Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, WA – Volunteer Vacation 2024

DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT: Spend two amazing weeks contributing to the improvement of trails in Washington through consecutive Volunteer Vacations. Team up with Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge and Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge for a joint expedition. Interested in participating in two trips? The initial trip registration costs $425, while subsequent trips have a registration fee of $375 each.

Become immersed in the Ponderosa pine, wetlands, meadow steppe and riparian habitat dominated Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge. Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge encompasses over 23,000 acres in eastern Washington on the edge of the Columbia River Basin. It is in the heart of the channeled scablands and just on the edge of the Palouse-prairie step.

Volunteers will work together to do light maintenance of four existing trails and create a tread for a new connector trail. The four existing trails that require maintenance are all very flat, excluding the Kepple Overlook trail, which gains around 100 feet of elevation. The total of all four trails is approximately 1 mile (Pine Lakes, Kepple Overlook, Kepple Peninsula, and Bluebird Trail). The trail work would include trimming back vegetation from the trail edge using hand saws or loppers, scraping existing tread to widen it to at least 36 inches with hand tools such as flat shovels, hoes, McLeod’s, and pick mattocks, and possibly cutting bench into hillsides on the overlook trail. Time permitting, volunteers will work on cutting a connector trail for a connector between the Blackhorse trails. The trails are within walking distance of the visitor center or are along our 5.5 mile auto tour that starts less than 0.1 mi from the visitor center.

During this trip, Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge’s average high temperature is 59°, and average low temperature is 40°.

There is no experience needed to join a Volunteer Vacation! Your expert hosts will provide detailed instruction, tool demonstrations, and project oversight throughout the week. All you need is a willing attitude and to be in good physical condition to participate in moderate physical activity for approximately 6-8 hours a day with plenty of breaks, at your own pace. Find out more about what it’s like to join a Volunteer Vacation and other frequently asked questions here.

AHS acknowledges with gratitude that this project takes place on the traditional lands of the Spokane, Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla, Ktunaxa, and Schitsu’umsh (Coeur d’Alene) peoples past and present. We honor the land itself, the Indigenous communities who have stewarded this land for generations, their deep and sacred connection to these lands, and those who continue to steward these lands today. We offer this land acknowledgement as the first of many steps to stand as an ally and amplify Indigenous voices. We invite the American Hiking Society community to join us through continued efforts to support Indigenous communities and learn more about the history of the lands on which we live, work and recreate.

Click here for a PDF of trip details.