About US
The Watershed Volunteer Program (WVP) is an effort to engage community members in an array of active management projects to improve watershed conditions. Participants can create their own adventure in watershed stewardship from a range of community events and independent projects offered, including:
- (L)earning sessions
- (R)estoration projects
- (M)onitoring activities
Volunteers also have the option to pursue a Watershed Stewardship Certification.
Where to Begin
- Subscribe to our bi-weekly e-newsletter.
- Apply to be a volunteer with Cleveland Metroparks Volunteer Services.
- During your interview express interest in WVP to get onboarded.
- Join us at an upcoming event. We offer a range of activities, venues, days and times throughout the year to fit a variety of volunteer schedules and interests.
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What is A Watershed?
A watershed is the area of land that drains into a common body of water, such as a river or a lake.
Watersheds are the places we call home, where we work and where we play. What you and others do within your watershed impacts the quality and quantity of water and other natural resources. Healthy watersheds are not only vital for a healthy environment, but also for a healthy economy. Water from all rivers and streams in Cuyahoga County flow into Lake Erie. Lake Erie is not only the source of our drinking water, but it also provides us with recreational and economic benefits.
Every watershed is different. Watersheds are as diverse as our landscape and are formed by many unique shapes and areas containing natural and man-made features. Watersheds may be hilly or they may be flat. They may have cities, farms, wetlands, woodland and even deserts. There are about 25 watersheds in Northeast Ohio including the Cuyahoga River, Rocky River, Chagrin River and many subwatersheds and direct Lake Erie tributaries. Each watershed has its own unique characteristics and water quality issues.
What is Watershed Stewardship?
Watershed Stewardship is the responsible care of our natural resources and wildlife on a watershed scale. As watershed stewards we work to balance human and economic needs against the needs of our natural environment. A healthy environment ensures that we have clean water and a healthy ecosystem. Watershed Stewards are caretakers of our environment and watershed stewardship can look different for each of us as it fits within our current lifestyle.
If learning more about water and natural resource conservation in order to serve our local communities through volunteering and outreach excites you, then you will make an excellent Watershed Steward! This program will provide many opportunities to do satisfying volunteer work in an exciting field, have access to current information on environmental conservation, and meet lots of wonderful people. We are excited to be offering this program and working out of the Watershed Stewardship Center to enhance and protect our urban watersheds through regional participation in watershed issues.
The Work that We Do
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(L)earning | (M)onitoring | (R)estoration | (S)upplemental Events & Watershed Wednesdays |
| Learning events are a primary event type where we focus on broadening and sharing our knowledge of watershed health and science. Events include workshops and presentations from water resource professionals, researchers, and volunteers as well as outreach events where we inform the public about WVP and watershed health. | Monitoring events are a primary event type where we make observations and collect data that helps prioritize future management decisions. Events include chemical, biological and physical monitoring of streams. | Restoration events are a primary event type where we restore and care for a natural site or a green infrastructure practice. Example restoration opportunities include native seed collection and cleaning workshops, invasive plant removal, streamside and wetland restoration projects, and green infrastructure maintenance. | Learn about our local watershed groups, network with local watershed professionals, and connect to get more involved with watershed partners and collaborators. |
Watershed Stewardship CERTIFICATION
WVP offers a Watershed Stewardship Certification for registered volunteers who participate in a total of 10 hours of primary events, with at least 1 event in each event category:
- (L)earning
- (M)onitoring
- (R)estoration
Certification presentations take place every few months at a primary event to recognize your hard work.
Who We Are
Established in 2012 with support from the Ohio Environmental Education Fund, and currently in partnership with Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, WVP is a Cleveland Metroparks Natural Resources volunteer program. Over the life of the program, more than 2,500 volunteers contributed 36,000+ hours and 352 became Certified Watershed Stewards.
Our volunteers are a group of community members that are passionate about connecting, monitoring and restoring our watersheds - all while having fun. Hear more from our volunteers!
The WVP staff includes Program Coordinator Sara Corrigan with seasonal support and is overseen by Stream Restoration Ecologist Elizabeth Hiser.
Questions? Still not sure where to get started?
- Attend one of our public events to see if WVP is a good fit for you. See a list of events here.
Check out more program details here.
Contact us at [email protected].