Volunteer Leaders


If you'd like to become more involved, please consider becoming a Volunteer Leader.  Lots of people are willing to volunteer but not everyone wants to lead.  Your leadership will turn ideas into accomplishments, and visions into reality

Volunteer Leaders: (1) identify needs, (2) request service projects, (3) lead service projects, and (4) report results.  

IDENTIFYING NEEDS

As a user of Sam Houston National Forest, or a member of the Sam Houston Trails Coalition (SHTC), you may notice things on the trail that need addressing.  All trails need regular maintenance to keep them safe and enjoyable, as well as repairs from storms and other events.  You can take it upon yourself to make a difference.  Talk with the Director of your User Group and other trail leaders for their thoughts and collaboration so activities are coordinated.  

Your fresh eyes and ideas will create needed change.  

REQUESTING SERVICE PROJECTS

You can start a service project by filling out the Service Project Request form.  This form goes to the US Forest Service (USFS) for review and approval.  The approved project will then be emailed back to you, User Group Directors, and USFS key personnel and Law Enforcement.  If you need to cancel your workday, email a reply to all so everyone is aware that your team will not be working in the woods on that date.

The second part of setting up a service project is selecting the Job Hazard Analysis (JHA).  The USFS requires a JHA on every service project.  This is a basic form that makes sure volunteers are aware of the hazards during the service project. You will need to print and bring this form to the service project to be reviewed and signed by all participants. 

There are different JHAs according to the nature of the work and equipment used during the service project. 

If you have questions about which JHA to choose, please contact president@samhoustontrails.com

The USFS Volunteer Certification page has more information about getting certified and the USFS Driver's License.

LEADING THE SERVICE PROJECT

As a service project leader, you will take charge and be responsible for the activities/safety of your volunteers.  

This includes:

REPORTING RESULTS

RAMBLR is the official app for documenting the service project activities and location.  Include pictures of the JHA signature sheet, the Volunteer Sign-in Sheet, and before/after pictures of each task.  RAMBLR allows for labels on the pictures and notes that helps the Forest Service and group leaders understand the work that was done.  Please include the RAMBLR link of your service project in your Volunteer Hours Submission.

Each volunteer can submit their own hours or the workday leader can log all hours for their crew.  Confirm with volunteers.  If volunteers are logging their own hours, please follow up to ensure their hours get reported.  If the workday leader is logging all hours, follow up with an emailed copy of the report to your volunteers.  As a nonprofit organization, we rely on these reports both for matching grants and to get more support.  The service project is complete when volunteer hours are submitted.