Volunteer Opportunity with DFW

The DFW Wildlife Section is soliciting mature reliable volunteers to work with us as part of a Wildlife Volunteer Corp.

The Wildlife Section is looking for dedicated people who would like to become a part of the conservation wildlife work that is going on with endangered species in the CNMI. Currently the division has two dedicated volunteers that have worked with the Division since 2001 on the Managaha Shearwater project. They have been invaluable in ensuring that this monitoring program continues. Currently, the Division would like to expand it’s volunteer corps by recruiting volunteers to work on the Mariana Swiftlet Project.

Mariana Swiftlets are endemic to the Mariana islands, an endangered species that live in caves. They once occurred on Rota but were extirpated in the 1970’s. There is a very small population of Mariana Swiftlets in Guam on the Naval Magazine.

The Division conducts surveys 2 times a year of Mariana Swiftlets at their caves while they enter in the evening. This survey is part of a long term (13 years) Mariana Swiftlet monitoring program.

We are looking for a few people to donate 2-4 evenings (about 4 hours each) two times a year, in April and October to assist wildlife staff in counting swiftlets at their caves. We would like to have volunteers by October 2005 so they could be trained by apprenticing with wildlife staff. We want volunteers who feel they could make a commitment for several years as training requires additional time and effort that would be wasted if there were not a few year commitment.

Interested persons can contact Laura Williams at 323-6003 or 483-9453 or by email at lwilliams@itecnmi.com.

Please feel free to pass this along to individuals who may be interested. Thanks!