REGIONAL— Looking for a meaningful way to spend time in the Boundary Waters this summer? The U.S. Forest Service’s volunteer wilderness ranger program just might be the opportunity you’re looking for. The Superior National Forest is looking for about a dozen interested individuals to spend the summer working on a variety of maintenance projects in the wilderness.
While the Forest Service has wilderness rangers on staff, it lacks the funding to deploy the numbers of rangers needed to keep up with the never-ending need to clear portages and maintain the thousands of remote campsites located in the 1.1-million-acre wilderness area.
You don’t need to have prior experience although those with prior canoeing, camping, or other outdoor skills might have an advantage.
But Chris Maher, who oversees the program on the Kawishiwi District, said “soft skills” like an agreeable personality and willingness to work as part of a team can often give even the novice an advantage. Applications for the volunteer positions are open for the foreseeable future, with hiring decisions expected in late April for positions that could start as early as mid-May and typically run well into September, although start and finish dates are flexible, notes Maher.
Volunteers who are able to work the full summer are preferred, but that’s not always a deal-breaker, particularly for a volunteer with significant and relevant prior experience.
Maher said the volunteers tend to be college students looking ahead to careers in outdoor fields, although retirees looking for challenging volunteer opportunities are also typically among the applicants.
A willingness to engage in sometimes hard physical labor is more or less required. Volunteers will need to be able to portage gear and could be involved in clearing portage or hiking trails of brush and deadfalls, replacing a fire grate, picking up campsite litter, or digging a latrine, all in weather conditions that may be less than ideal.
Volunteers will receive training as needed to ensure they have the knowledge, the tools, and the protective gear to complete their wilderness tasks. Volunteers typically spend eight days at a time on the trail, with six days off. While volunteers are responsible for packing their own food, clothes, and toiletries, the Forest Service provides all needed equipment, canoes, and camping gear. If volunteers need a place to stay during off-times, the Forest Service does provide free housing in a bunkhouse. The Forest Service also provides a per diem during work times to cover food costs for its volunteers, although the amount varies from year-to-year and has not yet been set for this year.
But Maher said most volunteers find the real value in the experience. “It’s a great way to see a lot of country and do a lot of things in the wilderness,” said Maher, who was a wilderness volunteer himself more than a decade ago.
Does it sound like it might be for you? Then go to volunteer.gov to fill out an application. Applications will remain open at least through the month of March. For more information or questions, email Maher in Ely at christopher.maher@usda.gov or Dan Disch on the Gunflint District at daniel.disch@usda.gov.