If you want to help restore the original balance of life to the natural environments of the Blue Mountains, why not become a volunteer? Volunteers carry out a wide range of conservation tasks, including weeding, mapping, revegetating, propagating, planning, and rescuing plants and animals from urban development.
Volunteer groups are currently operating in many parts of Blue Mountains National Park. Check the events and activities below to find a time and place that suits you.
| Volunteer activity | Bellbird Reserve bush regeneration - Bellbird Reserve Bushcare group Join this group for a morning socialising and caring for this piece of bushland.
Difficulty: easy
Where: Bellbird Reserve, Bells Line of Road
Cost: free
Bookings: contact the Bushcare Officer, Penrith City Council on 02 4732 8088 More info: Penrith City Council Bushcare groups - Blue Mountains area, Phone: 02 4732 8088 | Fourth Saturday every month, from 9am to 1pm |
| Volunteer activity | Braeside bush regeneration - Braeside Bushcare group Spend a morning working with the Braeside Bushcare group to target invasive environmental weeds including Scotch broom, blackberry and honeysuckle, in the area around Govetts Leap Brook. Full training and tools are provided.
The work mostly involves bush regeneration, but also includes:
- target weeding
- planting
- remote valley work along creeklines.
Difficulty: easy
Park: Blue Mountains National Park
Cost: free More info: Braeside Bushcare group - Blackheath, Phone: 02 4787 8877 | Fourth Sunday of each month, from 9am – 1pm |
| Volunteer activity | Chain of Ponds Reserve bush regeneration, Ebenezer - Chain of Ponds Reserve Bushcare group Join this bushcare group for a morning of working and socialising to look after this reserve. It is a stronghold for Cumberland Plain biodiversity.
Difficulty: easy
Where: Chain of Ponds Reserve, Ebenezer
Cost: free
Bookings: contact the Bushcare Officer at Hawkesbury City Council on 02 4560 4525 More info: Hawkesbury City Council Bushcare groups, Phone: 02 4560 4525 | Second Saturday every month, from 9am to 12.30pm |
| Volunteer activity | Clissold Reserve bush regeneration - Emu Plains/Height Bushcare Join this Bushcare group for a morning's work helping to weed and regenerate Clissold Reserve. This is one of the many Bushcare groups organised by Penrith City Council Bushcare.
Difficulty: easy
Where: Clissold Reserve, Litton Street, Emu Plains
Cost: free More info: Penrith City Council Bushcare groups - Blue Mountains area, Phone: 02 4732 8088 | Second Saturday every month, from 9am to 1pm |
| Volunteer activity | Find It and Fix It Conservation Initiative – help locate the Endangered Stuttering Frog  Join us for critical survey work along the creeklines in the Ruby Creek Environs near Mount Werong, identifying the habitat of the stuttering frog, as well as the frog itself.
You will be trained in frog survey methods, habitat identification and adult and tadpole identification. Help us to discover the extent of the last stuttering frog population in Blue Mountains National Park, and the degree to which they are threatened by the amphibian fungus Chytridomycosis.
Difficulty: medium difficulty
Parks:
Meeting place: tba
Cost: free
Bookings: contact Jules Bros at the Oberon office More info: Oberon, Phone: 02 6336 1972 | weekends in autumn, dates to be announced |
| Volunteer activity | Green Gully bush regeneration - Carlons Creek Bushcare Group Work with the Bushcare group to remediate and improve former farmlands of the Megalong Valley which are now part of Blue Mountains National Park.
The work includes:
- site rehabilitation of ex-pastoral grasslands to native bush
- planting
- occasional remote valley work / bushwalks
- weeding.
Hours are 9:30am to 3:30pm with morning tea and lunch breaks. Many members join in a social barbecue on Saturday evening, staying at Green Gully Cabins and undertaking a bushwalk on Sunday. Full training and tools are provided.
Difficulty: easy
Park: Blue Mountains National Park
Cost: free More info: Carlons Creek Bushcare Group - Megalong Valley, Phone: 02 4787 3113 / 02 4787 7182 | Second Saturday of each month, from 9.30 to 3.30. Rescheduled if it falls on a long weekend. |
| Volunteer activity | Jenolan Karst volunteer weekends - Jenolan Landcare Group  Join a diverse cross-section of dedicated volunteers in a range of activities around Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve. Enjoy the social interaction and learn more about this unique karst reserve, while working together to improve this valuable natural asset.
The group visits Jenolan four times a year, working over an entire weekend treating cold-climate garden escapees, mainly sycamore maple trees as well as a few other exotic species. The work involves bush regeneration and target weeding using cordless drills to stem-inject trees, or the cut and paint/scrape and paint method for woody shrubs and vines.
A barbecue dinner is held on the Saturday night as well as an evening activity such as a cave tour or a spotlight walk.
Full training and tools are provided. Numbers are capped so bookings are essential.
Difficulty: medium difficulty
Parks:
Cost: free More info: Jenolan Landcare Group - Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve, Phone: 02 6336 1972 | Four weekends a year, two in spring, two in autumn |
| Volunteer activity | Save Our Swamps (the Newnes Plateau) - Swampcare Join the volunteers of the Clarence Bell Dargan Bushcare group to work across the Newnes plateau, on various swamps and other natural areas. This is a Save Our Swamps inititative.
Difficulty: easy
Where: Newnes plateau
Cost: free More info: Blue Mountains City Council Swampcare , Phone: 02 4780 5471 | Third Thursday every month, 9am to 12 noon. |
| Volunteer activity | Schoolhouse Creek bush regeneration - Schoolhouse Creek Bushcare group Join this Bushcare group and spend a morning socialising and helping to weed and regenerate this area of bush. One of the Bushcare groups coordinated by Penrith City Council Bushcare.
Difficulty: easy
Where: Schoolhouse Creek, Penrith
Cost: free
Bookings: contact the Bushcare Officer at Penrith City Council More info: Penrith City Council Bushcare groups - Blue Mountains area, Phone: 02 4732 8088 | Second Sunday of every month, from 8am to 12pm |
| Volunteer activity | Wentworth Falls bush regeneration - Valley of the Waters Bushcare Group Meet for bush regeneration work followed by a full morning tea. The work involves such activities as:
- planting
- erosion control work
- occasional events - weeding and/or planting
- brush-matting to contain and define tracks
- remote valley work along creek-lines.
People of varying ages and backgrounds are involved. Come along enjoy a healthy and social morning activity.
Difficulty: easy
Park: Blue Mountains National Park More info: Valley of the Waters Bushcare Group - Wentworth Falls, Phone: 02 4787 8877 | Second Saturday of every month, from 9am to 12pm |
| Volunteer activity | Wombeyan Caves volunteer weekends - Wombeyan Landcare Group  Join a diverse cross-section of people to learn more about this unique karst reserve, and enjoy the social interaction as you work together to improve a valuable natural asset. The group works over an entire weekend, treating cold-climate garden escapees which are mainly bird-spread exotic woody weeds. Full training and tools are provided.
The work involves bush regeneration and target weeding using cordless drills to stem-inject trees, or the cut and paint/scrape and paint method for woody shrubs and vines. A barbecue dinner is held on the Saturday night as well as an evening activity which could be a cave tour or a spotlight walk.
Numbers are capped so bookings are essential.
Difficulty: easy
Parks:
Cost: free
Bookings: essential More info: Wombeyan Landcare Group - Wombeyan Karst Conservation Reserve, Phone: 02 6336 1972 | Two weekends a year, in spring and autumn |
| Volunteer activity | Woodbury Reserve bush regeneration, Glossodia - Woodbury Reserve Bushcare group Join this Bushcare group for an afternoon socialising and helping to regenerate this area of bushland.
Difficulty: easy
Where: Woodbury Reserve, off Spinks Road, Glossodia
Cost: free
Bookings: contact the Bushcare Officer, Hawkesbury City Council on 02 4560 4525 More info: Hawkesbury City Council Bushcare groups, Phone: 02 4560 4525 | Second Saturday every month, from 1:30pm to 4:30pm |
| Volunteer activity | Yellomundee bush regeneration - Yellomundee Regional Park  The Bushcare group works from February through to December, usually one day a month. Come along for a rewarding and enjoyable morning of activity. Morning tea and lunch provided. The work mostly involves weeding, but also includes:
- bush regeneration
- planting
- Aboriginal cultural activities
- brush-matting to contain and define tracks.
Site objectives
- restorating land that is culturally significant to Aboriginal people
- education of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities about the local environment and Aboriginal values in the landscape
- bushland regeneration and improvement.
Difficulty: easy
Parks:
Cost: free More info: Yellomundee Aboriginal Bushcare Group - Yellomundee Regional Park, Phone: 02 4588 2400 | Third Sunday of each month from 9am – 12.30pm. Additional events at other times. |
