Environment Volunteer Work?

Question

I want to make a career out of helping the wildlife. Something like the fish and wildlife conservation. I'm 20 years old and have no college degrees, and no job experience. I want to go somewhere like Alaska or South Dakota and start my career by helping wildlife. I have no money. Every site i have gone to they want me to pay a bunch of money to volunteer. Is there anywhere i can go that i can make a career out of helping wildlife and not have any money come out of my own pocket?

Answer 1

These sorts of "volunteer holidays" you always have to pay for. Unless you're willing to pick up and move to Alaska and then find something once you're there, you'll most likely have to pay.

You can't make a career out of volunteering. It's easy to find work in the industry. Check out a wildlife sanctuary or even the SPCA in your area - sometimes shelters work with birds and other animals like that as well as house pets.

Answer 2

Check locally to find any groups affiliated with http://www.livinglandsandwaters.org/ .  They're not going to ask you for money to volunteer, and can give you tips for starting up an effort in your own area.  Cleaning up the environment has a major impact on native wildlife.

Answer 3

Volunteering overseas, including Africa, requires people with expertise and experience. The goal is to employ local people, not to give Westerners a learning experience.

Even most park rangers have degrees, though you do NOT have to have a degree to work for the US Park service. More information, including employment opportunities and recommended career paths, is here:

http://www.nps.gov/personnel/rangers.htm

You really should pursue a degree in biology, animal behavior, nonprofit management, etc. to pursue a career working with wildlife -- programs that are focused on such need people with real expertise and experience.

You can volunteer locally, for free, at organizations focused on the environment and/or wildlife, to learn more about careers in this field and to start gaining experience in the field. VolunteerMatch (http://www.volunteermatch.org), Idealist (http://www.idealist.org), Change.org (http://www.change.org) and CraigsList (http://www.craigslist.com) all list volunteering opportunities with thousands of organizations, many of them focused on animals. There's also this government sponsored site (http://volunteer.gov/gov/) which provides volunteer positions through USA federal land agencies like Fish & Wildlife, Forest Service, National Parks, etc.