Conservation Volunteer (Environment Team - South Oxford)

Canal & River Trust; Banbury; On-site; GBP 10,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

Join Canal & River Trust as a Conservator Volunteer and contribute to vital ecological projects along the South Oxford Canal. This role involves various tasks like maintenance, restoration, and volunteer support, helping to improve local environments while gaining new skills and enjoying the outdoors.

Benefits

Spending time outdoors

Learning new skills with potential accreditation

Keeping fit

Meeting new people

Being part of a supportive team

Seeing improvements to your wellbeing

Qualifications

• Willingness to learn new skills is essential.
• Ability to travel to remote locations required.

Responsibilities

• Day-to-day maintenance of the environment.
• Heritage restoration and environmental enhancements.
• Creating new access points.

Skills

Willingness to learn new skills

Ability to travel to remote locations

Job description

Want to learn new skills and help improve the ecology along the canal? Join us on the South Oxford Canal today as part of a team that will work across our area from Claydon to Oxford. We will be planting native plant species, laying and maintaining hedges, and doing work for ecologists. Help us look after our nature reserves and conservation zones, and protect our wildlife on the waterways.

Our Conservator Volunteers help to tackle some of our toughest issues on the waterways, ensuring as much of the canal is accessible and well maintained as possible. Each year we face new challenges in managing our increasingly popular space, and your support as a Conservator Volunteer will help us achieve our goals in keeping canals alive.

Why we want you

Our Conservator volunteers help to maintain our network, carrying out important heritage and nature conservation activities as well as everyday tasks to improve the local environment such as painting or litter picking.

Some tasks are carried out regularly, while others are project-based, such as rebuilding a section of stone wall or conducting mass planting, allowing different volunteers to contribute in various ways.

What you will be doing

1. Day-to-day maintenance
2. Heritage restoration
3. Graffiti removal
4. Environmental enhancements such as hedgelaying
5. Creating new access points by building or improving steps or ramps
6. When registering as a volunteer, we will ask about any unspent convictions which you need to declare and assess the risks accordingly.

The skills you need

• Willingness to learn new skills
• Ability to travel to remote locations

What's in it for you

• Spending time outdoors
• Learning new skills (some with external accreditation)
• Keeping fit
• Meeting new and friendly people
• Being part of a supportive team of colleagues and volunteers
• Seeing improvements to your wellbeing