Volunteer with EPI to save the planet - EPI featured in USA Today Weekend
EPI primarily works with high school youth, but also offers trips for adults and families. Contact EPI for updated dates and trip costs.
See Costa Rica brochure
See the Galapagos Islands brochure
See the Mexico brochure
For students:
Costa Rica
Our program site is situated in one of the world’s most important and active nesting sites for the critically endangered Leatherback sea turtles. This location puts you at the nexus of conservation and local culture, where you’ll be face-to-face with the environmental, scientific and cultural forces that shape the region. Each night during the Leatherback nesting season, you’ll accompany instructors and researchers in search of turtles and their nests to study population trends and protect the nests from tides, poachers and other threats. Scientists will use your work to help improve conservation efforts for sea turtles on the 4th most important nesting site in the world for Leatherbacks.
Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Working side-by-side with scientists in the Galapagos National Park, you’ll help improve conservation efforts for the archipelago. Projects address crucial issues such as species survival and habitat improvement. You’ll work hands-on with tortoises, help remove invasive plants, collect important data and restore critical habitat needed by native and endemic species. In short, you’ll leave the Galapagos better than you found it.
Sea of Cortez, Baja California Sur (2 programs)
_ Island Ecology Program:_ Sea of Cortez is a World Heritage Site. While it remains a remarkably rich ecosystem, it is slowly being diminished by human impacts — from commercial fishing to pollution to the dewatering of freshwater sources like the Colorado River. The work being done here to catalog and study species is important to understanding that impact and how to minimize it. This program is a unique opportunity to assist with authentic marine research and be an active collaborator in this international conservation effort.
_Whale Ecology Program:_ Our Baja Whale Ecology Program allows you the rare chance to join a whale research project in the Sea of Cortez, home to 39 percent of the world’s marine mammal species. This program is an amazing opportunity to assist scientists in an authentic research project focusing on endangered marine mammals. Jump on board our research boat, and be an active collaborator in international conservation efforts helping the largest animals on the planet.
Montana – Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Yellowstone is among the few remaining intact islands of North American wilderness. Conservation work helps keep it that way. This renowned destination is home to iconic American animals and landscapes — the bald eagle, American bison, grizzly bear, Old Faithful, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and more. Through our Yellowstone Ecology Program, students from Montana, across the U.S. and abroad work with local institutions like the Nature Conservancy and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks build on the great tradition of conservation in this remarkable place.
During your time in the field, you’ll volunteer to work with regional conservation institutions conducting a wide variety of studies and projects. Under the leadership of our outstanding instructors, you’ll conceive, develop, analyze and present a field-based research project and attend classes in wildlife biology, terrestrial ecology, art and journaling. You’ll discuss the conflicts caused by bison, grizzlies and wolves leaving the park and talk about solutions. There are even opportunities to make on-the-ground differences through habitat restoration projects, such as pulling fence to open up migratory corridors for wildlife.