Individuals and organized youth groups, such as Scouts, 4-H groups and Future Farmers of America, now have the opportunity to assist with a variety of projects in a state park or historic site to earn patches. This program is open to anyone under the age of 18.
For more information about volunteer opportunities, click here.
How the program works:
- Youth groups or individuals arrange a work day at a state park or historic site.
- Upon completion of the project, you will receive a Missouri State Parks Youth Volunteer patch.
- Each person can complete the program one time.
Projects:
Below is a list of the possible projects at each state park or historic site.
Arrow Rock State Historic Site, Arrow Rock
- Trail work
- Building maintenance (such as cleaning and treating the furniture)
- Front desk service
- Painting
- Pick up brush
Dr. Edmund A. Babler Memorial State Park, Wildwood
- Litter pickup on trails
- Deberm trails
- Honeysuckle, garlic mustard and other invasive species removal
- Maintain flower beds at visitor center (weeding, watering, etc.)
- Maintain gravel walkways around monument
- Reset gravel and landscaping stones at back of visitor center
Sam A. Baker State Park, Patterson
- Trash pickup in the swimming hole/shut-ins area
- Exotic species eradication along the bike trail and at the horse camp
- Special event assistance
- Graffiti removal from picnic tables
- Big Creek trash pickup
- Visitor center assistance
- Participate in Keep Baker Beautiful Day event
Battle of Athens State Historic Site, Revere
- Trail work on Snow Trillium Trail – general maintenance/debris removal
- Trail work on Oxbow Trail at Iliniwek Village State Historic Site – cutting small limbs and debris removal
- Sweep out six historic buildings
Battle of Lexington State Historic Site, Lexington
- Gardening
- Trimming and pruning foliage
- Splitting rails
- Staff visitor center
- Give tours of the Anderson House
- Assist with programming
Battle of Pilot Knob State Historic Site, Pilot Knob
Bennett Spring State Park, Lebanon
- Litter pickup in the following areas
Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site, Kansas City
Big Lake State Park, Craig
- Debris cleanup
- Power washing buildings
- Clean up pool and change house
- Clean up playground equipment
- Replace playground border and the level sand
- Replace boundary signs
- Clean up and straighten all park signs
- Painting
Big Oak Tree State Park, East Prairie
- Trail maintenance: Boardwalk Trail and Bottomland Trail
- Giant cane planting along the day-use area/natural area boundary
- Natural area sign replacement/park boundary sign replacement
- Lake cleanup: debris/trash removal around the lake and cleaning fishing access areas
- Painting and minor structure repair
Bollinger Mill State Historic Site, Burfordville
- Assist visitors and staff at special events
- Clean stream bed
- Clear vegetation from stream banks
- Cemetery trail maintenance
- Clean machinery in mill
- Site programming – using themes relevant to both the site and their organization
Nathan and Olive Boone Homestead State Historic Site, Ash Grove
- Maintenance on hiking trails
- Whitewashing of Boone home and yard fence
- Setup/take down/parking cars at the Homestead Days Festival in October
Bothwell Lodge State Historic Site, Sedalia
- Assist with special events
Castlewood State Park, Ballwin
Confederate Memorial State Historic Site, Higginsville
- Cleaning the headstones in the cemetery
- Policing and cleaning up the playground area
- Policing and cleaning up the Pergola site
Edward “Ted” and Pat Jones – Confluence Point State Park, West Alton
Crowder State Park, Trenton
- Spring cleaning of Camp Grand River in preparation for on-season
- Spring cleaning of enclosed shelter house for on-season
- Trail maintenance to include removal of litter, trimming of branches and informing staff of other issues
- Spring litter cleanup along park roads and along mowed areas
- Invasive plant removal
- Assistance with special events
- Visitor programming such as:
Cuivre River State Park, Troy
- Litter patrol
- Trail work – the park has 36 miles of trail
- Stewardship projects
Current River State Park, Salem
Deutschheim State Historic Site, Hermann
Dillard Mill State Historic Site, Davisville
- Trail maintenance
- Interpretive programs
Outdoor skills
Fishing clinics
Outdoor cooking
Orienteering
GPS
Leave No Trace
History - Huzzah stream cleanup
Elephant Rocks State Park, Belleview
- Braille Trail - maintenance
- Engine House Trail – maintenance
- Spring cleanup and readying the park for on-season
- Stacking wood
- Invasive plant removal
First Missouri State Capitol State Historic Site, St. Charles
Graham Cave State Park, Danville
- Spring cleanup in preparation for the on-season
- Fall cleanup at end of camping season
- Trail maintenance
- Fire line preparation
- Invasive plant removal
- Minor maintenance and cleaning
- Painting
- Visitor programming, such as:
Grand Gulf State Park, Thayer
Ha Ha Tonka State Park, Camdenton
Hawn State Park, Ste. Genevieve
- Trail work – clearing and maintaining trails
- Install logs (water bars) for erosion control in day-use area
- Litter pickup
- Paint and stain bridges/structures
- Plant willow cuttings along creek
- Build campsite tent pads
- Transplant pine trees for restoration (November)
Hunter-Dawson State Historic Site, New Madrid
- Weeding, cultivating and mulching the flower beds, herb garden and other plants and flowers in the house and office area.
Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park, Middle Brook
- Clear trails
- Build trails
- Work with recycling (sort)
- Make/set up benches for fire ring
- Gravel a walkway to the fire ring
- Make/place posts for Horseshoe Glade Trail podcast
- Ditch around mosaics
- Plant/maintain wildflower garden; includes preparing a place/bed for it
Katy Trail State Park – Western Section
Managed out of Knob Noster State Park
- Spring cleanup and readying the park for on-season
- Litter patrol
- Trail duty – walk trail and inform full-time staff of downed trees and any other problems
- Visitor Programming
Knob Noster State Park, Knob Noster
- Plant/fungus identification and utilization
- Use MDCs cookbook “Missouri’s Wild Mushrooms” to cook small meal as an example of resource available to visitors
- Use wild mushrooms found in the park
- Invasive Species Detection
- Assist with managed deer hunt
- Visitor programming
- Guided hikes – any or all trails, longer hikes could be planned with McAdoo Trail or Opossum Hollow Trail
- Equestrian Dos and Don’ts followed by a ride on McAdoo Trail
- Bicycle Maintenance 101 followed by a bike ride on Opossum Hollow Trail
- Fire building
- Outdoor cooking – Dutch oven cooking, etc.
- Orienteering – KNSP has two courses, which would be good for the patch
- GPS – could be used for a scavenger hunt
- Leave No Trace – An overnight program could be held in the Special-Use Area
- Knob Noster SP history – park’s importance to WPA era
- Spring cleanup and readying the park for on-season
- Cleaning fire rings in campground
- Removing large sticks/branches from campground area
- Detail clean specific buildings, such as showerhouses, Visitor Center, vault toilets, etc.
- Stacking wood – for park shop
- Assistance with a specific area of the park
- Special-use area: check for litter
- Lake(s): check for litter
- Group camp(s): check for litter
- Invasive plant removal, bush honeysuckle, teasel, etc.
- Minor maintenance, such as
- Trail work
- Basic maintenance/building
- Trail duty – walk trail and inform full-time staff of downed trees and any other problems
- Staffing the Visitor Center: weekends during on-season
- GPS specific themed sites of interest and create an activity associated with those sites (examples – historical tour of park or a winter GPS trail to areas off the beaten path that have some significance to the park.
- Equestrian training workshops – leave no trace, guided trail ride with cookout somewhere along the trail
- Solar energy program – or have a group build some type of equipment
- Wood working program – building animal houses, then naturalist would do a whole day of wildlife activities
- Mushroom program
Lewis and Clark State Park, Rushville
- Litter and debris cleanup on the lake shoreline and/or park grounds
- General cleanup of campground in the late fall (leaf cleanup, etc.)
- Spring cleanup and readying the park or the campground for on-season
- Stacking wood/preparing the campground for on-season
- Assistance with a specific area of the park as needed
- Invasive plant removal at the interpretive plaza, bottomland restoration area and native tallgrass prairie
- Minor maintenance, cleaning and possibly small construction projects
- Painting
- Trail work
- Waterfront maintenance
- Visitor programming such as
Lake of the Ozarks State Park, Kaiser
- Pick up trash in the campground
- Pick up trash along lake shore
- Clean fire rings in campground and Pin Oak Hollow
- Sort aluminum cans
Lake Wappapello State Park, Williamsville
- Backpack camp construction and repair existing backpack camps along the backpack trail
- Retaining wall construction and landscaping at varied locations
- Trail clearing – 25 miles of trail that could be adopted and the need to clean large amounts of flood debris off of the trails
- Landscape project to plant trees in campground and mulch around trees
- Bulletin board construction and placement – use of state park design is required
- Repaint parking stripes on park’s parking lots
- Paint jobs
- Pour a hopscotch play area at the campground
- Build some benches and have them placed at the appropriate locations in the park (Park must approve design)
- Repair seats in the amphitheater
- Roadside cleanup along the route to the park
Individual Projects:
- Produce interpretive materials to distribute to the public (for example: Design and make 1,000 buttons to give out on stopping the spread of the emerald ash borer; example 2: Design a park safety coloring book or fishing “how to” coloring book to give to park visitors)
- Visit the park during each of the seasons and help create a bird list for the park that could be put in checklist format and distributed. Observe and identify all the birds you can during your visits.
- Design and run a recycling program for our park for one full year (vacation season)
- Make a display for the park on water safety
Locust Creek Covered Bridge State Historic Site, Laclede
Managed out of Gen. John J. Pershing Boyhood Home State Historic Site
Long Branch State Park, Macon
- Assist with management of a natural area
Mastodon State Historic Site, Imperial
- Invasive plant removal
- Trail maintenance
- Assist with interpretive activities in the museum annex (mainly Saturday hours)
Meramec State Park, Sullivan
Montauk State Park, Salem
- Stream cleanup
- Trash pickup and maintenance along hiking trails
- Clean the mill
- Paint buildings
- Water flowerbeds
- Help at special events
- Eradicate invasive species
- Assist with nature programs
- Remove branches with hanging line and hooks from stream bank
- Plant native trees and flowers
Morris State Park, Campbell
- Trail maintenance: Beech Tree Trail
- Construct and place bridges/water crossings at points on the trail
- Tree planting at a small reclamation area
- Invasive plant species removal
Onondaga Cave State Park, Leasburg
- Glade restoration
- Exotic species removal
- Litter cleanup along highway
- Wildflower garden work
- Trail work
- Cave cleanup
- Assist with Haunted Cave Tours
- River bank cleanup
Pershing State Park, Laclede
- Spring cleanup of the campground – trash removal, cleaning fire rings, trimming limbs, etc.
- Spring cleanup to open the showerhouse – thorough clean inside and out
- Spring cleanup of the shelter house – thorough clean inside and out
- Clean up along the boardwalk – trash removal, trim limbs, minor maintenance, clean displays, etc.
Pomme de Terre State Park, Pittsburg
Prairie State Park, Mindenmines
- Improve wet crossings on trails with stones or other means
- Forb or grass seed collection
- Keep the picnic area cleaned up
- Monitor or do light upkeep on trail
- Catch critters for the nature center – food items for animals already there
- Pick up trash along county roads and throughout park
- Assist with Prairie Jubilee or other events
Roaring River State Park, Cassville
- Paint or stain benches
- Pick up trash
- Trail maintenance
- Campground projects
- Special event assistance
- River cleanup
Robertsville State Park, Robertsville
- Collect nuts from specific oak, hickory, buckeye and walnut trees
- Plant trees in specific areas of park
- Invasive plant removal
- Paint and waterproof park structures
- Lead guided interpretive hikes
- Assist with special events
Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, Columbia
- Invasive plant control
- Old fence wire removal
- Assist with programs if youth have applicable skills (i.e. orienteering, GPS, Leave No Trace)
- Assist with wildflower seed collection
Route 66 State Park, Eureka
- Playground and picnic area maintenance
- Trail maintenance
- Litter removal
- Downed limb removal from mowed areas
St. Francois State Park, Bonne Terre
- Assist with general maintenance
- Assist in fee booth
- Mowing and trimming
- Trash collection and removal
- Trail maintenance
- Removal of invasive yucca in fen area
- Assist naturalist with interpretive programs
- Assist with restoring glade
St. Joe State Park, Park Hills
Stockton State Park, Dadeville
- Trail construction (pending clearance)
- Lakeshore cleanup
- Clean up special-use area (remove downed wood and improve area)
Table Rock State Park, Branson
- Litter cleanup in campground and on shoreline of Table Rock Lake
- Invasive plant removal
- Trail work on the White River Valley or Table Rock Lakeshore trails
Thousand Hills State Park, Kirksville
Trail of Tears State Park, Jackson
- Litter patrol
- Trail building/maintenance
- Invasive species removal
- Interpretive programs (with appropriate training)
- Special event assistance
Harry S Truman Birthplace State Historic Site, Lamar
Harry S Truman State Park, Warsaw
Mark Twain State Park/Mark Twain Birthplace State Historic Site, Florida
- Count firewood
- Load recycled materials
- Spring cleanup of buildings and grounds
- Invasive plant removal
- Painting
- Trail work
- Staff museum
- Campsite rehab
- Vehicle maintenance(cleaning, checking fluids, etc)
Annie and Abel Van Meter State Park, Miami
- Assist at special event programs
- Do research for a temporary exhibit
- Maintain fire lanes
- Maintain trouble spots on the trails
Wakonda State Park, La Grange
- Roadway edges - litter patrol
- Trails - litter patrol and minor maintenance
- Lake shores - litter patrol
- Campground - litter patrol and minor maintenance
Wallace State Park, Cameron
- Trail cleanup – walk a trail and pick up litter and remove small branches from trail
- Day-use area cleanup – pick up litter and remove small branches from mowing area
- Color a park poster – Don’t Kill the Snakes, Please Don’t Pick the Wildflowers, Park Program poster
Washington State Park, De Soto
- Conduct programs, such as weekday youth fishing clinics, guided hikes of Opossum Track or Thousand Steps Trail, orienteering
- Plant and/or wildlife survey of the glades
- Waterline cleanup
- Pick up litter in the park
- Perform a nature play at the amphitheater (several to choose from)
Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site/Watkins Mill State Park, Lawson
- Pick up litter around bicycle trail
- Pick up litter around lake shore
- Pick up litter in campground
- Clean fire rings in campground
- Whitewash fence
- Build replacement benches for the amphitheater
- Assist with wedding heirloom garden
- Assist with the removal of invasive species
- Paint exterior trim on the school
- Build new repro privies for church and school yards
- Paint window sashes and glaze window panes in the mill
- Replace board/batten exterior siding on garden shed
- Assist with installing borders for the flower and vegetable beds in the heirloom garden
Weston Bend State Park, Weston
- Brush clearing/trail maintenance on park trails
- Installation of water bars/erosion prevention projects on park trails
- Litter pickup
- Fall campground cleanup: leaf removal, litter removal, cleaning of fire grills
- Painting of park structures
- Replacing of park fence (rotted sections)
- Painting of parking lot stripes
- Plant/ animal surveys
- Invasive species removal
- Evening campground interpretive program
- Special event setup, cleanup and activities