Touch of Nature Environmental Center, Illinois – Volunteer Vacations 2022

Touch of Nature Environmental Center hosts experiential education programs that utilize the many natural resources on and around its 3,400 acres located in beautiful Southern Illinois. These programs offer opportunities for all people and focus on traditional outdoor activities, environmental education, and adventure pursuits. Touch of Nature is currently working to create 15 additional miles of trail to the existing trail system in Shawnee National Forest. This project includes maintaining existing trail with actions such as brushing, clearing water bars, and retreading eroded surface. The main component of this project, however, is helping to clear and bench cut the new sections of trail on Touch of Nature Property. Project days will require 1-3 mile hikes to work sites, while carrying packs and tools. Potential projects include cutting tread and adding drainage features, rock gardens, and established berms. This project will provide a great opportunity for trail building education and experience. All trail building instruction and tools needed will be provided on site through Touch of Nature’s trail staff, making this an excellent project for first-time volunteers.

AHS acknowledges with gratitude that this project takes place on the traditional lands of the ?????? ???? ???? ??^??^(Osage), Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, O-ga-xpa Ma-zhoⁿ (O-ga-xpa), Myaamia, Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo), and Kaskaskia peoples past and present. We honor the land itself, the Indigenous communities who have stewarded this land for generations, and those who continue to steward these lands today. AHS invites all volunteers to join us in our commitment to support and amplify the work of Indigenous communities as they work to dismantle the systems of oppression that these communities continue to face today.