Friends of Dumoine / Amis de la rivière Dumoine (FOD/ARD) is seeking a volunteer leaders to join our Board of Directors as Secretary. If you care about protecting the Dumoine watershed, supporting non-mechanized recreation, and keeping the region’s natural and human history alive, this role is a practical way to make a lasting contribution.
This is a chance to help guide a volunteer-led organization that keeps the Dumoine healthy, accessible, and respected, through conservation work, trail and route maintenance, education, and responsible advocacy.
Why join Friends of Dumoine?
Board service is meaningful because it has real-world impact. You’ll be part of a group that:
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Protects a remarkable watershed through stewardship and conservation work that supports long-term river health.
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Supports safe, respectful backcountry travel, helping keep canoe routes and trails maintained for self-propelled visitors.
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Preserves and shares local knowledge, including the region’s natural history and human stories, so they aren’t lost.
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Works in a community-minded way, partnering and collaborating to keep efforts grounded and practical.
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Gives you a direct role in making things happen, not just talking about what should be done.
You’ll also meet others who care deeply about the Dumoine, people who bring experience, calm judgment, and a shared desire to leave places better than they found them.
River Cleanup Innitiatives, 2026
River Cleanup and Skill Devellopment Trip, head by MHO Director Erin Pehar, Jully, 2026. Program Overview>
” Friends of Dumoine is proud to cooperate with this excellent initiative by MHO Adventures. MHO Director Erin Pehar is also on Friends of Dumoine Board of Directors
Together we have created this preseason program designed to give young leaders a full orientation to the skills required to guide on the Dumoine including a one day intense seminar about the watersheds rich history and current conservation efforts in the watershed.
The river will be running at an exciting high water level testing your whitewater skills. En route the trip is designed for you to do some meaningful river conservation and cleanup work and share ideas with other camps and companies guides.
Apply bellow and I look forward to explaining how to observe the signs of the rivers rich history.”
Wally Schaber
President, Friends of Dumoine
Top Priorities for Early 2026
Secretary (bilingual French/English)
We’re looking for someone fluent in French and English with strong writing, organizational, and social media skills, and who identifies with the purpose of FOD/ARD.
As Secretary, you help keep the organization steady and well-run. This role includes:
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keeping records of proceedings from Member and Board meetings and notifying Members of meetings
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maintaining the Member register (names, admission dates, residence, and email addresses)
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organizing Board and committee meetings and liaising with Board/committee leads
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maintaining FOD/ARD archival records
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filing annual declarations and required documents with the Registraire des entreprises du Québec and the Canada Revenue Agency
If you’re the kind of person who likes clarity, structure, and good communication, this role will suit you.
1) Liability insurance + municipal support
We need general liability insurance for volunteer activities. The best option is to be included in a Quebec program through a municipality. We need Ville de Témiscamingue to adopt Friends of Dumoine under their policy.
If you have a contact on council—or you are bilingual and comfortable discussing insurance and meeting with the council in person—please reach out.
2) Fundraising help
If you have contacts with foundations, corporations, government departments, or donors who may sponsor a project, we’d love an introduction—or help with a funding application.
3) Museum help (winter or summer)
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Museum curator support (winter): identify items in our collection (in Chelsea, QC) and write short bilingual ID labels (10–30 words).
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Museum volunteers (summer at Grande Chute): help with displays, bilingual labels, and the three interpretive trails: Timber Slide, Saw Mill, and River Drive Camp (signage, interpretation, and occasional guiding).
4) Grande Chute Base hosts (May–November)
We’re looking for couples or families to stay in the volunteer cabin for a minimum of 5 days and help host visitors at the museum and Grande Chute base (basic training + light maintenance). Bilingual is an asset.
Rangers Cabin rehabilitation (May–September)
Help with Phase Two of restoring a 1920 cabin at the mouth of the Dumoine (wall work, chinking, tin roof, windows, fire pit, finishing work).
Weekend volunteers welcome. Materials, boat transport, and an experienced project manager are provided. Volunteers bring their own food and camping gear.
Trail maintenance crews (May–October)
Help maintain 30 km of hiking trails: clearing fallen trees, fixing signage, addressing flooding, improving the hiking experience.
We’re also seeking two new crew chiefs to organize crews for the northern sections from Grande Chute (spring cleanup, fall cleanup, and one summer project trip).
River clean-up trips (June/July — proposed)
We hope to run two 5-day clean-up trips:
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Lac Dumoine → Lac Benoit
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Lac Benoit → Dumoine Club
FOD supplies canoes and shuttles. Volunteers supply personal gear, food, and camping equipment. Whitewater skills required. We are still working on guides, funding, and insurance.
Planning your own trip? Donate 4 hours of volunteer time: clean a campsite, move a thunderbox, and clear the nearest portage. We’ll tell you where help is needed and provide a spade to leave at the site.
Digital museum research (from home)
Help us build a digital story about the human history at the mouth of the Dumoine, using records like maps, journals, census/church records, photos, archives, family histories, and First Nations oral histories.
Ideal for researchers, genealogists, translators, file organizers, and local families with stories/photos.
Archaeology / history field projects
We’re building volunteer teams (with professional guidance) for historic sites along the trail, including:
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Bertrands Stopping Place (foundations + site reconstruction)
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Potvin Stopping Place (house site + rock formations)
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Inlet River Drive Camp (historic camp near Poplar Rapids / tote road route)
We welcome careful excavators, metal detectorists, interpreters, researchers, and artists.
What to expect
These are volunteer roles, but they’re not overwhelming. The Board works as a team, and the aim is steady, sensible governance, clear communication, responsible planning, and support for the projects that keep the Dumoine thriving.
Interested?
If either role sounds like a fit, or if you’d like to have an informal conversation first, reach out to director@friendsofdumoine.ca, or, fill out the form here
Can't Volunteer but Want to Help?
If you’re not ready for Board service but still want to be part of the effort, you can also become a Member by Donating.
Membership fees represent 25% of our annual fundraising. This covers our administrative (5%) and trail maintenance (20%) portion of our total budget. Anything you send beyond the membership fee goes into donations for special projects.
To see the progress made through your danoations, check out the “Our Work”.
Volunteer
Join us in helping preserve this historic waterway