Volunteering At The Chain O’ Lakes

 Our volunteer position is to staff the main gate house.  This requires a fair amount of responsibility, which we enjoy. 

Besides issuing  several types of permits for camping and boating, we answer phones and monitor the general traffic flow into and out of the park. 

Each day is different and depends on what activities are going on in and around the park.  This can be high-power boat races, scouting events, firework shows, family reunions, hunter lottery drawings, bass and walleye fishing tournaments, track meets, controlled field burns, butterfly surveys, bird banding and many other things.

Being knowledgeable about the park and local area and events is very important to this position.

This is the main entrance to the park and we greet all visitors, answer their questions, and direct them to wherever they are going. We also monitor several security phones and can become a command center in case of emergencies.

This is a busy park located Northwest of Chicago on one of the busiest waterways in the nation.  Our boat launch handles hundreds of boats on an average weekend.

                                   --and we can park 180 cars with trailers at a time.

When boating season slows down in the fall it is time for the hunting season to begin.  Ducks, geese, doves, pheasants, squirrels, rabbits, deer and turkeys are all here and hunted in the park with bow, gun and youth hunts all available.

This duck blind is going home for the summer and will return next fall in time for a new hunting season.

We also volunteer to do other things as they are needed.  Often this is grass mowing, fire pit and campsite cleaning, or helping the park staff in any way we can.