How to Volunteer at National Parks in 2025

The weather is finally warming up across the country, which means it’s time to get outdoors. There’s really no better way to do that than exploring one of the 63 national parks in the U.S. This year, you can pair your recreation time with giving back—and work toward getting free entry to the parks in the future. 

For 2025, the National Parks Service has a calendar of volunteer opportunities across the country that anyone can sign up for. This includes annual service days, like National Trails Day on the first Saturday in June, 9/11 Day of Remembrance and Service on Sept. 11, and the National Public Lands Day on the fourth Saturday in September.

Here’s everything you need to know about volunteering at a national park this year if you’re looking to get involved for the first time. 

How to find national park volunteer days

You can head to the park service website to access the volunteer calendar, which includes a searchable calendar that you can sort through by state and date. If you keep scrolling down, you can also see all upcoming opportunities, which aren’t sorted by location. By scrolling through those listings, you will find volunteer opportunities nearly every day. For instance, at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, there are volunteer opportunities every week on Wednesday and Thursday until Dec. 31, between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. 

How to start volunteering at a national park

Each entry into the calendar will include details about what is required for volunteering. Some recurring events, like the Indiana Dunes National Park’s Trash Trekker’s program, only require that you show up and check in at the visitors center, no prior sign-up needed. Other events will require you to make a reservation online or over the phone to register for the event. Many parks will have a mixture of events that require signing up in advance or that can be joined the same day. It is important to view the details in the event to make sure you have all of the necessary information ahead of time. 

Why volunteer at a national park?

In addition to being a great way to be a part of the conservation efforts of the National Park Service, there’s also a couple of more selfish reasons to consider volunteering at national parks.

The first? It can help you get free entry into national parks. Your time volunteering can be allotted toward a Volunteer Pass, which requires 250 volunteer hours on federally managed land. This pass will grant free entry to national parks and other recreation sites for 12 months after being issued.

The second reason? A lot of these volunteer opportunities will allow you to have access to information and parts of the parks you might not get to see otherwise—and what’s a more unique travel experience than seeing part of the parks most people don’t get to?