Volunteers for Outdoor California

Happy people. Happy trails.

We're getting close to the start of the 2024 season! The first project of the year will be at Mt. Madonna County Park from April 19th-21st and there will be another one May 17th-19th at Fernandez Ranch. Before that, we'll have a kickoff party on March 10th (note date change) as well as our annual O'Tool day on March 17th to prepare all the tools for the upcoming season. We're still firming up some dates, but there will also be later projects at Brannan Island State Recreation Area, San Bruno Mountain State Park,  Memorial County Park and Cull Canyon in the East Bay Regional Park District. See you soon out on the trails!

Who are we? Volunteers for Outdoor California (V-O-Cal) is a volunteer workforce for large-scale trail maintenance and construction projects, habitat restoration, and related land stewardship activities on public lands in partnership with public agencies and other nonprofit organizations.

2023 Season Sponsor Special Thanks to Bay Area Barns and Trails for their generous grant supporting the 2023 V-O-Cal Project Season. BABT assists landowners and land managers with preservation and maintenance of publicly accessible Bay Area barns, stables, pastures, staging areas, horse camps, and trails.

Check out our upcoming projects: 

Mt Madonna County Park

Friday, April 19, 2024
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Sunday, April 21, 2024
Sign Up Now!Sign Up Coming Soon

Fernandez Ranch

Friday, May 17, 2024
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Sunday, May 19, 2024
Sign Up Now!Sign Up Coming Soon

Memorial County Park 2024

Friday, September 13, 2024
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Sunday, September 15, 2024
Sign Up Now!Sign Up Coming Soon

Check out recent events:

O'Tool Day 2024

Sunday, March 17, 2024
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Sunday, March 17, 2024
Sign Up Coming Soon

Season Kickoff Party 2024

Sunday, March 10, 2024
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Sunday, March 10, 2024
Sign Up Coming Soon

Pescadero - Memorial County Park

Friday, October 13, 2023
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Sunday, October 15, 2023
Sign Up Coming Soon

Tilden Regional Park

Friday, September 15, 2023
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Sunday, September 17, 2023
Sign Up Coming Soon

East Bay Hills Benefit 2023

Tuesday, August 29, 2023
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Monday, September 4, 2023
Sign Up Coming Soon

Coyote Lake - Harvey Bear Ranch

Friday, August 11, 2023
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Sunday, August 13, 2023
Sign Up Coming Soon

Sanborn Park 2023

Friday, May 19, 2023
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Sunday, May 21, 2023
Sign Up Coming Soon

Yip Trip Trail - Moore Creek

Friday, April 14, 2023
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Sunday, April 16, 2023
Sign Up Coming Soon

Lynch Canyon Open Space

Friday, March 24, 2023
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Sunday, March 26, 2023
Sign Up Coming Soon


Why volunteer with V-O-Cal? While there are many great Bay Area organizations that do some form of land stewardship, the V-O-Cal approach is a little different, and it is designed to complement the work of those other groups, extending the reach of other agencies and organizations while enlarging the overall pool of skilled volunteers. We work all over the region, from Monterey to the Trinity Mountains and from the coast to the western Sierra, offering volunteers a broad range of project types in a consistently well-organized fashion. The difference between V-O-Cal and our fellow land stewardship groups can be summed up in four categories: Scale, Duration, Planning, and Resource Focus.

Scale The average V-O-Cal project puts 125-150 volunteers to work on a single project.

Duration V-O-Cal projects are a full weekend long, starting on Friday and going through Sunday afternoon.

Planning Because of the scale of our projects, the logistics are important to assure that each volunteer has a satisfying experience and that the land manager is thrilled with the result.

Resource Focus Rather than focus on a single park, area, or land manager partner, V-O-Cal moves around Northern California and works with a broad range of partners throughout the region.

Become part of a volunteer workforce. Skilled and unskilled volunteers welcome.

Volunteers for Outdoor California believes that the quality of the experience is the most important part of any of its efforts. As a result, everything about the organization and our projects is designed to make sure that every volunteer has a great time and leaves with a genuine sense of accomplishment.

Camp in the most beautiful parks in California.  No making a reservation or worrying about food necessary.

Because we are doing work in these parks, we get special permission to camp in areas that often do not allow camping. We supply the meals on Saturday and Sunday, all you need to do is show up and pitch your tent!

Want to see some of our past work?

Check out V-o-cal's Past projects

Volunteers for Outdoor California is made possible through generous in-kind donations from our sponsors:

Excited to start trailblazing?

Signup Now. We will keep you informed of upcoming project and opportunities!