Ely Grimm | September 2026
Reflection on 900 Hour AmeriCorps Volunteer Term, March – September 2026
Volunteers removing invasive garlic mustard next to the prairie expansion area, efforts that Ely coordinated
I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to continue and expand the work I do at Nature At The Confluence through AmeriCorps. Prior to this spring, I have been limited to working 20 hours per week and AmeriCorps allowed me to double the hours I work and the impact I make here. In 2025, I concentrated my hours in the summer months due to it being the busiest time of the year here. This meant I didn’t have as much time to dedicate to important projects during the fall and winter. Working full-time during this spring and summer, I was able to continue to dedicate my time to engaging visitors, leading and planning nature center programs, representing Nature At The Confluence at community events, managing our learning garden, facilitating our weekly Boys & Girls Club garden program, manage their garden, maintaining our grounds and trails, and running our weekly volunteer days in accordance with the conservation focused land management plan I completed this summer, along with implementing conservation stewardship tasks independently. From the start of my AmeriCorps term, I’ve been hosting a monthly conservation-focused volunteer day on weekends in order to engage a wider audience.
More hours in the summer also gave me the chance to focus on the many projects of this past winter and to look toward this fall and winter. This past winter, we were able to clear a significant amount of invasive brush for the first time utilizing herbicide and pile burning. We also collected, sorted, and spread native seed for a half-acre expansion of our prairie. I’m grateful to have been able to co-plan and facilitate our new series of Conservation Conversations that happen monthly outside of the busy summer season, and to implement a grant-funded bench building workshop created for women and queer people.
Continuity with land and people is important to me, and being able to be fully present here with both the people and the land through all seasons has been a gift. I’ve grown in confidence with leadership both working with people (interns, volunteers, collaborators, and program participants) and in making decisions about how to best care for the land. Getting to make stewardship decisions feels like such a big responsibility, but being able to see all the seeds that have been planted from last year blooming this year and being able to help them continue to do so has been such a great teacher, much different than the learning I’ve experienced following other people’s stewardship plans. Decisions that led to failure became valuable lessons, too, and I’ve learned how every piece of land is different with unique needs. I’ve had to grow in self-directed task management and prioritizing which is something I’ve always struggled with, as well as working alone. I’ve learned how to trust my own judgement and experience, but also that there are so many people available to offer help, whether it’s advice, a hand with a project, or letting me come out to collect seed from an area. Because my job is so varied working at such a small organization, it’s been helpful to see many sides of how a nonprofit nature center operates. I’m glad to be growing professionally and personally in so many ways with a community I feel part of.
