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2024 Volunteer Program Information
Volunteers in Parks Program Information
Volunteers are vital partners supporting the operation of California State Parks. They are often the first and may be the only official representative of the park that a guest encounters on their visit. Additionally, volunteers are vital to working behind the scenes caring for our natural and cultural resources, helping maintain park infrastructure, and assisting staff with administrative tasks. Our amazing Volunteers in Parks Program (VIPP) volunteers are truly some of the most valuable resources in our parks, and without their passion and dedication to supporting critical functions, State Parks would not be able to successfully execute its mission. As one park staff member who works with volunteers recently observed “volunteers make the memories that last a lifetime.” Whether serving in a public-facing role, or working diligently behind the scenes, this sentiment is reflective of the great value our volunteers bring to our parks.
2024 Volunteer Program Overview
In 2024, 30,794 volunteers provided a total of 798,877 service hours, a nearly 2% increase over hours served in 2023. These hours carry equivalent value of over $32 million to California State Parks. Throughout the year, California State Parks’ community of excellent volunteers served in their parks in outstanding ways through their work in helping with park interpretation, visitor services, public safety, and providing for the ongoing stewardship of our natural and cultural resources.
In 2024, 5,709 individuals made long-term volunteer commitments, representing 19% of the total number of volunteers serving in 2024, while 81% of volunteers—25,085individuals—participated as short-term volunteers (typically serving three days or less). This was an increase in the total number of volunteers, rising 13.8% over the 2023 total. This is primarily due to the increase in short-term volunteer events in 2024 (the number of long-term volunteers decreased 3% while the number of short-term volunteers increased by 18% in 2024). Each volunteer’s average number of hours contributed was 38 hours, a 31% increase over 2023. This increase reflects the dedication of members of communities surrounding our parks to give back to the parks, as well as the addition of new volunteer opportunities in 2024.
Interpretive volunteer hours (e.g., serving as docents, giving tours, living history demonstrations, etc.) represented the largest category of hour contributions, which made up 26.4% of volunteer hours in 2024. This was closely followed by campground and park host hours which made up 24.4% of volunteer hours. The top three hour contributors were rounded off with special events (9.3%). Volunteer time was contributed in other ways in 2024 as follows: public contact (e.g., serving in visitor centers, staffing information tables, working in park kiosks, etc.) at 9%; administration (e.g., research, trainings, administrative support, etc.) at 9%, maintenance (8.5%); natural resource management (e.g. habitat restoration and monitoring, wildlife surveys, eradication of invasive species, etc.) at 7.3%; public safety (e.g. bike, mounted, and foot patrols; search and rescue, etc.) at 3.9%; cultural resource management (e.g. archaeological/curatorial assistance, prehistoric/historic research, site stewardship, etc.) at 2.1%; and finally, public relations (e.g. creation of social media content, press releases, building and maintaining webpages, etc.) at 0.13%.