Help Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument recover from a recent fire
Update: This event is full and there is currently a waitlist. See other available trips
Join us May 1-4, 2025 to build erosion control structures in a burned area of the monument.
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument encompasses 1.8 million acres of desert canyons, colorful cliffs, and forested plateaus in southern Utah. In July 2024, the Deer Springs Fire burned approximately 11,766 acres of pinyon and juniper woodlands, gambel oak stands, shrublands, and ponderosa pine within the monument.
Although fires in these ecosystems are natural, we can give the land a helping hand toward recovery.
On this trip, we will work under the guidance of the monument ecologist to create erosion control structures using natural materials. These dam-like structures will trap sediment in gullys, reduce erosion, help reestablish vegetation, and help heal the local watershed.
Who can sign up?
Many of our trips are family friendly! Please see our FAQs for more information or email us with questions about particular trips.
Membership is optional, but we ask that participants who are comfortable financially become members of the Grand Canyon Trust with a $25 donation. Members receive a subscription to our biannual print magazine, The Advocate. Please contact us if you have any questions. You’ll also need to submit your volunteer application form to secure your spot on the trip.
Note: Due to uncertainties and staffing interruptions in federal agencies, we cannot guarantee that all of our projects will move forward as scheduled. As we learn more, we’ll keep you updated. Thanks for your understanding and patience.
What to expect
We’ll fuel up with coffee and breakfast in the mornings and spend our days gathering local materials and creating erosion control structures. If time permits, we will visit areas where vegetation is returning and identify plants to aid monument managers in their efforts to ensure a healthy recovery of the landscape.
We’ll return to camp in the evenings for free time, tasty appetizers, delicious dinners, and stargazing. We’ll hear from Bureau of Land Management partners and Grand Canyon Trust staff about conservation work and ways to stay involved after the trip.
On the last day, we’ll finish any remaining field work, break camp, and head home.
Accommodations
We will car camp a short drive away from our project site. The Trust will provide water, a full camp kitchen, and a camp toilet.
The Trust provides: All meals, snacks, field equipment, tools, and training.
Participants provide: Personal transportation to the site, individual camping gear, coffee mug, lunch container, work clothes, work gloves, wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, rain gear, and clothes for warm days and cold nights. Please come prepared.
How to sign up:
- Select “SIGN UP,” and follow the prompts.
- Check your email for further instructions.
- Send in your volunteer application form for the year.
- Become a member of the Grand Canyon Trust.
- A Trust trip leader will confirm your spot.
Questions? Email volunteernow@grandcanyontrust.org
Trip packing list
Our gear list will help you prepare. We can loan some items on a first-come, first-served basis. Contact us for details.
Frequently asked questions
Curious about logistics, the food you'll eat during the trip, or the difficulty of the field work? Check out the frequently asked questions.
7 perks of volunteering with the Trust
When you volunteer with the Trust, we make it worth your while. From eating good food, to learning new skills. Find out the perks of volunteering.
Public health considerations on volunteer trips
Our top priority is the safety and comfort of our trip participants. Precautionary measures that will be followed on trips to avoid the spread of communicable diseases will be communicated in pre-trip emails. If we feel that a trip cannot be safely conducted due to public health conditions, or for any other reason, we will cancel the trip with as much notice as possible. Volunteers or participants may reach out to volunteernow@grandcanyontrust.org with any questions.
The Grand Canyon Trust is committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion at every level of our work. The conservation field and the Colorado Plateau have their own histories of racial injustice and exclusion and as a largely white organization, we know we have work to do. We are actively working to make the conservation field and the Colorado Plateau more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive. Read the Grand Canyon Trust’s justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion statement
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