Seeing one of the largest creatures on earth surface offshore is an incredible experience. But half of the joy of whale watching is sharing it with others. Through the Oregon Whale Watch program, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) places trained volunteers at overlooks along the Oregon coast to assist visitors in spotting gray whales during their two major annual migrations in the winter and spring. You could be one of them, helping people to see whales for the first time.

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Registration for volunteering for Spring 2026 will reopen on January 1st, 2026

Step 1 (Required)- Volunteer Service Agreement

This form will guide you through the expectations that all volunteer for this program agree to.  If you have more than one person in your party that would like to volunteer with the Whale Watch program, please have each person sign-up individually.  Each person volunteering with the program will need to complete the 3-step process (including the background check) for volunteer registration.

In this form, you will also be able to indicate if you want to participate in upcoming training events. (You will be contacted with further details if you select “Yes” in that section of the form). 

Step 2 (Required)- Discrimination and Harassment Training Course

In 2019 the Oregon Legislature made changes to the laws regarding discrimination and harassment. Each year all employees, including volunteers, are required to complete this training module.

*** The two steps above will also initiate a background check. 

 In the coming weeks, you will receive an email from Advanced Reporting, Oregon State Parks’ background check service. Each volunteer will need to complete a background check by responding to the request from that email. People who do not pass this step will not be able to sign up as volunteers with us at this time. 

Step 3- Sign up for Volunteer Sites!

Once the above steps are complete, you will receive a confirmation letter from the Whale Watch Staff. In it, you will find the access code you need to sign up for your desired volunteer dates and locations. You will have access to both Winter 2025 & Spring 2026 sign-ups. 

(This final confirmation email can take up to one week or more for our staff to process.)

 You will be responsible for scheduling your own sites. You will see that a limited number of volunteer assignments are available each day. If the site you want is full, please check availability at other locations. (The whales will be happy to see you there too!)

Winter 2025 Whale Watch Site Sign-Up December 27th-31st, 2025

Spring 2026 Whale Watch Site Sign-Up March 21st-29th, 2026

If you have questions about this process, please contact us by email at Whale.watching@oprd.oregon.gov

Or by phone call Beverly Beach State Park Staff:

Justin Duering 541-270-8313

Paiute Morrison 541-270-2628

Daniel Walker 541-270-0089

Peter McBride 541-270-4007

 What do Volunteers do?

Volunteers are asked to participate in the program at least 2 days. Volunteers are responsible for setting up site materials at their approved location. The materials consist of a small container with whale models, a rope that represents the length of a whale and various flyers, stickers and information for our visitors. Most days there will be 2-8 volunteers per site, depending on location.

You should be ready at your site from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. counting whales and talking with visitors.

After 1:00 p.m. a report will be completed with your daily tally of whales, visitors and other information.

Oh, and most importantly, have fun!!!

How to Become a Volunteer

If you’d like to join the Oregon Whale Watch team and help educate the public about these gentle giants of the sea, please complete the registration process.  Twice a year we offer training for our whale watch volunteers.  You’ll learn from researchers and OPRD interpretive rangers how to locate and identify common marine mammals of the Oregon coast.

We usually fill all of our available registration spaces, so it’s a good idea to register early! Once you’ve gone through a training, you can sign up to volunteer at any point in the future. We encourage seasoned volunteers to participate in a training every three or four years as a refresher, but it is not required.