Wilderness Ranger Fellow

Discover what it takes to perform Wilderness trail conservation in the largest Wilderness complex in the Lower 48! Cut your trail teeth learning from a wide array of professional technicians before being led on five 8-day backpacking trail maintenance missions, focused in the Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Areas. Learn to backpack, maintain trail corridors and use Wilderness tools like the ax, pulaski and crosscut saw within a part of the country that we like to call The Wildest Place!

Position Overview:
The SBFC Wilderness Ranger Fellowship (WRF) program provides an immersive experience in Wilderness Trails conservation and management through hands-on stewardship. Your fellowship will provide you with the opportunity to learn:

1. wilderness trails maintenance skills, wilderness campsite inventory skills, and real-world in-the-field decision making that public land managers require of their wilderness stewards;

2. the ability to safely and proficiently live, travel, and work in a backcountry setting for 8 or more days at a time;

3. from SBFC staff wilderness trail professionals, as well as USFS wilderness trail technicians;

4. alongside other WRFs as well as volunteers from the public, and;

5. to be an on-the-ground advocate for Wilderness access, education, and protection through your words and more importantly, your actions.

Benefits:

• As volunteers, Wilderness Ranger Fellows will receive a $425 weekly living stipend, paid at the end of each month during their term of service.

• Housing will be provided in the form of a shared group campsite outside of Missoula during local training days and days off. Amenities at the site include potable water, restrooms with heated showers, laundry facilities (pay-to-use), a fitness center, heated swimming pool, and wi-fi. Days in the backcountry “on hitch,” are of course spent backpacking and living in your tent!

• Federal mileage reimbursement rate of $0.67/mile for personal vehicle use for work

• A modest food budget will be provided for work projects for Wilderness Ranger Fellows. When meals are not provided, Fellows will receive $80 per hitch to help cover food costs.

• Wilderness First Aid/CPR training and certification.

• 2 SBFC uniform shirts, work tools, and personal protective equipment.

• USFS Crosscut Certification.

• Three weeks of trails & Wilderness training, and eleven weeks of boots-on-the-trail, hands-on-the-tools experiential learning, working and living in the Selway-Bitterroot and/or Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness areas and surrounding wildlands.

Minimum Required Experience, Education & Qualifications

• Education beyond a high school diploma is not a requirement, but our Fellowship position was built to fit into as many college summer schedules as possible, and college students are encouraged to apply.

• Must be at least 18 years of age at the start of the season.

• Ability to commit and be present for the entire term of service of 5/12/25-8/15/25.

• Coursework/experience in conservation, land management, sciences and related is encouraged but other disciplines and backgrounds are welcome.

• Effective communication skills and ability to be open to new experiences.

• Willingness to live in a backcountry setting out of a tent without Wi-Fi and cell service for 8 or more days at a time. Opportunities for “mini-immersions” could lead up to 19 consecutive days in a backcountry setting.
  

Physical requirements:

• Ability to hike 10+ miles a day for several days at a time, in difficult terrain, with a 60+ pound backpack including hand tools.

• Ability to lift up to 35 pounds repeatedly and use hand tools.

• Willingness to work long, physically-demanding hours in all weather conditions.