ANACOSTIA RIVER OUTDOOR VOLUNTEER TRAIL
OVERVIEW
The Anacostia River Outdoor Volunteer Adventure Trail is a powerful new collaboration transforming the volunteer experience across the Anacostia River area. Led by the Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA), twelve local environmental organizations have joined forces to strengthen and diversify outdoor volunteerism.
Our shared goal is to break down barriers and create new pathways for everyone to discover the joy and benefits of volunteering—whether you are planting gardens, cleaning up waterways, or sharing fresh produce with neighbors.
Click the map to view in full screen, or click here for a downloadable version.
CHART YOUR PATH ON THE ADVENTURE TRAIL MAP
We’re turning volunteering into an adventure with the Anacostia River Outdoor Volunteer Adventure Trail Map. Use this interpretive map as your guide to get outside, connect with nature, and make a direct impact in your community!
Explore the Anacostia River Outdoor Volunteer Adventure Trail Map and find opportunities of interest to you. Discover a new green space, try a new activity like crop harvesting or water testing, and meet fellow volunteers along the way.
To make volunteering fun, interconnected, and exploratory. The map is one step towards building a more connected, supportive, and vibrant volunteer ecosystem in the Anacostia River Watershed.
View the list of volunteer opportunities below and sign up on the organization’s website to get started.
Cleanups + Environmental Restoration
- National Links Trust
- Ward 8 Woods Conservancy
- Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens
- Anacostia Riverkeeper
- Anacostia Watershed Society
- Friends of Anacostia Park
- Historic Congressional Cemetery
Agriculture + Food Access
- Friends of the National Arboretum
- Building Bridges Across the River – TheARC Farm
- City Blossoms
- DC Greens – The Well at Oxon Run
- Dreaming Out Loud
Have a question? Contact Max Skoglund at mskoglund@fona.org
VOLUNTEER PASSPORT LAUNCHING SPRING 2026
The adventure continues! We are creating a Volunteer Passport for the 2026 season. Volunteer with a partner organization, collect a unique stamp or sticker on your passport page, and explore a new way to give back.
Stay tuned for our Spring 2026 launch! Sign up for our FONA Field Notes newsletter below to be the first to know.
PROJECT PHASES
This initiative brought together the volunteer coordinators and leaders from organizations across the watershed. We sat down to share our successes and tackle our common challenges, especially in recruiting new volunteers and keeping them engaged. From those conversations, we co-created three innovative projects centering the main pillars of volunteer programming: Recruitment, Retention, and Recognition.
Removing Barriers with Volunteer Stipends
We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to experience the benefits of volunteering. But for many individuals, volunteering feels out of reach due to time or financial constraints. To help remove practical obstacles for first-time volunteers in Wards along the Anacostia River, we launched a volunteer stipend pilot program.
In partnership with Ward 8 Woods, we distributed one hundred $50 Visa gift cards in the Fall of 2025 to new volunteers at neighborhood clean-up events. The stipend is a “thank you” for trying something new and an investment in our shared community.
Participants also shared their experiences through a survey, helping us understand the obstacles to volunteering and track their future interest. This valuable data will help us build more accessible and welcoming programs for everyone.
Photo by Anacostia Riverkeeper
The Adventure Trail and Passport
To showcase the incredible network of opportunities in our area, we created the interpretive Anacostia River Outdoor Volunteer Adventure Trail Map, designed by local artist Maria Toro Quijano. This vibrant, detailed artwork highlights all the partner organizations involved in this collaborative effort. It’s designed to be a keepsake, proudly displayed in homes and community spaces to inspire and serve as a reminder of your vital role in the volunteer ecosystem.
By getting to know the organizations featured in the trail map, we hope that residents of the Anacostia watershed will explore opportunities throughout the network and build lasting relationships with fellow volunteers, partner organizations, and the parts of the landscape they steward.
Celebrating Our Volunteers
Volunteers are the lifeblood of our work, and they deserve a celebration! In November 2025, we threw a thank-you party for the collective volunteer community. Held at the iconic GoGo Museum in Southeast D.C., we gathered with free food, a live GoGo band, and a whole lot of gratitude.
Every attendee received the beautiful Anacostia River Outdoor Volunteer Adventure Trail poster. We also held special raffles, with each partner organization giving away a gift card to someone who had volunteered with them or was eager to do so in the future.
Volunteers and community leaders created new connections across organizations, and we laid the foundation for an exciting outdoor volunteering season to come—one in which we will continue to grow our shared community.
Photo by Anacostia Riverkeeper
PARTNERS
Thank you to every volunteer and partner organization who makes the Anacostia River Watershed a healthier, greener, and more connected place.
A Partnership Led By: Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA)
In Collaboration With:
- Anacostia Riverkeeper
- Anacostia Watershed Society
- Building Bridges Across the River – TheARC Farm
- City Blossoms
- DC Greens – The Well at Oxon Run
- Dreaming Out Loud
- Friends of Anacostia Park
- Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens
- Historic Congressional Cemetery
- National Links Trust
- Ward 8 Woods Conservancy
Do you represent an environmental organization in the Anacostia watershed? We hope this model inspires other collaborations. Contact Max Skoglund at mskoglund@fona.org to learn more.