Wilderness Ranger Fellowship
Please note: The application window for the 2024 Wilderness Ranger Fellowship program is now closed. Check back in December 2024 to apply for the 2025 season!
Position Overview:
2023 Fellows cutting a tree
The SBFC Wilderness Ranger Fellowship (WRF) program provides an immersive experience in Wilderness trail conservation and management through hands-on stewardship. The fellowship will provide you with the opportunity to learn:
1) Wilderness trail maintenance skills, wilderness campsite inventory skills, and practical in-the-field decision-making;
2) The ability to safely and proficiently live, travel, and work in a backcountry setting for 8+ days at a time;
3) From SBFC staff wilderness trail professionals and US Forest Service wilderness trail technicians;
4) alongside other WRFs and volunteers from the public, and;
5) to be an on-the-ground advocate for Wilderness access, education, and protection through your words and more importantly, your actions.
POSITION details:
Start Date: May 13, 2024
End Date: August 16, 2024
Title: SBFC Wilderness Ranger Fellow
Term of Service: 14 weeks
Living Stipend: $5950. Prorated at $425 per week. Housing included in the form of group campsite.
Keep reading for more details, FAQs, and more!
2023 Wilderness Ranger Fellows with Forest Service staff
2023 Wilderness Ranger Fellows & staff crew leader
Benefits:
As volunteers, Wilderness Ranger Fellows will receive a $425 weekly living stipend, paid at the end of each month during their term of service.
Housing will be provided in the form of a shared group campsite approximately 10 miles outside of Missoula during local trainings and days off. Amenities at the site include potable water, restrooms with heated showers, laundry facilities (pay-to-use), a fitness center, a heated swimming pool, and Wi-Fi. Days in the backcountry “on hitch” are spent backpacking and living in your tent!
Federal mileage reimbursement rate of $0.655/mile for personal vehicle use for work.
A modest food budget will be provided for work projects for Wilderness Ranger Fellows. When meals are not provided, Fellows will receive $80 per hitch to help cover food costs.
Wilderness First Aid/CPR training and certification.
2 SBFC uniform shirts, work tools, and personal protective equipment.
USFS Crosscut Saw Certification.
Three weeks of trails and Wilderness training and 11 weeks of in-the-Wilderness, hands-on experiential learning, working and living in the Selway-Bitterroot and/or Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness areas and surrounding wildlands.
Training:
Upon arrival on May 13th, WRFs will receive three weeks of training led by SBFC staff and professional Forest Service Wilderness & Trails managers. Training topics may include all of the following (with WFA and crosscut certification being mandatory):
Wilderness First Aid/CPR certification
USFS Crosscut Bucking certification
Fundamentals of trail maintenance to various specifications
Wilderness Act of 1964 history and significance
Conducting Campsite Inventory and Solitude, Primitive and Unconfined Recreation (SPUR) Monitoring
Leave No Trace principles and ethics
Backcountry packing/nutrition/travel/navigation/communication
Introduction to horsemanship and stock packing
Leadership development, crew dynamics and interpersonal communication
2022 Wilderness Ranger Fellows
2022 Wilderness Ranger Fellows tackling a tough section of trail
location:
Homebase for the Wilderness Ranger Fellows is a shared group campsite located just outside of Missoula, Montana. Field work takes place in the Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness areas in Idaho & Montana.
SBFC partners with all four National Forests that manage the Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Areas: the Nez Perce-Clearwater, Bitterroot, Salmon-Challis, and Payette National Forests. Each WRF will have the opportunity to experience and work on several, if not all four, of the National Forests that we partner with. The Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Areas are collectively over 3.6 million acres, with the lowest elevations only 1,500 ft above sea level and high elevations reaching above 10,000 ft. Temperatures can range from 20 degrees F in the spring and fall at higher elevations, to over 100 degrees F at the lower elevations in July and August. Depending on location and time of year, entire projects can go by without precipitation, and others can have heavy rain multiple days in a row. Training will be located in the field, at provided camp sites, or in Missoula. When in Missoula, whether for training or off time, a shared group campsite is provided by SBFC. The final week of the program will be spent visiting the local communities surrounding the SBFC Wilderness complex, sharing your experiences from the season, and staying in the front country camping.
2023 Wilderness Ranger Fellows
2022 Wilderness Ranger Fellows & staff crew leader
Minimum Required Experience, Education & Qualifications
Applicants may be currently enrolled in a college or university or have graduated between spring 2023 and spring 2024. Military veterans must be within two years of being discharged. Applicants not enrolled in or graduated from college will also be considered.
Must be at least 18 years of age at the start of the season.
Ability to commit and be present for the entire term of service: May 13, 2024 - August 16, 2024.
Coursework/experience in conservation, land management, sciences, and related is encouraged, but other disciplines and backgrounds are welcome.
Effective communication skills and ability to be open to new experiences.
Willingness to live in a backcountry setting out of a tent without Wi-Fi and cell service for 8 or more days at a time. Opportunities for “mini immersions” could lead up to 19 consecutive days in a backcountry setting.
Physical requirements:
Ability to hike 10+ miles a day for several days at a time, in difficult terrain with a 60+ pound backpack including hand tools.
Ability to lift up to 35 pounds repeatedly and use hand tools.
Willingness to work long, physically demanding hours in all weather conditions.
-
WRFs are based in Missoula, Montana. During Wilderness hitches, Fellows live in the field! We recommend a one or two person backpacking tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad (we will share some of our favorite brands/models, and recommend some good consignment gear shops if you don’t have these things).
During days off, housing is provided in the form of a shared group campsite at a developed campground in Missoula, Granite Peak RV Park Resort. You will be able to set up and leave your tent for the duration of your time off. Shared lockers will be available to store personal items. Group cooking gear and a wall tent will be set up for Fellows to use.
Check out the amenities at Granite Peak here.
-
All Wilderness Ranger Fellows are responsible for their own meals throughout the summer, other than a few group meals during training. Fellows joining in volunteer projects will help cook (and eat!) group meals that are provided. Fellows are provided with an $80 stipend per hitch for food while on projects without volunteers. Fellows are responsible for their meals on days off.
SBFC will share ideas, menus, and recipes for meals in the backcountry, should you need suggestions. Check out some favorite recipes here:
-
Yes! Wilderness Ranger Fellows are volunteers who receive a living stipend. The 2024 stipend is $5950, which is pro-rated at $425 weekly, paid at the end of each month during their term of service.
-
Yes! We’re happy to work with you individually to make this happen. Past Fellows have both received college credit and/or completed college internships.Item description
-
6:00 AM: Wake up, make breakfast at camp, pack up your backpack if moving camp (probably waking up earlier if moving camp, especially until you get your packup routine perfected!)
7:00 AM: 15 minute stretch, review the daily plan with your staff crew lead, have safety discussions, planned breaks, expected work, etc….
7:30 AM: Start down the trail! Whether with day packs or full backpacks, the work almost always starts with a hike of some distance down the trail you’re working on. (remember, the Selway and Frank are a couple of MASSIVE Wilderness areas, after all). A typical workday can include some or all of the following tasks:
1) clearing downed trees from the trail corridor using traditional tools
2) using hand saws and loppers to brush the trail corridor
3) using pulaskis, shovels and pic-mattocks to dig retread on sections of trail that are no longer safely passable to traffic
4) using those and similar traditional tools to repair or maintain various trail structures such as waterbars, culverts and rock walls, and
5) Wilderness Reporting of various kinds, such as Campsite Inventory Forms and Visitor Use Reporting.
Remember, all of this is done while covering multiple trail miles, with tools in hand and full backpacks making your legs strong! Days include mandatory breaks. One 15 minute break in the AM, a half hour lunch midday, and a 15 minute break in the afternoon.
17:30 (5:30 PM, we use military time for communication!): Goal to be back at camp or to the next camp after 10 moving hours on the trail. With so many variables to balance such as limited water sources, limited campsites, and unknown work loads, days that are longer than 10 hours between campsites can be expected. The goal is to balance those longer days with shorter ones whenever possible. (ie, a 12 hour day could be followed by two consecutive 9 hour days).
18:00-21:00 (6-9 PM): Aside from the usual necessities of hitch life in the Wilderness, such as making dinner, doing dishes, safely storing food and “smellies” from wildlife, and gearing up for the next day, the evenings are yours! Reading, creek or lake baths, and card games are a few long standing crew staples. It is strongly recommended that folks use hitches as immersive Wilderness opportunities to “unplug” from modern technology as much as they are comfortable with. For most of us, Wilderness is one of the last places we aren’t required or tempted to stare at a screen– take advantage!
21:00-06:00 (9 PM-6 AM) : Sleep and begin the day anew! There isn’t a required tent time or anything like that, but I have yet to meet someone on a trail crew who wasn’t willingly in their tent by 9 PM with another 6 AM or earlier start time coming up the next day. Wilderness and trail maintenance in these two Wilderness Areas is physically demanding, and quality sleep is critical to performance and endurance!
-
SBFC provides all tools and personal protective equipment (PPE).
Fellows should have their own pair of broken-in sturdy hiking/work boots, backpack, sleeping bag & pad, and tent.
We can share resources for acquiring gear after the hiring process (Missoula has some excellent consignment gear stores!).
The application window for the 2024 Wilderness Ranger Fellowship program is now closed. Check back in December 2024 to apply for the 2025 season!
Eager to learn more?
Read blog posts from previous Wilderness Ranger Fellows
Learn about alumni Fellows and their career paths
Meet the 2023 Wilderness Ranger Fellows
Read the full 2024 position description