Volunteer Spotlight: Carol Carr, Wildlife Corridor Project

Category: Blog, Growing Community with Nature, Ocean Song, Volunteer, Volunteer Spotlight, Wildlife Corridor Project

By LandPaths Staff

February 10, 2025

A volunteer, Carol Carr, stands in front of a waterfall near a mossy hill. She is holding two walking sticks and wears a brown baseball camp. she is smiling widely at the camera.

After the Glass fire in 2020, Carol Carr was looking for ways to make a difference in her community by helping out with fire recovery efforts. Her first volunteer experience with LandPaths was at Rancho Mark West, where she helped the land recover from the fire that tore through the preserve. “I was delighted to get the chance to be involved,” she says. “The more I learned about LandPaths, the more I loved being part of it.”

Carol retired from her career as a registered nurse over a decade ago and since then she’s been on a journey to give back locally; She took a permaculture class, worked at the bird rescue, fostered cats, and volunteered at a vegan animal sanctuary.

“LandPaths kept calling my interest,” she says. After seeing a mention of our Wildlife Corridor Project led by outgoing Senior Stewardship Field Specialist Benjamin Bravo, in our bimonthly digital newsletter [subscribe here] Carol signed up for a volunteer training at Ocean Song Preserve in 2023.

“I showed up at Ben’s training with two broken arms in splints because I didn’t want to miss it, “she recalls with her characteristic warm laugh. “Ben didn’t bat an eyelash – he was so welcoming! He had all of these stuffed bunny rabbits to help us practice with the cameras. It was so inclusive.”

As part of her volunteer tasks, Carol goes out to Ocean Song Preserve every six weeks to monitor a camera that she shares with a project partner. She retrieves the SD card, replaces the batteries, and moves any obstructions, like logs, from around the camera.Then, she schedules an afternoon in LandPaths’ downtown office for viewing, organizing, and classifying the photos on a spreadsheet. She also notes if there is anything unique happening, like a coyote with food in their mouth.

Two people smile at the camera from inside the LandPaths office. They are sitting in front of computers where they are about to begin classifying wildlife camera photos.

“I flag the really good photos,” she says. “It’s really interesting to get to see the behaviors of wild animals in their natural settings.”

She encourages anyone interested in participating with LandPaths to come out and investigate it for themselves. “Find your niche!” she says with enthusiasm. “You don’t know what’s available unless you come out and get involved, whether its in the youth or community programs.” She has also enjoyed the process of building relationships with staff members, whether through carpooling or doing land stewardship out in the redwoods.

“The [staff at LandPaths] are quality people and they are doing something I believe in. I’m glad that I get to help them do that.”

Carol also brings delicious and creative baked goods to the staff at the LandPaths office on her photo classification days! Thank you, Carol!!

Inspired to volunteer with LandPaths? Start here!