Summer Volunteer Assistant positions posted

While it may seem odd to be thinking about summer staffing while there's still four feet of snow on the ground at Longmire, it's nevertheless time to start recruiting! I've posted two new positions today, for individuals who will help manage and operate our volunteer program this summer:

SCA Volunteer Coordinator
A six-month position hired through the Student Conservation Association. This individual will be my right-hand man or woman from April to October. We have a special challenge this year: After two years with the assistance of the Mount Rainier Recovery Corps, led by the tireless Jill Baum, this year we're on our own, the way we were before the great flood of November 2006. Nevertheless, we want to keep the momentum going. We've almost doubled the number of volunteers we work with, and we've created volunteer opportunities in exciting new areas. I'm meeting with program managers all over the park this month and next to begin planning for the coming summer, and so far, the theme is "we could do more, if we just had a little help." I'm encouraging supervisors to consider hiring an intern or volunteer to fill this role, with assistance and coordination from my office. That's the SCA Volunteer Coordinator will come in: that will be the person who helps me network both with park supervisors and with individual and group volunteers, to orchestrate the free-ranging logistics of our summer volunteer program. I'm hoping this individual will also be able to help with recruitment, outreach, publicity, partnerships, training, and strategic planning. In other words, this will be a demanding job, one that will take a lot of skill, but one that will provide invaluable experience and a great deal of job satisfaction. The Volunteer Coordinator will also work closely with the:

Longmire Campground Manager
The Longmire Campground Manager will be in charge of day to day operations in the historic, newly-restored Longmire Campground, which has been set aside for the use of volunteers. He or she--or he and she--or a succession of hes and shes over the course of the summer from May to October--will set up the campground in the spring and prepare it for winter in the fall, including building platform tents and returning them to storage. They will coordinate use of the campground by volunteers, and serve as hosts for volunteer guests. They will help with general maintenance and cleaning, especially of the new shower building. They will continue the process of renovating the campground and making it more usable by volunteers, including, hopefully, removal of deteriorating picnic tables and installation of new ones. They will work with groups of public volunteers to accomplish many of these projects, and will help out with general office work and event coordination as time permits. We will provide an RV site with hookups, as well as a reimbursement of general living expenses.

To apply for the Volunteer Coordinator position, visit the website of the Student Conservation Association. (Note: As of this writing, the position is still in the process of being added to the SCA database. If not all of the details show up yet, please check back later.) To apply for the Longmire Campground Manager position, fill out an application on volunteer.gov/gov, or submit a resume directly to me at Kevin_Bacher@nps.gov. Call me with any questions at 360-569-2211 ext. 3385. Both positions will be open until filled.