Opportunities From: Tennessee State Parks

Invasive Species are threatening our worlds biodiversity!

Join Big Ridge State Park in our efforts to thin out invasives that threaten our ecosystem! Meet Park Staff at the Park Office between 9am to 4:30pm and a Park Ranger will assist you with where to find and eliminate invasives species in our area.

If you do not know how to identify invasive species we especially encourage you to come out so we can teach you!

With the help from our Community we can really make a difference!

Volunteer to help clearing and maintaining trails throughout our new trails on Camp Hazlewood. Please e-mail the coordinator Brandon Baker at Brandon.Baker@tn.gov to set up a date and time to volunteer.

Volunteer Campground Host: Volunteer who is assisting in hospitality and maintenance functions in the campground and other park operations, and facilitates the recreational experience of the state park visitors. Duties may include but are not limited to: Camper orientation & information, Light maintenance, reporting inappropriate activities or potential maintenance hazards, park programming and collection of fees and sales. Host agrees to exercise hospitality towards campers and are visible representatives of the state park during their frequent interactions with the public. Host is required to volunteer for a minimum of 20 hours per week for no more than 9 consecutive months. 

Volunteer to help on the Park and provide much needed help while earning hours needed to complete required community service required for Tennessee Promise eligibility status.

Service hours can be completed over multiple volunteer days.

Contact the park office for more information on current park needs 731-641-4465

Indian Mountain State Park is known by its visitors as a beautifully maintained park. It takes a lot to keep the park pristine for present visitors, much less improve it for future ones. Volunteer assistance is always appreciated here at Indian Mountain, so we offer a variety of opportunities year-round. Volunteers are always welcome and can help with general maintenance, picking up trash, invasive plant removal, gardening, and so much more! If you have something you would like to do at the park with specifically, let us know and we will see if we can make it happen! Whether you are assisting for one hour or eight, your contributions would make a difference here at Indian Mountain!

Please contact the Ranger on duty at 423-566-5861 in advance during business hours to coordinate scheduling.

Need some volunteer hours? Just want to be a great steward? We appreciate your help no matter what!

Assist park staff in picking up litter, returning equipment to storage buildings and other general clean-up activity after large scale events. Volunteers should be able to lift up to 50 pounds and walk two miles of park roads and parking area perimeters. 

On February 22nd report to the gift shop booth on Raccoon Creek Road.

Purpose: The purpose of the opportunity is to create a monitoring system for our trails that can provide quick repairs and improve safety on the trail. It allows volunteers to provide important information to park rangers of trail issues, or safety risk on our trail that needs immediate attention. 

When: You can do this at your own leisure. No set time or trail for this. 

Where:  All trails

What to do: Hiking one or multiple trails and either reporting issues or fixing issues yourself. Examples of issues that you can fix are clearing debris of trail such as lose rocks, tree limbs or other items that may impede your hike and removing trash/litter from trail. Examples of issues that you would report would be, down trees over the trail, hazardous trees, bridges broken/not operating correctly, trail markers missing, and any hazards you think should be reported to a Ranger. (Trash pick up is better during the spring on trails next to lake. When spring rains bring the lake back up. Down trees are all year but more severe during winter and early spring)

After your hike please report your hours back on here this gives you credit and allows you another confirmation that the hours were completed if you need volunteer hours. It also allows state park to keep track of volunteer hours at our park and throughout the state. After you report your hours please email Justin.Vaughn@tn.gov about details of your hike. Be as detailed as you possible can about the issues you encountered, such as what trail you were on,  approximate location, size of trees, and how severe you think the issues is. You can even send photos of issues to this email if you want. All this informations makes park staff better prepared for the trail issues which saves time, money and makes for quicker fixes.

Experience: Basic hiking experience and trail knowledge

Questions: Contact Park Ranger Justin Vaughn

Our State Parks are beautiful and unique places that should be enjoyed by everyone. Unfortunately, trash and litter always seems to make its way into the parks as well and sometimes there just is not enough time in a day to clean it all up. We need your help to keep the park beautiful and in return, you will earn volunteer service hours and a feeling of accomplishment.

This is an ongoing opportunity for community members and those who need volunteer hours to assist with clean-up duties throughout the park in areas with high levels of debris and/or litter. Trash bags and gloves will be provided to you by the park. Sturdy, closed toes shoes are required for this opportunity. All minors must be accompanied by an adult. 

Please contact the site supervisor to schedule your visit. Each participant must sign a liability waiver before volunteering to receive credit. 

This is Ground Zero for Grounds Heroes! A pre-cursor to our Adopt-a-Trail program, this is an opportunity to get some trail clearing experience while helping out your friendly neighborhood TN State Park!

Our Discovery Loop is 4.5 miles of beautiful woodlands and wetlands, broken up into 6, color-coded sections that make planning trail maintenance much simpler. Our 2-mile Initiation Loop, created for us by the Trail Trippers, is a more difficult-to-hike trail that even has some reforestation opportunities.

Come out and help T.O. Fuller Rangers and Maintenance clear our trails of fallen limbs and trees, cut back encroaching foliage, and pick up any litter that may have accrued. We will usually target 2 sections of the Discovery Loop or half of the Initiation Loop in a given day. We will provide water, but please bring a refillable water bottle.

(p.s. Our next dates are September 14th and September 15th.)

Are you interested in volunteering at Pickwick Landing State Park?  Contact us today to schedule a volunteer time!

Email Interpretive Ranger Rachel Boothe to set up a time to volunteer at rachel.boothe@tn.gov

If you are interested in volunteering with our Birds of Prey, particularly in their care and the care of their aviaries, this is the PERFECT opportunity for YOU!

Any and all things Disc Golf related.

General course maintenance, cleanup, assistance with projects, and support.

The Duck River Disc Golf Club has on-going tasks available to support the park and the creation of a new course behind the park cabins. Please use the email attached for further information. 

This is an ongoing opportunity for those who are volunteering at the park to satisfy their Tn Promise hours outside of specific volunteer events . Work tasks include, but are not limited too: River bank and Road way clean up, Trail work, cleaning, and natural resource management.

 This is an ongoing opportunity for those who are volunteering at the park outside of specific volunteer events for hours towards educational, scholarship, or community service. Work tasks include, but are not limited too: River bank and Road way clean up, Trail work, cleaning, and natural resource management.

Are you interested in helping at Tims Ford State Park?  Your help may be needed with day to day activities around the nature center and the park's programming animals.  Just reach out to us and we can set you up volunteering with a task that fits you just right!

See you soon!

We have a multitude of container and traditional gardens leading up to and surrounding the Miller Farmstead. Over time, we'd like to convert each of these plots into arrangements of native and traditionally-relevant perennial plants that will provide eco-services to local wildlife and be beautiful to look at for our visitors. 

We are currently recruiting regular service volunteers to adopt small garden plots to maintain on a regular basis. Maintenance can be as little as tackling weeds in an existing plot for half an hour twice a month during the growing season, or as much as designing appropriate plantings and working with staff to renew a bed from start to finish.

This is an opportunity where experienced gardeners can work relatively independently, but we are happy to provide training and direction to inexperienced gardeners where needed. Bring your own tools and gloves, or use ours. 

If you'd like a smaller project to manage that will make a big difference and be seen and enjoyed by millions of visitors, we welcome your help. 

Volunteer activities throughout the year such as Christmas lights, Easter egg Hunt, Fishing Rodeo, Frontier Days, Jr. Ranger, etc.  

This event will be held on the first sunday of every month, with the goal of keeping Rocky Fork's trails and creeks free of litter.  Meet Park Ranger Cory Franklin in the campfire interpretive area, from there we will either go along the road or up Rocky Fork trail in search of litter.

Rocky Fork has the cleanest water of any tributary in the Nolichucky River Watershed. With 2,000 acres of park land surrounded by 8,000 acres of National Forest.  We aim to keep Rocky Fork prestine and would love to have your help!

Gloves and trash bags will be provided but feel free to bring your own supplies.  

All ages welcome! 

Interested in history or have experience with historic preservation? Are you needing volunteer hours to receive or maintain a related certification? Roan Mountain State Park is in the process of researching and cataloging holdings into our newly established park archives. We are looking for volunteers to assist with preservation and archival activites.

Shifts are flexible and will be scheduled as volunteers and park staff are available. Activities will include coordinating as a team to carefully move objects (which may be both heavy and delicate), bending, reaching overhead, climbing a step ladder, and more. 

For more information, please respond to this opportunity. Ranger staff will contact you to discuss what you are interested in contributing and to coordinate further. 

This is for individuals to keep track of hours they volunteer on the MTB trail project for days other than organized trail workdays. Individuals who use this registration have obtained approval by Ranger staff

* Volunteers are required to make contact with Ranger Staff prior to working on the trial. If individuals work without contacting Ranger staff, they will be asked to leave. 

Please Contact Ranger Jesse Jewell for further information @ (931) 494-6660 or jesse.jewell@tn.gov

Completing any task such as clean up, new nets, or area management of the course

Do you love State Parks? Do you love giving back to your community? Join us at Big Ridge State Park to make a difference. Big Ridge is always welcoming volunteers for park ground clean ups, trail monitoring, weed eating, and lots more. If you are interested, please contact Big Ridge Park Office at (865)-992-5523 to see how you can help!

TN Promise Hours 

Friends group varies volunteer work 

Work hours completed on horse trails 

The Dave and Louisa Miller family came to Ripshin Mountain in 1870, having leased the land from General John T. Wilder. Over the following 90+ years, 3 generations of Millers lived a subsistence farming lifestyle characteristic of those who populated the lands that now comprise Roan Mountain State Park. Throughout the warmer months, park interpreters offer tours of the Miller Farmstead to share the story of Roan Mountain's pre-park history. 

We are seeking volunteer tour guides who are interested in telling the story of the Miller Farmstead to park visitors. Interested volunteers must be able to:

Tour volunteers have the option of dressing in period clothing, subject to site manager's approval. 

Tours are offered to the public daily through October, and volunteer schedules can be flexible. If you have an interest in helping us fulfill our park's historical mission by hosting tours at the Miller Farmstead, we welcome your assistance!

The Miller Farmstead was built in 1908 and is preserved as a reminder of the communities that populated these mountains in the early 20th century. The farmstead is open for daily tours from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day and weekends through October. Because of staffing limitations, we rely on volunteer service to support our farmstead programs.

We are seeking living history enthusiasts to demonstrate historic crafts, farm work & trade skills at the farmstead. If you have an interest in historical research, costuming, and skills, we'd love to help you develop a living history program to deliver at the Miller Farmstead this summer.

All living history programs at the farmstead are subject to site manager review and should be centered on early 20th century subsistence farming and regional history. 

Are you a farm kid at heart? Want to get your hands dirty for a good cause? Many hands make light work and we need more hands!

The Miller Farmstead is on the National Register of Historic Places because it represents the history of Appalachian subsistence farming. The farm features an early 20th century farmhouse and outbuildings, a (retired) horse, chickens, native and ornamental gardens, orchard, and composting operations. 

We need general assistance with a variety of projects, including:

If you'd like to help with routine maintenance at the farmstead, we'd love to have your help and we will work with you to schedule service hours at your convenience. If you have a specific relevant skill (fencing, landscape design, historic home maintenance) you'd like to offer, please let us know. 

Description/Purpose: We are looking for an enthusiastic individual who is an avid and experienced gardener to help us maintain our historical kitchen and herb garden here at Cordell Hull Birthplace during the summer of 2023! As a volunteer gardener, you will assist in maintaining the historical outdoor kitchen and herb gardens so we can inspire and delight visitors with quality plants and teach them the history of the site through these gardens.

Responsibilities: Work with park rangers and other seasonal staff to maintain our historical kitchen and herb gardens adjacent to the Hull Birthplace Cabin.

Required Skills/Tasks: Watering, weeding, tilling, able-bodied, and willing to teach and learn, willing to take guidance, enjoy being outdoors, advanced gardening knowledge is preferred.

Time Commitment and Schedule Details: We are open seven days a week from 9AM until 5PM, we are flexible on the days you are able to come and the hours you are willing to volunteer. This volunteer opportunity will be ongoing from mid-May until the end of September.

Additional Information: Being flexible and able to work in various gardens. Water, gloves and tools will be provided by the park, but feel free to bring your own if you'd like! Be sure to wear appropriate/comfortable clothing and call the park office at 931-864-3247 if you are interested or have any questions!

Do you have a need to complete community service or volunteer service to fulfill a requirement?  Respond here to show availability so our staff can notify you of upcoming available hours and opportunities.  Projects may include:  trail work, trash clean-up, limb and stick pick-up, playground mulching, and more!

We can always use an extra set of hands around Harrison Bay State Park! If you need volunteer hours for scholarships, graduation, fraternity/sorority obligations, etc. please let us know! Reach out to John.Radford@tn.gov, Matthew.Vawter@tn.gov or Candace.Edwards.Daniels@tn.gov for more information.

Trails need continued maintenance.  Tims Ford State Park has many miles of trails that have to be kept in good shape.  This is an ongoing need.  If you would like to volunteer to do trail maintenance please reach out to the park and we will set you up with a needed trail maintenance task.  Thank you in advance!

Miscellaneous volunteer work tasks including: weeding, invasive species removal, trash pick up, citizen science data collection, or help with special events. 

Contact Ranger Stephanie to volunteer. stephanie.mueller@tn.gov or 865-333-8270