Volunteering Outdoors
Multi-Day Volunteer Stewardship Opportunities
Do you love the outdoors and volunteering? Do you enjoy challenging yourself to try new experiences? Do you love free trips? Are you a college student looking to explore new places while gaining valuable skills and making new friends?
Alternative Break is for you!
Volunteers conduct vital work on the ground to heal, protect, discover, experience, and connect with the outdoors. We invite young adults and college students (ages 18 and older) to participate in showing love to Nevada's outdoor places through multi-day stewardship projects known as “Alternative Breaks.” Together we can keep our public lands and wilderness areas maintained and sustainable for all to enjoy for years to come!
Upcoming Events
Join one of our upcoming Multi-Day Opportunities!
There are no upcoming events at this time. Please check back later.
What is an Alternative Break?
Alternative Breaks are a great way to get to know some of Southern Nevada’s wildest places and help the environment! Alternative Break trips are multi-day adventures (up to 5 days) for young adults and college students (ages 18 and older) who are interested in conservation and stewardship. Participants engage in meaningful work on the ground with other community members to heal, protect, and explore our shared wild places.
No Experience Necessary
These trips are fun, rewarding, and a great way to meet new friends. Alternative Break trips are open to people of all outdoor skill levels. Beginners are encouraged to attend and discover your “inner-outdoors” when we cover camping basics, hiking tips, and more. Daily meals are provided, as well as camping equipment for those who need it.
Explore & Learn
Participants will get to explore the places we’re working to protect and learn how to make a difference in our environment from local experts. These experts will join us for engaging talks about the local natural history, culture, or geology.
Alternative Break trips always include a day set aside for exploration. Participants will go home with a feeling of accomplishment and a deeper connection to our public lands.
What to Expect
Alternative Break trips include a variety of stewardship projects and educational opportunities.
Day projects can include:
- restoring damaged wild lands
- digging post holes
- removing litter
- improving infrastructure like trails
- installing boundary barriers and signage
This work involves the use of hand tools like shovels, buckets, rakes, and a variety of trail stewardship specific tools like pick-mattocks, Pulaskis, McLeods, and more. No prior tool experience is necessary.
Community Partner
Get to know our partner!
Friends of Nevada Wilderness have been connecting people with public lands in Nevada since 1984. Their Alternative Break program is over a decade old and is the Southern Nevada office’s flagship stewardship event. Friends of Nevada Wilderness Staff are dedicated to making the Wilderness accessible to everyone and are passionate about empowering individuals with the skills and knowledge to enjoy and care for their wild public lands sustainably and safely.
Friends of Nevada Wilderness has hosted Alternative Spring Break trips since 2012 with anywhere from 13 to 24 volunteers for a grand total of 150 Alternative Break participants donating over 6,000 service hours!
Past Projects
Check out what we’ve been up to!
