Volunteer now and make a difference to your local river

Our fantastic volunteers are an essential part of Eden Rivers Trust, giving up their time to help look after their local river and the wildlife that lives on, in and next to it.

There are lots of reasons why people want to volunteer with us, take a look at the video to hear just a few of their stories.

Ways to volunteer

Take part in one of our River Action days

Bring your friends and family, or come along by yourself and spend a few hours monitoring wildlife or improving the habitat. This could include:

  • Cleaning up rivers
  • Bashing Himalayan balsam
  • Planting trees or wetland plant species
  • Surveying endangered species such as White-clawed crayfish
  • Helping us to monitor invertebrates, such as riverflies.

Training is provided and there is always someone on hand to show you the ropes.

Fancy joining us? Our forthcoming River Action days are listed at the bottom of this page.

Something a bit different …

If you don’t fancy getting involved with our practical river action days, perhaps one of the following roles interests you:

Education Volunteer – supporting our Learning and Outreach Manager in delivering fun, inspirational hands-on sessions in schools.
Read the Education Volunteer role description and apply now

Events Volunteer – meeting people and talking about our work, rivers and Eden’s wildlife at public shows and events.

Photographer – helping us to build a library of stunning images for educational, promotional and research use.

Film Maker – helping us to build a library of footage for educational, promotional and research purposes.

Trustee of Eden Rivers Trust – help our charity to develop our work to improve and sustain the River Eden and its catchment – and to become an even better place for people and wildlife. We are always interested to hear from people who are interested in taking on this role for when opportunities arise. Do get in touch if that is you.

Interested in becoming a volunteer?

For further information about volunteering with us, please contact our Volunteer and Community Engagement Coordinator by

completing the form below, or call 01768 866788, or email volunteers@edenrt.org 

  • Please enter your first name and surname
  • Please enter your full phone number, (including area code if a landline)
  • We need your address so that we can send your Welcome to Volunteering with ERT pack to you
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
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Volunteer Events

Person pushing plant roots into soil

Eden community tree nursery regular work parties

Date: Every Tuesday , 1 pm - 4 pm | Every Friday 10 am - 1 pm | Eden community tree nursery, central Penrith

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Adults stood one behind the other in a line,, all smiling and pointing at a row of tree tubes containing newly- planted tree hedge whips.

Hedge Planting Workparty

Date: Thursday 9th January 2025 | 10 am - 3:30pm | Moorside

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Healthy Hedges Day

Date: Thursday 16th January 2025 | 9:30am - 3pm | Gamblesby

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