Volunteers Needed for 2010 Spring Field Season

CFWEP is seeking volunteers for spring field trips running from March 2 through June 1, 2010. Volunteers provide support on field trips with middle and high school students and teachers. Volunteering requires no previous experience (CFWEP will provide field science training), it is a great way to learn about the Montana outdoors and the restoration of the Clark Fork Basin, and you will be helping future generations to become stewards of western Montana's amazing environment.

For a complete list of spring volunteer opportunities, click here to view the full schedule (MS Excel format). To register as a volunteer, or to learn more, contact CFWEP Field Coordinator Dr. Arlene Alvarado at aalvarado@mtech.edu or call (406) 496-4862.

Get Out on the River:CFWEP Seeking Spring Fieldtrip Volunteers

We are looking for watershed experts and interested local citizens to serve as fieldtrip leader volunteers for our school visits.

Spring 2009 Semester School Fieldtrips: 7th Grade
Thursday, April 23rd: Anaconda Middle School @ Anaconda
Thursday, April 30: Ramsay School @ Ramsay (7 & 8th grade)
Thursday, May 7th: Philipsburg School @ Philipsburg
Thursday, May 14th: East Middle School @ Butte
Friday, May 15th: East Middle School @ Butte
Friday, May 29: Deer Lodge School @ Deer Lodge (8th grade)
All fieldtrips run ~8:30am – 1:30pm

Fieldtrip Volunteer Training
Thursday April 30, 2009 -- 5 – 6pm
Location: Montana Tech Student Union Building
Hear what CFWEP is, learn about our school visits and gain the ability to be a fieldtrip leader using our protocols. Not required to be a volunteer, but will help you immensely. RSVP advised.

Additional opportunities available. To RSVP for training or for more information:
Jen Titus, CFWEP Field Coordinator
496 - 4691, jtitus@mtech.edu
Montana Tech Petroleum Building Room 003

Seeking Volunteers for Willow Cutting

CFWEP, in collaboration with the Butte-Silver Bow Arts Foundation and the National Folk Festival, are seeking volunteers to assist in gathering willow cuttings in the Butte area that will be used as art materials for Family Area Activities at the 2008 National Folk Festival in Butte on Saturday and Sunday July 12 and 13. We will provide volunteers with all necessary equipment and transportation to cutting sites. Volunteers are also welcome to come to willow cutting events at any time during the two scheduled cuttings (i.e. you don’t have to be there all day- if you can pitch in for an hour or two, we would appreciate it!). Site locations are To-Be-Announced. To sign-up, or for more information, contact Justin Ringsak, CFWEP, 406-496-4897, jringsak@mtech.edu. Thanks!

Willow Cutting Dates:
Monday June 16, 2008, Noon-5pm
Monday July 7, 2008, 2:30-5:30pm

Volunteers of the Month Marko Lucich & Tom Malloy

Ahoy, CFWEP followers! The program is pleased to announce its newest honoree as Volunteer of the Month. First of all, let’s be clear, the “of the month” designation has lost its punctuality, and even though we will continue to call it our “VOM” award, it will be given out on a more “every other month” basis. The “Volunteer of the Every Other Month Award” just doesn’t have a great ring to it, though, considering this is coming from the already unwieldy acronym “CFWEP.”

This month, the CFWEP has decided to give our prestigious award to two individuals for the first time. Congratulations to the Butte Chamber of Commerce’s Marko Lucich and Tom Malloy of Butte-Silver Bow City-County as Co-Volunteers of the Month!

Marko is the director of the Butte Chamber and has graciously provided his Visitors Center on George Street, free of charge, as a first-stop for visiting classrooms to The Mining City, not to mention the headquarters for the CFWEP’s volunteer training workshops. Marko also gives the CFWEP the key to the Berkeley Pit Viewing Stand, allowing us to bring students to the area’s favorite Superfund site all through the year.

Tom is an environmental engineer and the Reclamation Manager for Butte-Silver Bow City-County. Tom has been volunteering with the CFWEP in various capacities for the past few years. Particularly, in the last few months, he has arranged for two middle and elementary school classroom visits to the Anselmo Mine hoist house and mine yard, hosted an environmental studies group from Billings on a tour of Butte restoration sites and, most recently, spent a day in the field with 75 Butte seventh graders on Silver Bow Creek, no easy feat for anyone.

The CFWEP greatly depends on the expertise and cooperation of professional scientists like Mr. Malloy and the flexibility and generosity of local citizens like Marko and his organization in order to successfully continue its educational endeavors with the youth of the Upper Clark Fork Basin. Thank you very much, Tom and Marko!