We have several exciting opportunities for students to EARN while they LEARN. 

Students in these positions can expect to gain experience in a variety of areas of recreation management. Duties may include ensuring recreation sites are operated and maintained to provide a positive visitor experience. Interacts with the public to provide recreation information. completes campground and day use area inspections in accordance with operation and maintenance plans,

Serves as inspector for concessionaire operated sites including written and photographic documentation of conditions and reports on conditions and use of Forest Service operated sites and areas.  Maintains contact with and provides support to Campground Hosts.  Reports back any concerns or needs from Campground Hosts. Inspects recreation areas, areas of concentrated public use, and special use permits for compliance with the permit and the management plans, public health, and safety.

Patrols backcountry, wilderness and/or dispersed recreation sites. May patrol wilderness to ensure areas are operated, used and maintained in accordance with Wilderness Management Plan. Installs and maintains information boards, travel signs, regulatory signs and other signs associated with recreation sites, travel management and safety. Provides detailed information about recreation opportunities to Forest visitors and explains the Forest Service rules and regulations.  Provides information on resource management practices, regulations and current conditions.

Works with the trail crew, to maintain, repair, and build trails throughout the Forest Service unit. Constructs trails with native material, restores impacted areas, and replaces signage as needed. Constructs trail structures such as turnpikes and boardwalks. Training may include, shovel, pick and rock bar use, tool sharpening, radio and other training related to trail construction proficiency.

Job involves driving in a Forest Service vehicle, hiking up to 8 miles a day in steep, uneven terrain while carrying tools, and use of tools including digging tools and power sprayer. Work requires the use of safety equipment such as tools, pack, gloves, goggles and hard hat.

Students in these positions will work as skilled members of a fuels management crew. Fuels crew members will assist in identifying treatment units, marking unit boundaries, flagging sensitive features for protection, and marking trees for removal. Students will also engage with contractors utilizing heavy equipment such as masticators and grapple pilers and inspect contract work as it proceeds. Crew members will also work with hand crews on thinning and piling contracts.

These activities include hand piling of brush. The job requires use of a variety of hand and power tools, including pitchforks, shovels, etc. May gather data and records information on fuel types, weather conditions, fire behavior, and status of work accomplished.  Cleans, maintains, reconditions, and stores tools and equipment.  

The work requires regular and protracted periods of considerable and strenuous physical exertion such as carrying or lifting heavy objects (over 50 pounds), cutting passages through dense vegetation; or lifting and piling branches and other woody material. Work may require some agility and dexterity sufficient to walk over wet, rough, or uneven surfaces. Work may involve bending, crouching, stooping, lifting, stretching, reaching, or similar activities. Work requires the use of safety equipment such as tools, pack, gloves, goggles and hard hat.

Range interns will gain experience in a variety of range management tasks. They will learn how grazing contributes to the mission of the Forest Service by supporting local livestock permittees and ensuring rangelands are healthy and resilient. They will gain skills in rangeland monitoring and inventory methods. Tasks will include, but not be limited to surveying fences and other range infrastructure, fence repair/building, inspecting allotments for the correct livestock and numbers, measuring vegetation utilization and streambank alteration.

Interns can expect to work four 10-hour days in the field, under varying weather conditions.  The position involves driving a Forest Service vehicle on unpaved forest roads, and hiking in steep, uneven terrain while carrying tools. Work requires the use of safety equipment such as pack, gloves, goggles and hard hat.

Students in these positions will gain experience in applied fire ecology, forestry, and botany. Students will work as part of a field crew to measure vegetation and fuels in areas impacted by the 2021 Dixie Fire. Data collection will include tree measurements, identification of trees and shrubs, estimation of woody fuel loads, and assessment of fire effects in permanent monitoring plots. The data will be collected to support long-term monitoring and evaluation of forest management activities and needs.

Students will receive training in data collection, use of equipment (including GPS), data entry, and safety protocols. During the work week, field crews may be required to camp in remote field locations. Camping equipment will be provided as necessary. To access the field sites, students will need to be able to operate vehicles on remote and rugged roads.

We are looking for energetic, detail-oriented students with an interest in field ecology. Field work in mountain environments can be grueling, and crews will be expected to navigate off-trail, in hot or cold weather, on steep slopes and in arduous conditions. In some post-fire landscapes, field crew members may have to travel through dense shrubs for long distances to get to plots.