Topics covered include GPS settings, UTM datum, entering UTMs, setting a track, setting a waypoint, navigating to a waypoint, maps for your GPS, and answer any questions you may have. Both workshops provide training for new volunteers and provides an opportunity for returning volunteers to refresh current GPS skills.

Each year RINS Volunteers look forward to the Botany Field Trip. We have hosted several talented botanists over the past twenty-three years and each of them has imparted their knowledge and expertise regarding the plants in Utah. We have visited many different sites to learn to identify shrubs, grasses and trees that occur primarily on desert landscapes. This desert landscape consists primarily of shrub-steppe habitat and is the preferred habitat that our nesting raptors rely on to successfully raise their young.

Vegetation represents an important element of data that a RINS volunteer collects; this data is crucial in understanding the health of a given habitat, which raptors and wildlife intimately rely on to survive and thrive day-to-day and throughout the year.

The vegetation that is present on any given landscape becomes a key indicator of the overall health of that ecosystem. Since vegetation is considered a natural resource, it is managed by various agencies with the intent to protect wildlife, manage grazing, wildfire restoration, both flood and dust control, plus aesthetics.

RINS volunteers collect vegetation data at each nest site, so the Botany Field Trip is a great resource for learning how to identify native and invasive plants in Utah.

1. Spring Workshop Online – Moab/Cedar City/St. George – February 3 – Noon to 4:00 PM
2. Spring Workshop In-Person SLC #1 – February 24 – 11:30 AM to 4:00 PM
Spring Workshop In-Person SLC #2 – March 2 – 11:30 AM to 4:00 PM
3. Spring Workshop Online Fillmore/Richfield/Price/Vernal March 9 – Noon to 4:00 PM
4. Field Training Workshop Online – March 16 – Noon to 4:00 PM (required for new volunteers).
5. GPS Workshop Online – March 23 – 9:00 to 11:00 AM
6. Botany Field Trip – May 4 – 9:00 to 11:00 AM

If you are visiting this page for the first time, and are interested in becoming a RINS Volunteer, or want more information about the project, use the Contact RINS form below and provide your name, email address, and any questions or comments. We will be in contact with you very soon.

[contact-form-7 id=”1728″ title=”Volunteer Contact Form”]

With the current state of affairs that we are all facing again this year, the RINS Business Socials will be offered online. This delivery method allows us to see one another and interact with all participants as well. Plan on joining us in September!

The RINS Business Social has grown to four venues to support statewide expansion of the project. Salt Lake is hosted at the RINS Office in Sandy, Utah. It is held the first Saturday after the Labor Day Holiday in September. The Cedar City & St. George Business/Social is held the first Saturday in October, and the Moab Business Social is held the last week of October.

The Salt Lake gathering took place September 8, 2018. We had a great turnout with 70 people joining us for delicious Fratelli’s Italian food. We also had a really interesting business meeting with great stories from the field this year including a successful effort to place 20 orphaned barn owl nestlings into a dozen active barn owl nests. Expert barn owl handler Darin Day and two RINS volunteers placed the young owls into their new nests on April 22, 2018. All birds fledged the nests. We also had a red-tailed hawk out of the nest and RINS volunteers captured it and took to WRCNU in Ogden where they got the bird back to good health and released her.

The first Cedar City Business Social we had a presentation with live birds of prey thanks to Martin & Susan Tyner who own and manage the Southwest Wildlife Foundation www.gowildlife.org. We had 30 people join us for a fascinating evening with Martin’s beautiful birds.

On Saturday September 17, 2016. The weather was warm along with the wonderful people who attended. RINS held a second Business Social in Moab, Utah on November 4, 2016. We met for the business meeting at the Holiday Inn then headed to Fiesta Mexicana for dinner and social event.

We had a very enjoyable RINS Social at the RINS Office in Sandy, Utah on September 13, 2014 . The Dodo Restaurant donated delicious appetizers for our group of 65 people. Rico Catering provided the main course and dessert along with a server to make sure everyone got what they needed. The evening weather was warm and the sounds from the nearby stream enhanced the setting. Everyone had a nice time socializing and learning about our remarkable effort afield this year.

The Miner’s Hospital in Park City, Utah was the venue for our 2013 End of Season Business/Social. Rico Catering provided hors d’oeuvres and a wonderful Mexican dinner. Sixty RINS volunteers attended the party where we enjoyed conversation, friendship and a wonderful rain storm to help cool us off after the heat wave we’ve all been experiencing this summer.