RECRUITING & SCREENING

Want to access our network of incredible volunteers?
We recruit and screen volunteers as part of our full project management service or as a standalone service if you prefer to train and manage volunteers yourself.

REQUEST A CONSULTATION

1. Planning

We’ll work with you to determine your specific field support needs for data collection, including:

- Number of volunteers needed
- Length of volunteer commitment
- Outdoor skills such as whitewater kayaking, rock climbing, mountaineering, backcountry skiing, backpacking, diving, etc.
- Previous data collection experience, or knowledge of science or conservation
- Safety skills such as wilderness first aid

You will get a proposal detailing our shared findings, along with a scope of work and budget to meet your needs.

2. Recruiting Portal

- Once the scope of work is agreed upon, Adventure Scientists then builds a website for each project, including:
- Summary information and a requirement checklist for volunteers
- A volunteer application, with screening questions
- Tracking through our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system

Check out our Timber Tracking project for an example of what your website might be similar to:

SAMPLE VOLUNTEER PORTAL

3. Recruiting & Screening

Adventure Scientists recruits volunteers from our existing network of outdoor enthusiasts worldwide, using targeted recruitment, ambassador influencers, social media, local outreach and other strategies.

Our staff, having become well-versed in your project, reviews each applicant against a rubric customized to your needs. We follow up with clarifying conversations when necessary to ensure each volunteer we recruit meets your requirements to carry out the data collection.

Case Study: Saguaro National Park

To assess the health of the park’s signature cactus species, the National Park Service needed 45 volunteers capable of hiking ten off-trail miles per day in rugged desert terrain. The volunteers also had to be comfortable camping for almost a week at a time. The NPS selected our Recruiting service – we recruited and screened the volunteers, and their staff trained and managed them.

“Compared to our typical volunteers, [Adventure Scientists’ volunteers] were excellent in the field, good on their feet, and very fast learners. We got a tremendous amount of work done [in areas] that I had been reluctant to bring other groups to. This group of volunteers did it easily.”
— Don Swann, Biologist, Saguaro National Park

Volunteer Spotlight: Cycling for Wildlife and Human Lives

Emily Hammel (left) was leading a teen biking trip across the country in 2013 when their group was struck by a driver distracted by texting. One of her students, 18-year-old Merritt Levitan, was killed. At the time, Emily didn’t know if she could face biking again. Now she rides regularly for TextLess Live More, an awareness campaign about distracted driving created by Merritt’s friends and family. Emily always looks for ways to make her cycle trips meaningful. As an Adventure Scientists volunteer, Emily and her friends Conor O’Brien and Matt Duncan rode up to the 10,000-foot-plus crest of Beartooth Highway near Red Lodge, MT to collect wildlife sighting and roadkill data for our Wildlife Connectivity project. The trio made data collection part of a week-long bike tour on the anniversary of Merritt’s passing. “It felt like our journey had a bigger purpose,” Emily says. “We were not only getting to be outside in that beautiful environment, but supporting scientists and research committed to preserving that environment for all its users — bikers and wildlife included.”

Volunteer Spotlight: Protecting Forests from Illegal Logging

Canadian writer and artist Claire Dibble paddled a handmade kayak 750 miles from the Columbia River’s source to sea, collecting western redcedar samples that will help combat illegal logging as part of our Timber Tracking project. “I became a treehugger, if I wasn’t officially one before,” Claire said. “I would seek out mature cedars, and then hug each one as I wrapped a tape measure around the trunk to record circumference. I also collected leaf, core, and cone samples. I hope to have more opportunities to contribute and not just consume.”