Volunteer nature guides needed in Volcano

The Volcano Art Center (VAC) seeks environmentally minded volunteers who can devote a minimum of two hours per month, either on Saturday or Monday mornings, to guide people through a unique, historic section of native Hawaiian rain forest in Volcano Village.

A three-hour training will be held Saturday, April 28, at VAC’s Niaulani Campus at 19-4014 Old Volcano Road in Volcano Village. The session will ready potential guides for weekly one-hour “Niaulani Nature Walks,” which have been running strong every Monday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. since 2006. Guides also will be able to help lead Saturday tours, from 11 a.m. to noon, beginning in May.

“These tours provide thousands of local and global visitors a chance to experience and learn about one of the last intact, accessible examples of this forest type remaining in the entire state,” said Amanda Spaur, VAC’s natural resource specialist.

On the day of the training, attendees are offered an intensive written and oral explanation of the concepts intended to be communicated to visitors, such as Niaulani’s natural history and cultural uses of its components. After the training, attendees are encouraged to follow on more tours until they get a general understanding of the forest, a feel for the flow of interpretational information, are comfortable communicating it to groups and can commit to begin leading walks on their own.

For officially scheduled guides, VAC provides an extensive 90-page illustrated narrative further detailing the ecology and history of the forest. VAC also has a volunteer reward program based on hours accumulated annually. Registration for the training is require. Call 967-8222 or email programs@volcanoartcenter.org.