Get Involved

The Conservation Commission welcomes volunteers. 
Attend one of our monthly meetings and meet our team. Join us on any of the events listed, or join a subcommittee to work on a topic of interest. For an overview of all events, see our calendar. Many of our events can engage teens and qualify for community service hours. Email us for more info on that.

ONGOING EVENTS:

Multiple, ongoing work sessions in Hillside Woods for the Hillside Woods Restoration Project (click to sign up for a session). The HWRP is working on a multi-year project to restore ecological balance and habitat to Hillside Woods and Park. For background info, check out our project page and the Protect Our Woods website. We are removing invasive plants and will replant with native species.

Join the Hastings Vine Squad to help free trees from killer invasive vines. The Vine Squad works winters, from November to March.

Adopt-a-Spot! You can tend and improve your own corner of Hastings by yourself, or with your family, neighbors or other groups. You can volunteer to keep a site litter free, install a pollinator garden, or tend existing plants. We have identified specific roadsides and traffic circles, but you can suggest any public Spot.

Download the Litterati app to record and share any litter you pick up! Join the Litter Free Hastings 6-week challenge by searching 10706 in the app challenge tab. Contact us with any questions.

ANNUAL EVENTS:

Village Clean-up Weekend. This annual event cleans up our town! It's so important to remove plastic from the environment, both for wildlife and, ultimately, for ourselves. Watch our Plastics in the Environment presentation from our April 2021 Zoom-a-Palooza to get inspired.

Great Saw Mill River Cleanup with Groundwork Hudson Valley. Communities along the Saw Mill River are banding together to help clean up and invest in the health of this neglected waterway. Hastings is one of them! Join this annual tradition and lend a hand! Eight sites up and down the river. Or: contact us to get involved in ongoing work.

Riverkeeper's Annual Hudson River Sweep. Sites up and down the Hudson River, usually the first Saturday in May. Hastings has participated in this annual event every year since its inception in 2012. Meet in the Harvest On Hudson parking lot (there's free MetroNorth parking on weekends). We'll start in River Glen Cove, which is just north of Harvest, and then scour the shoreline: MacEachron Park, Kinally Cove and the roadway (all trash in the area will flow into the Hudson eventually).

Farragut Parkway Trees for Tribs planting ongoing maintenance project. Email us to sign up. The Conservation Commission has won four grants from DEC's Trees for Tribs project. DEC supplies horticultural expertise and trees and shrubs for us to plant along Bouttilier's Brook, which flows into the Saw Mill River at Exit 12. Protecting tributary streams is essential to the health of the Saw Mill and Hudson rivers. Come help maintain the site! See our restoration website for more info.