounds, boat ramps, etc. along the Black Warrior River and its tributaries so that Black Warrior Riverkeeper will be able to post the information on its website as a service to its stakeholders and use the information for outreach. Research will include computer and phone book research as well as research in the field to identify the amenities and to distribute outreach materials at these locations.

CREEL SURVEY NEAR POPULAR FISHING SPOTS
Volunteers will spend time at two different fishing spots, and fish if they want to – one on Valley Creek and one on Village Creek. Many people fish in these spots and we want to understand what species if fishes are being caught, how often people fish there, if they are eating the fish, if they see pollution while on the creek (if so – what type?), if pollution in the creek negatively affects them, etc.

PUBLIC OFFICIALS RESEARCH
Volunteers will help identify and catalogue public officials serving within the Black Warrior River watershed so that Black Warrior Riverkeeper will be able to post the information on its website as a service to its stakeholders and use the information for outreach to the officials.

POLLUTION PERMIT RESEARCH
Volunteers will identify zip codes within the Black Warrior River watershed and use them to run searches for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits – permitted discharges of pollution allowed by the Clean Water Act. Searches will be run on several easy-to-use Environmental Protection Agency websites. This type of research helps us identify potential polluters.

ALABAMA WATER WATCH OUTREACH TO SCHOOLS
Volunteers will meet with teachers at local elementary, middle, and high schools as wells as community colleges and universities to discuss the possibility of including a water-based curriculum in the science or biology courses. The goal is to connect more students with their local streams while teaching them how to assess water quality and habitat.

DATABASE ENTRY
Volunteers will receive important lists of people that Riverkeeper hopes to contact about pollution issues. Volunteers will type names, addresses, etc from these lists into Microsoft Access or Excel databases. Can be done at Riverkeeper office or elsewhere if possible.

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS OF NEWSPAPERS
Volunteers will choose one or more newspaper(s), whether small town or big city, and scan them daily for articles relevant to the Black Warrior River & its tributaries. After finding a relevant article, volunteers will write a letter about that article, in support of a cleaner, healthier Black Warrior River watershed. Volunteers will send their letter to the newspaper’s editor for possible publication.

RESEARCHING RELEVANT EVENTS & TABLING AT THEM
Volunteers will research similar events not listed on our website. After asking us if a given event would be good for representing us, volunteers will get materials to display/distribute there at Riverkeeper’s table.