Share your community treasure, become a volunteer naturalist on the Cedar River and learn about one of the world’s amazing wildlife migrations that runs through the heart of Seattle, Renton and on up into Maple Valley.

Naturalists will receive 20 hours of training from fish, interpretative and watershed experts and in return spend three weekend days making riverside presentations to the public about the Cedar River and its spawning salmon.

Training is scheduled for three weekday evenings (September 11, 18 and 25) and two weekend days (September 13 and September 27). Training sessions prepare volunteers to talk about the human and natural history of the Cedar River, the Cedar River Watershed, salmon ecology, and what we can do to help salmon. Most of the trainings are held in the Renton area, with one training at the Seattle Aquarium.

Once trained, volunteers commit to work in teams at one of four sites on the Cedar – Landsburg Park, Cavanaugh Pond, Riverview Park and Cedar River Park (the Renton Community Center) — for three of the eight “on duty” days during October weekends.

Sponsors of the program, now entering its 17th year, include Friends of the Cedar River Watershed, Seattle Aquarium, Seattle Public Utilities, King County Flood Control District, City of Renton, RealNetworks Foundation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the WRIA8 Salmon Recovery Council.

Contact Dani Kendall at 206.792-5851 or at dani@cedarriver.org to sign up. Training starts September 11, 2014. For more info, visit www.cedarriver.org.