The Bureau of Land Management Glennallen Field Office in Alaska is hiring for a river ranger on the Delta National Wild and Scenic River and Gulkana National Wild and Scenic River. Click here to go to the Park Ranger (River Patrol) job announcement at USAJobs.gov. The application period closes January 27, 2012, which means this link won’t work after that date. This is a GS-7, temporary, seasonal position not to exceed 1,039 hours of work in a year.
I emailed the Glennallen Field Office for a little more information. Heath Emmons, Outdoor Recreation Planner there, tells me the river crew consists of four people. One usually works the boat ramp at the river portal while the other three conduct the river patrol. Patrols are usually by canoe in up to Class II+ whitewater. Patrols are conducted weekly alternating between the two rivers. The patrols are usually three days and two nights floating 30 miles on the Delta and four days and three nights floating 45 miles on the Gulkana. Sometimes patrols of both rivers are combined into one eight day float.
Duties of the position include:
- Using canoes and rafts on whitewater rivers,
- Initiating contact with visitors to provide information and answer questions,
- Training and coordinating scheduling for volunteers providing interpretive programs,
- Staffing river information portal at boat launches,
- Informing visitors of rules and regulations and taking action to document and report prohibited or unsafe acts
- Planning and carrying out maintenance on the rivers including maintenance of portages and installed facilities,
- Monitor maintenance contracts for two developed campgrounds, and inspects work contractors to insure compliance with contracts, and,
- Collecting data for issuance of commercial recreation use permits and checking compliance with these permits.
