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Volunteers play an essential role in successfully operating Armand Bayou Nature Center's unique wildlife refuge and wilderness preserve. If you want to help preserve the environment by sharing the wonders of Armand Bayou's habitats with others, the Nature Center offers a multitude of opportunities to volunteer. Lead a night-time Owl Prowl or a morning trail hike. Participate in farm demonstrations at our Fall Festival or help raise funds through the Silent Auction at Bayou Boil. Or learn more about our habitats through outstanding educational programs. There is a place for you at Armand Bayou.

And it's fun! You'll meet people like you from all walks of life--people interested in helping to preserve the habitats with which we have been entrusted.

Join our over 200 volunteers who keep our Nature Center up and running! If you'd like to get started right away, you can receive specialized training through our mentor program. Not sure where you'd like to begin? Give us a call at 281-474-2551 and we will be happy to explain your many diverse and life enhancing opportunities. Complete the volunteer enrollment form and come by the office today!

“For individuals desiring a deeper educational or stewardship experience, the Nature Center offers a variety of volunteer opportunities. Volunteers are trained on how to utilize their skills in nature education, interpretation, conservation and operations, and how to share their interest and experience s with others. Their talents and enthusiasm make the volunteer corps an integral part of ABNC, without which many programs or tasks could not be accomplished.”

Armand Bayou Nature Center main site.

How to Log Your Volunteer Hours

It is important for all volunteers to log their hours. Here are five great reasons why you should log your hours and the steps it takes to sign up and start logging them today!

Bayou Interpretive Guides

The mission for our Bayou Interpretive Guide (BIG) program is to "Reconnecting people to nature by forging emotional and intellectual connections between the interest of our guests and the values of our resources."

The BIG program is optional for anyone of our volunteers that have public interaction. The program is scheduled quarterly and will help us to understand the importance of making the connections with our guests, and focusing on the overall mission statement of Armand Bayou Nature Center. This would include Trail Guides, Farm Life Demos, Natural History Demos, Outreach, Deck Hands, and maybe even Guardians of the Gardens. There will be certain requirements for anyone looking to receive the BIG patch.

Please check your calendar for the next BIG meeting.

Plants of Armand Bayou

Lyman Brown has put together an excellent compendium of plants that grow at the nature center in four volumes: cultivars, wild plants, trees and shrubs, as well as grasses and sedges. He has made these available as PDF downloads for all volunteers or other people who may be interested. If you happen to notice any errors please let Lyman know (lymanbr@comcast.net).

• Cultivated Plants (12.5 MB)
• Wild Plants (39.3 MB)
• Trees and Shrubs: Web Version, PDF Version (21.7 MB)
• Grasses and Sedges (7.4 MB)

Latest Newsletter

Check out the latest Bayou Foliage, our volunteer newsletter, under the docs tab after you login.

Monthly Volunteer Meetings

Monthly meetings are held the 2^nd Thursday of each month excluding June and July. These meetings are a great opportunity to meet fellow volunteers for networking and socializing.

We meet at 6.30 pm for a 30 minute social with snacks and drinks donated by individual volunteers on a monthly sign up basis. At 7pm we give out notices of upcoming events and then introduce our speaker for the Month. Topics are varied and are usually announced in the week preceding the meeting, check the calendar for more information. We take a short break at 8pm and then wrap up with any business that needs to be discussed and voted on.

Please accept this invitation to come along and join our growing ranks of volunteers. Suggestions for speakers are greatly appreciated! If you have a suggestion for a speaker contact the chair or another member of the volunteer committee.