Immersive Volunteer Ranger

If you have a passion for the outdoors and are looking to gain experience of countryside management this is a fantastic opportunity. You could be volunteering alongside the small ranger team helping to care for a beautiful stretch of the Cornish coastline. 

By getting involved, you could… 

• Develop and learn new skills; including creating and maintaining existing countryside furniture. 
• Gain practical experience in managing a variety of habitats.
• Have an opportunity to volunteer with other departments and properties to gain a broader understanding of the work of the Trust.
• Develop communication and public engagement skills through social media, public presentations and interaction with tenants and the wider public.
• Get involved in a range of biological and structure surveying procedures.
• Learn about the challenges facing a countryside property within a complex, national charity.
• An opportunity to gain an understanding of the work of the Trust
• An opportunity to develop skills and gain experience that will be of use to you through your personal development
• Have an opportunity to live and volunteer in an area of the country with amazing landscapes and its own unique culture
• To be able to undertake the volunteer role, training is given that also gives the volunteers recognised qualifications in land based operations

What’s involved? 

You'll volunteer as part of a small close-knit team of rangers in a glorious part of south east Cornwall. With training and guidance, you’ll be side by side with everyone else volunteering to complete a multitude of tasks. As time passes and your confidence and competence increase there will be opportunity for development, this will be discussed and planned through a series of regular catch up discussions. Although staff and volunteer ranger roles are different, we are very much one team and so all volunteers will have the opportunity to attend meetings and contribute to those team meetings if they want. The role will cover most aspects of countryside management, including but not limited to, habitat conservation, infrastructure maintenance, public engagement, survey tasks and relative aspects of compliance and Health and Safety. 

You’ll also get an understanding of how the Trust operates and its current goals and strategies relating to Land, Outdoors and Nature. 

A considerable asset here in SE Cornwall is the diversity of habitats and landscapes on offer so the role will involve tasks across a number of sites including woodland management on Semi Natural Ancient Woodland (SNAW) and Plantations on Ancient Woodland sites (PAWS) and woodland creation on former agricultural land. Also, coastal grassland management and monitoring on coastal slopes across the portfolio, species rich grassland restoration within an organic farming system and wood pasture creation. 

This role will suit you if you are … 

• Passionate about wildlife and conservation
• Outdoorsy, whatever the weather is doing
• Keen to volunteer with people and animals
• Looking to gain experience volunteering in the countryside management sector
• Looking for a detailed and immersive experience of the National Trust or the sector
• Interested in understanding how we care for our places at National Trust over time
• Interested in volunteering for up to 12 months

Extra Information 

• We’ll help you get to know South East Cornwall, how you can help and how you will volunteer with the rest of the team – with induction and training
• We provide equipment and training to be safe and confident in your role
• We can provide accommodation to facilitate you being able to complete this role
• We cover certain out of pocket expenses when discussed and agreed in advance inline with our NT expenses policy
• You will have the ongoing support of the staff rangers during your volunteering
• The time commitment and volunteering pattern is flexible and can be tailored to individuals requirements through discussion.

Due to the remote location access to personal travel would be useful however all transport that is essential to partake in the opportunity will be covered.