Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Thank you for your interest in supporting Florida’s state parks by becoming a volunteer! 

We have a robust and diverse volunteer program, and we’d be delighted for you to become a part of these efforts. You can find more information on our Volunteer at a Florida State Park page. 

Volunteer categories include:

• Individual volunteers visit a local state park or parks to do their volunteer activities, which might be scheduled on a daily, weekly or monthly timeframe based on the volunteer’s interests and availability. Some individual volunteer opportunities can be done from the comfort of your own home. This category of volunteers is open to school age through retirement age. Individual volunteers do not reside on state park grounds, but commute to the park from their residences.

• Resident volunteers live in their own camping rig on a campsite provided by the park for free in exchange for at least 20 hours of volunteer service per week. Camp hosts are a subset of this category. These volunteers focus their work on helping maintain the campground facilities in parks with that amenity. Campground hosts answer guest questions, help with maintenance and are available for late-night emergencies. Resident volunteer assignments vary from four weeks to a maximum of 16 weeks in a single park. View a list of state parks that offer resident and camp host opportunities. Positions are highly coveted, so keep the following in mind:
  • Inquire about volunteer positions early. State park staff often book their winter season volunteers as far as two years in advance. The parks advertise volunteer needs and position openings at http://volunteers.floridastateparks.org/ under the “Opportunities” heading.
  • Most parks, regardless of location, need campground hosts in the summer season.
  • Coastal park openings are very competitive. Parks in the interior of Florida often have more openings. It's a good way to get started volunteering as a campground host.
  • Frequently, there are more opportunities from April through October. November through March is a very competitive season for campground hosting opportunities.

• Group Volunteering occurs when a group of people organize a stand-alone service day to provide assistance to a particular state park. The groups might be members of a business/corporation, a religious organization, a civic service club, Scouts, a community organization or participants in a family reunion. Group projects might include beach cleanups, trail maintenance, special event assistance, invasive plant removal or park improvement projects. There are several ways we can approach your group’s volunteering interests:
  • We can create a single day of service statewide (at multiple locations, if desired) so that your organization members across the state can contribute to their local state park. We’ve even done this for large corporations with 39 offices in 20 state parks for 900 people. 
  • If you know of specific locations where you are interested in volunteering, we can identify the local state park and volunteer manager  to assist with setting it up. 
  • We have annual days of service such as Earth Day (April) or National Public Lands Day (September) where parks will host groups to accomplish priority projects.
• Submit a Group Volunteer application online at https://volunteers.floridastateparks.org/ under the “Applications” menu bar item.

State park volunteer coordinators list specific volunteer needs on the opportunities board. Check out this list to see if any of the options interest you. Contact the park’s volunteer coordinator through the ranger station telephone number.

If you are in the process of completing one of the applications accessed at our Volunteer Portal, make sure to list your particular parks of interest as places where you might like to volunteer.

We ask that every potential volunteer complete an individual application. You will submit your application, and they will submit one for themselves, using a different email address. This way, when entering your completed volunteer hours in the future, we will know exactly how many hours you have personally completed. 

In order to link the two of you together, you will list any other people who will be staying in the camping rig with you, and they will do the same on their application. 

We also recommend that you list the same state parks of interest in your applications.

Once you are in our system, the best tip is to contact the parks for which you applied and ask for the volunteer manager. You can update your application in the system at any time and select a park or parks. Your application will be emailed directly to the volunteer manager(s) at the first park that you select. Then follow-up with a phone call. Think of it as an informal interview about the parks’ openings. Each park keeps its own schedule and selects its hosts based on their park needs. When calling, be patient yet persistent as our staff work in the field. Park phone numbers are listed on the parks’ web page. 

Pro Tips:

• Browse opportunities and apply directly to those of interest to you. The parks advertise their current openings at http://volunteers.floridastateparks.org/ under the “Opportunities” heading.
• Coastal park openings are very competitive. Parks in the interior of Florida often have more openings. It’s a good way to get started volunteering as a campground host.
• There are frequently more opportunities from April through October. November through March is a very competitive season for campground hosting opportunities.

The list of state parks with campground host and park resident sites, Applicant User Guide, the overview of volunteering in Florida State Parks, opportunities and applications to directly to those opportunities are located on the Volunteer Portal.

The https://www.floridastateparks.org/ website functions are best used in conjunction with the Chrome or Firefox browsers, not Internet Explorer.  Go to the Florida State Parks Volunteer Portal https://volunteers.floridastateparks.org.  Click on “Forgot Password?”

Then follow these instructions:

• Enter your User ID (your complete email address).
• Click Send reset code – this will send a code to your email address on file. (Check your spam/junk folder if the email doesn’t appear in your inbox.)
• In the Volunteer Portal, enter your User ID and the reset code.
• Create a new password (do not use special characters e.g., @#&).

In the future, you can change your password from the Volunteer Portal home page. If you are currently volunteering at a Florida State Park, your park’s Volunteer Coordinator can also reset passwords and is always happy to assist you.

You are welcome to use any standard camping equipment as a volunteer if it fits the campsite requirements that our park guests must follow. 

This means that you could have up to two tents on a campsite or an RV/travel trailer and a tent. You’re also welcome to set up a screened or unscreened canopy on your campsite.

People of all ages may volunteer at Florida State Parks. Youth/minors are 17 years old and younger. People of ages 14 to 17 years old can volunteer provided that the work does not pose a threat to their health or safety, violate federal or Florida child labor laws or the parks’ youth/minor volunteer policy. A parent or legal guardian must give written consent before they volunteer as part of signing the Volunteer Agreement.

Youth/minors age 13 years and younger must be accompanied by a parent or guardian or participate in a group service project when part of a youth organization.

Check with the park regarding their youth/minor policy and opportunities for group service projects. Park phone numbers are listed on the parks’ web page at Find a Park.

Yes, you are welcome to apply to become a Florida State Park volunteer. To apply, go to the Volunteer Portal. User Guides are available to assist you.

Please note, however, it is your responsibility as the potential volunteer to know what your country and/or United States visa/immigration laws allow while working in the country. Depending upon your origin, duration of stay and other factors there may be some restrictions on working/volunteering. There may also be additional border restrictions due to the pandemic.

Canadian citizens do not require a visa to enter the United States for short term visits except for certain situations. In general, international visitors can volunteer in the United States when you are here on a B1/B2/Border Crossing Card for citizens and residents of Mexico and for some other nationals of countries that are covered by the Visa Waiver Program. There may be other restrictions.

A significant restriction to be aware of is that you can only volunteer to do things that are normally done on a voluntary basis, i.e. without pay. So for example, you could volunteer at a hospital as a 'candy striper' because that is a volunteer position, and you would be working alongside other unpaid volunteers. You could not do the work of a nurse even if you volunteered to do it unpaid because a nurse is normally a paid position. You also can't do "anything that would benefit a commercial enterprise," and there are restrictions on things like unpaid internships.