Skilled Trades

Volunteer Services strives to provide high-quality, meaningful volunteer opportunities that support the agency’s mission, inspiring residents throughout the Miami Valley to become citizen advocates of Five Rivers MetroParks.

Five Rivers MetroParks takes pride in the variety of hands-on, skilled trades opportunities we offer, both in historical and modern-day settings. Our Skilled Trades volunteers help drive our mission forward by assisting with maintenance projects in fabrication, repair, and interpretation.

Volunteers with prior knowledge or experience in the following areas are preferred:

• Volunteers with skills and knowledge in blacksmithing, small tools & equipment, teaching, textiles, and woodworking.
• Those interested in park beautification, artisan crafts, education, history, and farm life.
• Individuals looking for a long-term, regular volunteer opportunity and willing to commit to ongoing training and service.

• Provide a wide range of general maintenance, repair, and fabrication, often by utilizing hand/power tools once trained and checked-off.
• Often assist park visitors by answering questions, and acts as ambassadors of Five Rivers MetroParks.
• May support education programming at various events, presenting skills with historic blacksmithing and operating the historic steam engine.
• May include other duties based on the specific opportunity.

View the available Skilled Trades Volunteer Position opportunities below. Simply click the blue "VIEW DETAILS" button to learn more about each opportunity.

To sign up, click the blue "RESPOND" button and complete any required qualifications including any required training.

You can also view any Skilled Trades Position Training and Events* scheduled below, click the listing to learn more and the blue "RSVP" button to register. 

*Notes: Woodworking at Cox Arboretum, Historic Blacksmith and Historic Woodworkers at Carriage Hill MetroPark must complete a training series to qualify for these opportunities. You will be prompted to complete all required qualifications including the training series when you click the blue RESPOND button for each opportunity. You can also go directly to the required training in our Volunteer Training Library to get started:

Woodworking at Cox Arboretum

Historic Interpreter Training (Required for Historic Interpreters, Historic Blacksmiths and Historic Woodworkers)

Historic Blacksmith Training (Required for Historic Blacksmiths)

Historic Woodworker Training (Required for Historic Woodworkers)

To view all the volunteer training available for Skilled Trades, click here.

Not seeing the opportunity you are interested in? Have questions? Contact volunteer.services@metroparks.org or call #937-275-7275 and ask to speak with a volunteer coordinator.

Visit the Become A Volunteer page on Get Connected to learn more about becoming a MetroParks volunteer. Join us for a Volunteer Open House, an in-person opportunity to learn more about volunteering with Five Rivers MetroParks!