Wilderness Intern
The Klamath National Forest includes 1.7 million acres of spectacular scenery including steep mountainous terrain, pristine rivers and remote lakes. The Forest includes portions of 5 wilderness areas: Siskiyou, Marble Mountain, Russian, Trinity Alps and Red Buttes. Position will be based in Happy Camp, CA. The town of Happy Camp is located along the Klamath Wild and Scenic River in Northern California. Happy Camp is a small community of approximately 1,000 people. Several larger communities are located within a couple hours drive. Yreka is the nearest full-service community, which is about 1.5 hours from Happy Camp.
Wilderness Intern responsibilities include:
- patrolling wilderness trails;
- educating wilderness visitors about regulations and Leave No Trace principles;
- collecting visitor use monitoring data;
- conducting campsite inventories;
- inventorying non-native plants;
- maintaining wilderness trails;
- rehabilitating and cleaning campsites.
There may be the opportunity occasionally, if you are interested, to work with the River Ranger to patrol the Klamath River in inflatable kayaks. You will typically be spending four to five days (i.e., three to four nights) in the Wilderness per week, with a Forest Service Wilderness Ranger serving as your work leader in the field. Your work will involve hiking 8-15 miles of steep trails per day in varied weather conditions. The Forest Service will provide necessary camping gear. You will be expected to carry your own gear and cook your own meals. Interacting with the public is an important part of this position. You will therefore be expected to provide quality customer service and to maintain a professional appearance (to the extent reasonable given wilderness conditions). You may be asked to work weekends, as those are the highest use times for our wilderness trails. Poison oak is common at lower elevations and you will encounter other hazards on the trail including bees and wasps. A 2-way radio and a satellite phone will be provided to the wilderness crew. You will be expected to follow Forest Service and SCA safety and communication procedures at all times. You will be working in the Marble Mountain and Siskiyou Wilderess areas, located in northern California on the Klamath National Forest. You are encouraged to peruse wilderness.net to learn more about federally-designated Wilderness and its management. You can also find profiles of individual Wilderness areas there.
