Laura-N-Sasha
Anywhere, USA
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Hi All,
I just came upon this discussion regarding the NPS and volunteering last night and it has taken me a while to respond because I wanted to get my words together correctly. But just a little background first:
The past 6 months (or rather 1039 hours) I have been working as a Park Ranger (Interpretation) at Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CAHA). I have not been on RV.net for quite a while as well, just don't have the time. But back in 2007/2008 I volunteered for over a year at Prince William Forest Park (PRWI), again at National Park.
At CAHA, I am a GS 05, getting $14.74 an hour no overtime, some comp time (basically straight pay) while working 80 hours in 9 days (5 days @ 9 hours, 2 days off; 3 days @ 9 hours, 1 day @ 8 hours, 3 days off)-this was during the summer (Memorial Day to Labor Day). During the spring and fall it was straight 5 days on, 2 days off. Only lately have I gotten overtime because we were so understaffed they have someone on during the shifts.
When I volunteered at PRWI, I volunteered for 32 hours for FHU site, but the time was usually longer than that, usually every week about 35 hours. I did everything that the park rangers (GS 04!) were doing, from opening and closing the visitor center, working the cash register, knowing the combo to the safe, to doing interpretive work including writing a program. I also was a campground host and a cabin camp host.
So I guess you could say I have an interesting perspective; I have been on both sides of the fence. While working at CAHA, we EXPECT our volunteers to do a ton of physical work, they basically do our jobs too - only they do not do programs. That is the one and only exception.
Did I feel threatened by them? HE!! YES - because they were working for NOTHING! When I first started working here, I paid for the site - $150 a month. When Sasha started volunteering at maintenance, we did not have that bill anymore. BUT basically the volunteers were working for at least 35 hours a week EACH - most were couples, so that would have been 70 hours a week. This is contrary to what Sasha said above, as the volunteers at the lighthouse had to do more hours, because they went to the meetings at the beginning and end of the day. So you are looking at about $.50 an hour!
The volunteers here have their own health insurance while almost all of the Seasonal Rangers do not have health insurance (except for me) yet we have very physical jobs, with the possibility of getting hurt to be very costly. The seasonal rangers who do not have rvs, had to pay about $250 for their seasonal housing, still less than the rental homes around here, but still very expensive to take out of a paycheck.
In the beginning of the season, we had two couples, both very generous with their time and enthusiasm for the park. Both stayed for over 3 months. They were great, because they had been here before the season began and before we had ramped up to our knowledge of the park. I got here in the beginning of April. I had about 1 week of training and then had to develop, write and ultimately give 9 programs. They were here when we opened up the lighthouse and did the shifts just like us. They even got some training too, like first aid and CPR. The couples worked together, so one couple would work Wednesday through Saturday, and the other couple would work Saturday through Tuesday.
We never did have a full staff this season, we kept losing people to other parks and it took forever to get some of the rangers in - because of background checks. It was weird, my background took a week, but we just had one ranger come in a week ago - it took them 2 months to do her check. But because of the less staff, we really had to rely on volunteers, otherwise we would get comp time (could not do overtime as there was not enough money!)
Only trouble was, after those two couples, we started getting less volunteers. This also happened at the worst possible time here - the hot, buggy, high humidity and extremely high amount of visitors here at the park. We had one couple come in, they lasted six weeks but they were planning to be here 3 months. That put a wrench in the scheduling and we again had to scramble. Her knee was the problem, probably because of having to go up and down the lighthouse (257 steps people!) But they set the precedent, after that, we could not get anyone to last more than 6 weeks! The work was too hard, and quite honestly, I asked almost all of the volunteers if they would come back and what they thought of their jobs. Most stated that they would not be back, that it was too physical and that they should only have to work 16 hour each for the site (which would be 32 hours!) One guy stated that he was retired, and this just felt like more work.
But after that, we would have one couple working the weekend shifts - Friday through Monday, and we would be working our shifts. Now, a little extra information too - as a park ranger, whether it is a visitor use assistant (fee collector) or interpretation or Law Enforcement, or maintenance worker or resource management ranger, if you work on Sunday, you get extra pay. They consider Sunday as double time. So a volunteer would save them money of course, by working that day - one less payout to the park ranger. Of course most of us would rather work on Sunday, as everything around here is closed. The park is practically dead too, most people come to our park on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, not during the weekend. Unusual but this is an unusual park.
We do not have a volunteer coordinator - amazing as we are such a large park with lots of visitors every year. The ranger in charge of the volunteers was also in charge of all three districts of the park (interpretation only) which meant she was never around. We had a youth volunteer coordinator, but the youths only did a few things, always with a ranger present. There is no real process to get volunteers, and now it has gotten worse, supposedly, you need to contact the Chief Interpretive Ranger of the entire Outer Banks area (she is in charge of three parks - Wright Brothers, Fort Raleigh, and Cape Hatteras National Park) so it will be interesting to see how that will work for next year.
When I volunteered for PRWI, we had a volunteer coordinator, the perks were many and the troubles few. Great place to live, concrete pad, large space, totally private, and an unbelievable learning experience. But because I was an experienced volunteer - experienced in talking in front of people and great on the computer, some park rangers were threatened by my skills. Because basically, I was using that year to become experienced at being a park ranger, and would use it to get a park ranger job somewhere else.
Now at CAHA, the season is closing up, my last day is October 13, when I will be laid off because the lighthouse is closing, thereby they do not need us any more. It is harsh, but this is what happens every season. Some of the very lucky few, usually military veterans or rangers that have had winter positions before at other parks, can get the very very few winter jobs. The rest of us, myself included, will get unemployment until the summer jobs start being offered. Then we will all be applying furiously, spending up to 4 hours per each application to try to get another $14.74 GS 05 job.
As the rules have now changed, those that did not work in the military during all of our wars, will not get the preferred +10 points. Also those that were married or mothers of the military will also get the +10 points. The parks have to consider those veterans FIRST before they can even look at a qualified ranger. So we will have to apply to even more jobs, maybe at lesser known parks, just to get in.
The winter season at CAHA will have a student ranger, a returning ranger, and a volunteer, plus a GS 09 ranger who will be their boss.
Will I volunteer again? YES, because it is usually fun, but I will check out the park first, before I volunteer. I certainly would find out if the volunteer coordinator is a full-time park ranger, or one who is a seasonal ranger. I would find out how many hours one person would need to work and find out what the site would look like. I would also price out other campgrounds to find out what it would be per hour. Again you are volunteering, so there are great perks (usually) with each park. But I certainly would not volunteer for CAHA, they work the volunteers too hard.
Like Kirk said - there are thousands of us park rangers without health insurance, because we are seasonal. I think I read in one of the stats that there are approximately 15,000 park rangers within the NPS and there are over 200,000 volunteers! We are at all time low staffing levels because they get volunteers to do the work, or the work does not get done. If Sasha had not volunteered, the front of the park would not have been freshly painted, the grass coming into the park would not have been mowed as often, and the campgrounds, RV and park housing would never have gotten mowed. It just would not have happened and all of the RV sites would have had waist-high weeds.
Laura Jevtich
Laura-N-Sasha.com
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sasha_j
On the Road USA
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The head of maintenance here confirmed for me that mowing staff housing and staff RV area was the lowest possible priority.
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Redfox11
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We have volunteered at NFS, NPS and NWR’s, we were told by management at all places we work that we did a good job and that they could not operate the parks without volunteers. We felt the most comfortable working with staff at NWR’s they did not make you feel as if you were taking a paying job from someone. At NFS and NPS the paid staff had the attitude that if I was doing their job, they could just sit there and watch me.
NWR staff supported you with Tools, suggestions, and most importantly Manpower when you need help with your job.
* This post was
edited 10/11/09 08:13am by Redfox11 *
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FedAgent
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Laura, thank you for the posting on your experience with the NPS. You bring an interesting perspective to the table having served both as a volunteer and as a Ranger. While doing volunteer work at both the USFS and the NPS, I was somewhat surprised at the pay scale paid to these people, the seasonal aspect and the furloughs that even the full time staff may have to live with. I know most find work at other Parks or associated areas of the federal system. I know of one Ranger who works 8 months at Yellowstone and then works the rest of the year in Hawaii, kind of hard to feel too sorry for him, but others I know, have not been that lucky.
When I read the requirements for hours and work that you indicated was normal at your Park, I guess there is a real difference in a small Park and a larger Park. I assume that is because the larger, better known, more interesting and scenic Parks do not have a problem in getting quality volunteers in great numbers. Yellowstone Park has a full time volunteer coordinator and that is that person’s only job. I have no idea how many volunteers are at Yellowstone during the summer, I asked, but never did get a real number, but there must be hundreds. My personal experience at YNP was that I had a very adequate amount of time to do hiking, photography and exploring. I never felt overworked or under appreciated for what I did there. Most of the staff at Yellowstone, both paid and volunteer have been there form many years. The person I replaced had been there for about a dozen years. I had four years of volunteer experience and I felt like a real newbie there.
I found it interesting that during my time at YNP, I got a sales pitch/recruiting speech from 2 different place. Kind of a volunteer head hunter situation. One was from another Park, one from the USFS and one from a state park. Again, I assume that is due to the plethora of volunteers at major Parks and a much smaller number of people willing to work in smaller, less spectacular areas.
My only slight gripe at the NPS is they are pretty frugal when it comes to giving “thank you” gifts at the end of the season to the volunteers. When I was giving my time to the USFS, seemed like every few weeks I would get a “t” shirt, hat, small gift certificate to a local restaurant, key chain or whatever. The NPS gave me a belt buckle and a lapel pin. Not complaining, but we all like to think we are appreciated.
Anyway, enjoyed my time at YNP and plan on returning next year. Perhaps you might end up as an interp Ranger in Yellowstone.
Larry
Larry
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4ontheroad
Vermont & Utah (born and raised Santa Clara NY)
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JUrban wrote:Another highly efficient government program. Guess where the folks who are forward looking, hard working and more than willing to do a superior job will end up? And you know it won't be in our NP's.
Ouch!! It really hurts when you get to shoot yourself in the foot---again and again.
John
wait til they are in charge of your healthcare.
When Seconds count, the cops are only Minutes away!
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Jayco-noslide
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I guess that we would have several criteria we would want a potential employer to meet for us to consider working there and one would be that they let me know in a timely manner, like early enough to make a good decision and consider other places. Years ago when I decided which one of 3 graduate schools to go to, I had to eliminate the one that messed around and took too long for a decision. Same situation.
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ArkieVet
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Mike and Claudia wrote:I "handle" it by finding some other state or Corps park to volunteer in. We don't really want to work 36 hours/week EACH as many of the National Parks require.
We enjoyed the two instances that we HAVE worked for NPS, but when going to work and going to bed are the only two things you have time to do, then something is wrong.
I'm not a workamper, yet, if ever. 36 hours each (72 hours), at minimum wage is over $2K/month worth of work. IF all you're getting is free lot rent, then you're being ripped off!!
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Just a Lady
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Well; this forum topic has been quite the "eye opener"!
My hubby and I have been volunteering in parks for about 3.5 years now and we thought that we were the only ones that had experienced these issues with NPS.
To establish were we might fall "on the forum food chain", below is a list of the entities that we have (worked) volunteered with, so far:
-National Park Service
-Bureau of Land Management
-National Forest Service
-Utah State Parks
-California State Parks
-Oregon State Parks
-Army Corp of Engineers
To some of you; we are just "wet behind the ears". Hopefully; we will have something to ad to this forum, as time goes by.
By far; the least desirable entity (for us) is the NPS. In this forum it has been suggested that the Volunteer Coordinator position seems to go, consistently, to the "newbie" (usually Interp) employee with the least experience in dealing with Volunteers (and Volunteer needs). Usually, this person has had no management training and never actually been a Volunteer.
This, in itself, makes if very frustrating and difficult to get through the process. The fact that the Volunteer Coordinator is pulled in several directions at once; makes it nearly impossible to coordinate our schedules in a timely manner. A lot of times; the delay in processing applications has led us to move on to another entity and opportunity.
This coupled with the fact that Volunteer Coordinators come and go faster than we can get through the process, is extremely disconcerting. In our current National Park stint; we went through (3) different Volunteer Coordinators to secure this position. That was all in a 3 month time period.
Along the way; you can forget about any agreements that were made.
The latest Volunteer Coordinator, usually hasn't taken the time the read through the numerous emails that had flown back/forth between you and the other two (former VC's).
With regards to the Volunteers replacing paid employees.... that seems to be our, overall, views as to what is going on in some of our National Parks. It has been our experience that the NPS is flying permanent positions (with benefits) with no intent to hire. They are allowing the "certificates" to expire; all the while "filling in with Volunteers". This makes for a very uncomfortable work environment when you have Volunteers, actually doing paid positions.
Well; I don't need to rehash what has already been stated, so eloquently, in the previous posts.
We just want to say "Thank You" for having this thread. The hubby and I were really thinking that we were the only ones experiencing said inconsistencies and overall issues with the NPS.
For the moment.....I have nothing more to say!
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sasha_j
On the Road USA
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Excellent points. Just a Lady, thanks for posting.
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Kirk
Livingston, Texas.
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Just a Lady....
Great addition to the thread. As far as I can tell, you have a background that goes back at least as far as ours and wide or wider experience as we, and I really think that we can safely say that we are fairly experienced. You make some really great points.
We have not found all NPS locations to be such as yours has been, but some are. I have always believed that the seniority of the person who serves as volunteer coordinator can be a hint as to the importance that will be given to volunteer positions.
I would love to compare notes with you some day over what places we like and what we don't, and the reasons why!
ArkieVet
There is some degree of truth to what you say, but you should understand that most of us who volunteer frequently do not do so so much for the value of the amenities, but because we believe in the agency and we enjoy what we do. At the same time, excessive demands can drive most volunteers away at some point. Just where that point is will vary quite widely. Very few of us give much thought to the exchange rate for hours spent versus value returned, but we do want enough free time to tour the area, and enough in return to make us feel appreciated.
I suspect that every agency has their fans and their unhappy folks with volunteers just like most things. We have long held a preference for the national wildlife refuges, but are coming to appreciate the Corps of Engineers more and more.
Good travelin! ........Kirk
Professional Volunteer
URL: www.adventure.1tree.net
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