Does anyone here have any experience working trail maintenance (or similar) jobs? I'm considering applying for a local position and would like to hear some anons firsthand experience.
Trail Maintenance Jobs
Does anyone here have any experience working trail maintenance (or similar) jobs? I'm considering applying for a local position and would like to hear some anons firsthand experience.
It depends on the people you are working with .
My time on the trail without having been a member of a trail maintenance group leads me to believe these groups do a lot of great work.
They get outside, socialize, have an enjoyable time and chainsaw treefalls off of trails, shovel and fill erosion area. Install steps in steep areas, clean up garbage.
I think they are a great thing.
Idk my i just got hired on to the parks labor force in the nearest city to me
Probably a good summer job but when I worked at a state DNR I heard it was really competitive since there's so many people that want to work for parks and rec, so they can pay kinda shit because they have so many applicants. I wouldn't do it long term.
>so many people that want to work for parks and rec
All five of them? Lmao.
Unironically my state DNR is filled with Uber boomers that transitioned from an actual career once they made a bunch of money and then worked for free for the DNR until they got a shit shovelling job because muh durr
From the provided details it runs about 8 months from April to November, it also pays better than my current job and has a 32-40hr work week.
They're "potentially" taking a lot of applicants for relatively few open positions but I think I have a good chance. I'm young and probably much more fit than most of the people applying. I could also get some bonus points by shoehorning in all the volunteer projects I did in BSA. The requirements are basically "don't be moronic" but I'm an expert at disguising that part.
My biggest concern is, say I work there 2-3 years, then what? What kind of other jobs can you get with this experience? Would I just be doomed to be a laborer every season if I didn't want to become some year-round office lackey?
>My biggest concern is, say I work there 2-3 years, then what? What kind of other jobs can you get with this experience? Would I just be doomed to be a laborer every season if I didn't want to become some year-round office lackey?
I'd say just go for it. 2-3 years of an interesting job would look good on a resume. If/when you send out your resume, talk yourself up as if you were out saving the environment, preserving nature, etc.
Keeping the same job for 40 years and working up the corporate ladder is a meme these days anyway. Most companies are clamoring to hire any slightly competent person.
I job hop professional jobs every few years and all of my previous employers beg me to come back. Sometimes when I quit, I do a physical labor job for a while to clear my head and enjoy a simple life for a little. There is something satisfying about going to work, working hard physically, and then forgetting all about it when you get home.
>talk yourself up as if you were out saving the environment, preserving nature, etc.
I mean that's really not far off from what we were doing. I'll be sure to include every bag of garbage I've ever collected.
Jokes aside thanks for the advice.
>My biggest concern is, say I work there 2-3 years, then what? What kind of other jobs can you get with this experience? Would I just be doomed to be a laborer every season if I didn't want to become some year-round office lackey?
From what I’ve seen people work trails until they throw their back out in their mid-to-late 30s, then either go into conservation admin jobs, go into private landscaping for twice the pay and twice the stress, or move to wild land firefighting.
not too many people get paid to do this. in my state it's maybe 1-2 DCNR employees hosting volunteer work days for trails, generally 10+ people volunteering for this.
Personally, I volunteer for this often because i'm basically creating ideal habitat-edge for boletes, chanterelles, amanitas etc to pop up along the following summer. Won't help with morels really but we're basically farming mushrooms if we're doing this near our eastern white pines
stewardship of nature, farming, foraging, is all some of the most fulfilling time you can spend in this life
I did one season. It was all dudes.
i volunteered once with a group and half of the actual staff were female
It’s a good job to try at least once. Try to go for a position with a state or National park; the Forest Service will kick your ass and roll you through mud (though FS is a fast track to getting work on fires, thus getting rich).
Do 2 things at once: apply for whatever trails jobs look good. If you have any experience landscaping, carpentry, roofing, whatever, really ham that up in your resume. Also they like to see a history of volunteer work. Also google Americorps opportunities in whatever region you want to work in. With the Corps you only get your ass kicked for a couple months, play an unholy amount of soccer, and thereafter I guarantee you will get job offers from trail crew employers.
Unfortunately it’s too late to apply for the summer season for most federal jobs.
I’ve worked trails with the NPS for many seasons, my programs have been consistently about 40% female. Partially because we pull heavily from Americorps which is female dominated
Beaners take our jerbs! Can't even volunteer anymore. Will work free-er than us.
Depending how old some you are, it might be worth it to try a trail term with Americorps, your region’s conservation corps, or some similar organization.
Large trail networks, such as the Appalachian trail, tend to have dedicated trail groups that will work on specific parts of the trails.
If you have plenty of free time, there are state parks that will love to have volunteers to maintain trails. In my experience, there are regional organizations for mountain bikers and horse homosexuals that will have volunteers that spend a lot of time and effort maintains trails a they’re the ones that tend to use the trails the most. Unfortunately I have not had the luxury of encountering any dedicated hiking groups that help maintain trails in my area.
My state’s DNR is terribly mismanaged and is overstretched and never has enough of a budget to do anything since agency leaders and certain elected officials enjoy vanity projects to boost their egos and image instead of allocating resource into maintaining what is already existing. That means new trails and other things while existing trails, parks, and other types of areas don’t receive the love and attention they deserve.
Wait a second, they pay you for this?
You can get paid for many things
Am interested how this goes. Over here I cant think of a job that doesnt require an education, connection or something
In the same boat man. In this shit together
There are private companies that have the primary focus of trail construction and maintenance.
Usually parks and agencies will contract these businesses to build trails or they will have volunteers from various organizations building them.
From my experience, state agencies will usually have their park/land maintenance staff maintain the trail with the help of volunteer groups, sometimes there might hurt be a dedicated trail guy or two whose job is to care for the trails, but that’s usually a seasonal gig.
If you want to make money and have a, it’s in the whole trail design process, management, bureaucracy side of things. Typically agencies and cities with large enough metro park systems will have someone who designs and plans trail projects, although this is also outsourced to private companies as well.
t trailgay
get on neetbux and you can hike whenever you want
This
If you’re in the US, save up for a cheap camper and become a camp host a state park and live at least 6 months out of the year living in a campground for free while doing minimal required service hours such as picking up trash and cleaning ash and debris from campfire rings.