Wanted: Longmire Volunteer Campground Manager

Boy Scout volunteers hard at work cleaning up
storm debris in the Longmire Volunteer Campground

With summer fast approaching, we are still searching for the right individual or couple to serve as our next Campground Manager at the Longmire Volunteer Campground. It's a unique position -- part campground host, part docent, part project crew leader, part volunteer coordinator -- and it requires a unique person to fill the role.

Specifically, we're looking for someone to live in our volunteer campground in their RV and coordinate the use of 31 tent sites, 2 group places, and several platform tents. You'll be taking reservations and assigning campsites, making sure guests are aware of campground regulations and in compliance with them, and making sure everyone feels welcomed and supported. You'll deal with challenges as they come up -- illegal campers, people who've lost their keys, loose dogs, and periodic reports of gunfire echoing up the canyon from Forest Service land outside the park. You'll maintain, clean, and supply a comfort station with three showers, and assign and retrieve keys from campers. You'll make sure that campsites are kept clean and inviting for the next guest.

The Longmire Campground is a historic site dating back to the 1930s, so its spaces are small, limiting RVs, including yours, to 24 feet in length. It contains 16 sites with hookups, including yours, which are used by park staff, concession employees, and full-time volunteers. The remaining sites -- the ones you'll be coordinating -- have no hookups.

The campground was closed to public use in the late 1960s, and was resurrected in 2007 for use by volunteers, education groups, and other working park partners. Its picnic tables are begged and borrowed, and its fire grates are 50 years old. With the help of grant money from Washington's National Park Fund and Glad®, we're planning to purchase and build or install new tables and grates this summer. You'll be helping to coordinate and lead these efforts, as well as other volunteer groups that help open the campground in the spring (cleaning up storm debris and setting up platform tents) and close it down in the fall.

Like any campground host position, it's a full-time, 40-hour-a-week job, with flexible hours, since you'll need to be on call whenever volunteers arrive or need assistance. Reimbursement is available for living expenses. The season begins approximately June 1 and runs through the end of September.

If you're interested, don't delay -- fill out an application today at volunteer.gov! You can also contact me directly to express interest in the position, at 360-569-6567 or Kevin_Bacher [at] NPS.gov.