Sustainability Community Service Opportunities
A variety of community service (volunteer) activities are offered by the Sustainability Office throughout the year, which are explained in detail below. Consider joining our Connect2 page to receive periodic updates with new volunteer opportunities, upcoming events, and other sustainability-related news.
We welcome all students, faculty, and community members to join our efforts! UWW faculty, staff, and students use their Net ID to log into Connect2 and community members can create a Connect2 profile. All volunteers must complete our New Volunteer Survey and Hold Harmless form to be eligible to register for our volunteer sessions.
Please visit our Connect2 event calendar to view our current schedule and register for your preferred session times. We ask attendees to register in advance so we can communicate any cancellations.
For questions or to schedule volunteer sessions for your group or organization, please email sustainability@uww.edu. To make an appointment for groups of 5 or more people, please email us with your affiliation, group size, along with times and dates that work best for you.
Learn about plant maintenance, harvesting, weeds, and pests without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers at the UW-Whitewater Campus Garden. Whether you're new to gardening, a garden guru, or just looking to get outside and help fight hunger in our local community, all are welcome to help! Our interns will lead the sessions by providing tools and instructions for volunteers to make gardening easy and accessible.
We typically offer sessions in the Campus Garden from May through October. The Campus Garden is located between the Ambrose Health Center and Campus Bookstore on Starin Road.
We do a variety of horticultural activities in the Upham Greenhouse throughout the year, with most of the work focused on February-May. During these months we are busy preparing for the gardening season by cleaning and organizing the greenhouse as well as planting and watering seeds.
We typically offer volunteer sessions during the seed propagation schedule from February through April. We also offer sessions throughout the year as a backup option for inclement weather. Upham Greenhouse is located on the south end of the first floor of Upham Hall. The door to enter the greenhouse is at the very end of the Physics Department hallway.
Prairie seed collection helps establish or bolster existing prairie areas in the Nature Preserve, or is used to establish native plantings across the campus landscape or donated/traded with local entities to provide a more diverse seed bank using local genotypes.
We typically offer volunteer sessions from September through early November. Prairie seed collection sessions meet at the Hoffman Memorial Kiosk on Schwager Drive.
Invasive species removal of species such as buckthorn, honeysuckle, garlic mustard, sweet clover, and reed canary grass helps maintain the integrity and quality of the habitats for wildlife and student learning.
Invasive removal is seasonal based on the specific species, but typically occurs throughout the year. Invasive species removal sessions are staged in various locations, based on where the targeted species is found, and will be included in the sign up form for each planned work day.
The UW-Whitewater Sustainability Office participates in stream monitoring with the Water Action Volunteers (WAV) Program through the Rock River Coalition. With the help of faculty, staff, and students, we go out to local streams and take measurements of different variables that help determine the health of these tributaries of the Rock River. These measurements include temperature, stream flow, transparency, dissolved oxygen, stream depth, and biotic index.
We typically conduct stream monitoring three times per month between April and October at our site locations along Bluff Creek, Whitewater Creek, and Spring Brook Creek. Stream monitoring sessions leave from the Upham Greenhouse, unless otherwise noted in the event. Upham Greenhouse is located on the south end of the first floor of Upham Hall. The door to enter the greenhouse is at the very end of the Physics Department hallway.