No Ph.D Required!

Science to understand and protect Great Bay is the heart of our mission and you can help. Our citizen science programs will take you outside on the bay, helping to make science happen.

• Monitor our marshes:  Each fall, volunteers help us collect data on the health of local marshes. You’ll get the training you need and a chance to spend the day on a golden autumn marsh, collecting data that matters.  Volunteers spend half a day out on the marsh, and field days are generally weekdays in September. This volunteer opportunity is very physical, please reach out to Melissa if you have questions about the physical requirements. Must be 18 years old.
• Be an eyewitness: Enjoy hearing the first peepers in spring? Watching maples turn in the fall? Take your appreciation for nature’s calendar to the next level with a phenology walk. We’ll train you to spot signs of the season and add to a dataset we’ve been building for 20 years. Each walk takes 45 minutes and can be done any time of day all year.  Contact Melissa to set up a training walk with an experienced volunteer.
  
• Horseshoe Crab Monitoring: Contribute to the knowledge and management of Great Bay’s horseshoe crab population by conducting spawning surveys.  Volunteers walk pre-marked transects while counting horseshoe crabs. There are 6 sites around Great Bay, and each site is monitored once a day for all of May and June-that is over 360 volunteer slots to fill!  Volunteers sign up for sites and shifts that work with their schedule.  All training is provided, please see the training flyer for details about 2026 training.

Contact Melissa Brogle for more information. Or get the process started by filling out an application!