Get Involved

Volunteer With the NPCA

Group of individuals plant tree into the ground

FIND A DOWNLOADABLE LIST OF VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES HERE


Why Volunteer

  • Learn a new skill and meet new people;
  • Support local conservation projects;
  • Get outdoors and enjoy some physical activity;
  • Share your knowledge and skills with others;
  • Earn community service hours for your high school diploma;
  • Gain job experience and training.

Who Can Volunteer

  • Individuals;
  • Co-op students;
  • Community groups;
  • School groups;
  • Corporate groups.

Register to be a volunteer

Volunteer Opportunities

Camp Leaders

Camp Leaders (18 years and over) and Junior Leaders (12–17 years)

Enthusiastic volunteers needed to assist with running NPCA's Outdoor Adventure Day Camp programs!

Two locations to choose from---Ball's Falls Conservation Area or St. John's Valley Centre in Thorold. Camps run July to September, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Now, let's talk incentives:

  • Gift cards or NaturePlus Pass for reaching certain hours
  • Reference letter
  • Recognition at annual volunteer appreciation event
  • Highschool volunteer hour sign-off
  • Meet new people, learn new skills, engage with nature and stay active

Interested applicants can email volunteering@npca.ca. Don't miss out on this great opportunity, email us now!

Education/Heritage Program Assistant

Demonstrate heritage skills and knowledge to students. Assist in educational programs with school-aged children. Dates vary depending on bookings, typically week days.

Nature School Leaders

If you are enthusiastic and outgoing, we would love to have you help with hikes, guided tours, activities and nature crafts at new Ball's Falls Nature School. Note: Vulnerable Sector Police Check required. 

Gardening/Site Maintenance

Assist with keeping the gardens at Ball’s Falls looking beautiful.

Assist with site maintenance, garbage clean-up, and general duties at Binbrook Conservation Area.

Special Events

If you are an enthusiastic and outgoing, we would love to have you help with our many events and fundraisers! Volunteer opportunities range from activity centre presentations at Niagara Children’s Water Festival to being part of the recycling team at the Thanksgiving Festival.

Niagara Children’s Water Festival

Be the activity lead for water education. Educate children in grade 3 & 4 about water conservation and other water related topics.

Note: groups of 30+ secondary school students are required each day of the Festival.

Ball's Falls Thanksgiving Festival

Assist with heritage tours, volunteer hospitality. Volunteer opportunities for the Festival will depend on the nature of the event.

Site Maintenance

Assist with site maintenance, garbage clean-up, and general duties around the park. At Binbrook Conservation Area.

Glanbrook Conservation Committee

Become a member of the Glanbrook Conservation Committee and assist with exciting projects at Binbrook Conservation Area, including bird box monitoring, trail maintenance, special events, and habitat improvement.

Marsh Monitoring Surveys

March to July

Survey the frogs and toads or marsh birds at several of the Conservation Areas and surrounding areas. Three site visits required. Volunteers learn and record the calls of these animals at set locations. Materials will be provided to assist with frog call identification training.

Niagara Turtle Watch

Help monitor selected turtle road crossings. Check and record turtle road use, species and status. Assist turtles crossing where safe.

Angler Diary Program – Tell us your Fish stories!

Join the Angler Diary Program. Receive a fish journal and track the fish you catch throughout the year, in the Welland River and Twelve Mile Creek. Return your Diary to the NPCA in December to enter to win great prizes.

Niagara Children’s Water Festival- HELD AT BROCK

Be the activity lead for water education. Educate children in grade 3 & 4 about water conservation and other water related topics. * Note groups of 30+ secondary school students are required each day of the Festival.

NPCA Community Ambassador

(18 years or over)These volunteer jobs are ideal for people who would like to work with us on a regular basis. Throughout the year, many different opportunities will become available so check back often. Training will be provided for these positions.

NPCA Trail Ambassador program

This is a great program for families or a group of two or more individuals. Hike the trails at NPCA Conservation Areas and help us to learn where there are hazards, vandalism, cool wildlife sightings, and opportunities to improve our trails

If you are interested in volunteering with the NPCA, please send an email to our volunteer coordinator, Kerry Royer kroyer@npca.ca or call 905-788-3135 x234.



Yellow Fish Road

The Yellow Fish Road program is a nation-wide environmental education initiative launched by Trout Unlimited Canada in 1991.

Thousands of Canadian youth have participated in the Yellow Fish Road program to learn about their water supply and the impact their community has on clean water. Participants remind their community of the importance of clean water and properly disposing of hazardous wastes by painting yellow fish near storm drains and distributing fish-shaped brochures.

Since the program’s inception in 1991 Youth Groups all over Canada have:

  • distributed 1 million fish hangers
  • marked 100,000 storm drains across the country with 60,000 volunteers participating

Yellow Fish Road™ is effective because children reinforce the knowledge they have gained by taking action to help ensure clean water in their community. Yellow Fish Road has been initiated internationally – including countries like the US, Australia and Scotland.

What is a Storm Drain?

Stormwater is the water from rainstorms or melting snow that drains into catch basins or storm drains. Storm drains or catch basins are located along the edges of roadways. Rainwater is collected by the storm drains and flows in an underground pipe system exiting via an outfall into local creeks, streams, rivers or lakes. Water flowing over lawns, driveways, gardens, roadways and sidewalks picks up debris and flows untreated into the storm drains.

Why is Yellow Fish Road important?

In most municipalities, water and materials entering storm drains do not get filtered at a water treatment plant before entering our streams and rivers. Unlike the drains in our sinks and toilets, stormwater drains directly into the local waterbody.

Here’s How it Flows:

  • Non-point source pollution is pollution spread over a large area, like storm water runoff. This type of pollution is hard to trace and is the largest contributor to urban water pollution.
  • Hazardous materials, such as pesticides, soap, motor oil and fertilizers that enter storm drains will end up in our streams and rivers. This can create an unhealthy environment for aquatic animals, such as fish.
  • Hazardous household wastes can also affect water quality and result in unsafe drinking water in our homes.

Why Yellow Fish Road?

Fish, and in particular trout, are a remarkable indicator species. Trout can act as the “canaries in the coal mine”. Once trout are unable to frequent an area, it is an indicator that the water in that area is unsafe for human use.

How does the program work?

The Yellow Fish Road program is a fun, participatory way to teach the importance of clean water and to demonstrate how decisions made by one person can make a difference to a whole community. The program has two components:

  • Learning: participants find their local water supply then explore how hazardous wastes can find their way into this water source.
  • Action: participants “make a difference” by painting yellow fish near storm drains to serve as a reminder that any materials entering the storm drain affect our water sources. Participants also distribute “fish hangers” on doors in the neighbourhood to educate the community about their actions and the rationale behind Yellow Fish Road™.

The impact of this program can be enormous. If the Yellow Fish Road™ prevents one person from pouring a litre of paint down a storm drain this directly benefits the community’s water source for drinking water, commerce, and recreation. It also provides tremendous benefits to animal and aquatic species who use the river for food, shelter and reproductive purposes.

What’s next?

Choose a neighbourhood along with possible dates for painting and contact the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority.

The NPCA coordinates the Yellow Fish Road™ program on behalf of its partners, the Cities of Welland, St. Catharines, Thorold, Niagara Falls, Port Colborne, the Towns of Pelham, Lincoln, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Grimsby and Fort Erie, the Townships of West Lincoln and Wainfleet and the Regional Municipality of Niagara.

The NPCA will provide further information, equipment and advice on how to organize your Yellow Fish Road day. For more information, email Kerry Royer, at kroyer@npca.ca

Native Plants & Trees

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority is committed to using native trees and shrubs at community engagement and outreach projects such as community plantings, green corporate initiatives, and internal and external events.

Every year, more than 150 species of plants and animals become extinct globally. By incorporating natural areas on your property, pollutants are filtered from the surface, erosion is reduced, flooding is slowed and water can keep flowing in our creeks and streams throughout the year. Your efforts to improve and protect local water quality, will help protect wildlife populations and species diversity for future generations.

If you are interested in hosting or participating at a community planting, partnering with the NPCA on a new project, or are a corporation looking for green ways to give back to your community, get in touch with our Community Engagement team at kroyer@npca.ca.

How To Help Local Pollinators

What is a pollinator?

A pollinator is an insect, mammal, or bird that helps carry pollen from the male part of the flower (stamen) to the female part of another flower (stigma). Pollination is the fertilization process of many plants that allows them to produce fruits, seeds and young plants. Local pollinators include bees, butterflies, moths, bats, and birds. There are as many as 150 different species of bees found in the Niagara Peninsula, and approximately 400 species in Ontario, including mining, leaf-cutter, bumblebees, tiny sweat bees and carpenter bees. Approximately 75 per cent of flowering plants depend on pollinators, including many of the fruits and vegetables we eat. 

Gardening for Pollinators

Pollinators, like most living things, need shelter, food and water. Some are specialists and only feed on specific species of plant, while others are generalists. The best way to attract pollinators to your garden is to plant a diversity of native plants – various colours, flower shapes, blooming times and species.

Native plants are indigenous to a specific area, have evolved there through thousands of years of changing geological conditions which have shaped their physical features and biology. This natural evolution makes the use of native plants ideal for local climate and environmental conditions. Because of this, they do not require additional watering and thrive without the application of pesticides and fertilizers. They are the best and most desirable food source for local species of pollinators and other wildlife.

You can attract pollinators by establishing a pollinator garden, or simply by adding native plants to your existing garden, water garden, potted display and even your vegetable garden. Leave flower stems and leaf litter in the garden over the winter to provide shelter for insects. Wait until there is no danger of frost to clean out the garden in the spring. If you are applying mulch to your garden, leave some areas of bare soil for solitary ground nesting bees.

To find a local native trees, plants, and shrubs supplier, visit the Watershed Health page.