outdoors jobs

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sharpmind

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Feb 17, 2011
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so i've been thinking alot about my life lately (i'm 25 and have no "direction") and i realized that i feel like i'd be a very happy person in a career in the woods. now i know this may not be the proper forum for this topic but i'm not entirely sure what forum would be. my question is how would i go about getting a job like maintaining trails or stuff like that where i'm deep in the woods for prolonged periods of time. also i dont necessarily want to work for the government. thanks for your time, and again if this is in the wrong forum i'm sorry and i hope one of the nice mods will kindly place it in the correct one for me. thanks again, sorry for the longwindedness. KEEP EM SHARP :D
 
I was an archaeologist for a dozen years after college. About half of the time was outdoors and half was office/lab. Got to see some really unique country where not many other people venture: deserts, mountains, deep forests, plains... Of course there's a downside; the pay sucked and our "benefits" package consisted of fresh air and exercise. I wouldn't go back and do anything differently though. :thumbup:

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I also worked at Philmont Scout Ranch for ten years in the summers, seven of those in the backcountry. Can't get much more "outdoors" than that!
 
You say that you don't want to work for the government. Well, most of the entry level jobs you're going to be looking at, maybe right now with the current economic conditions, are going to be gummint jobs. Federal, state and local. Whether you are a park ranger, an ecologist etc. A job you can get right now isn't a paying job, but might get your name out there, is to volunteer as a caretaker of your local national and state parks. I have health, money and vehicle problems right now, but there is nothing stopping me from volunteering on local trails. You would be hard pressed to find anyone that couldn't devote a couple hours to volunteer clean up work on local trails. I am a civil servant, and have a great job. It allows me time to get out and enjoy local parks and trails. I would do that, if I didn't mismanage my time away from work.

You have lots of different jobs that are available to you in the woods. I would take a look at www.usajobs.gov. There are lots of federal jobs out there where your office is in the woods, and you might have to go to a couple of meetings during the week. I saw a job as a boat captain, all you had to do was take scientists out Monday through Friday to get samples at different spots off the east coast. If there was bad weather, guess what, you stayed home. Gummint jobs aren't all play and no work like a lot of people think. You will most likely work your ass off in the woods. But you will have a secure job, and you won't be staring at a computer screen all day.

One other thing, I will be 32 in July, and have no direction myself. Things aren't going exactly as I would want them, but I am blessed to have a good, somewhat secure, job. I have family, a reasonable means of getting to and from work, a roof over my head, and the means to advance myself. Lots of people are out there a lot older than you and I without vision or a clear picture of where they want to be. I am very impatient, both with myself and others, and I want stuff done right now. I want to lose weight right now, not later. You have to have patience.

Just my advice man.
 
some cool ideas so far, but if i'm going to work for any government it'll be a foreign one. is it difficult to immigrate to canuckistan?
 
Start a survival training school, or otherwise become a hunting/fishing/camping guide?
 
If you want to get into Forestry, you will have to compete with others as well as the complete lack of funding for jobs right now.

Another direction that you may consider, considering where you actually live, is to find an entry level job at a winery/vintner. You get to be outside all day and may actually learn your way to a well-paying position.

Last suggestion is the Armed Forces for plenty of outdoors and some imposed discipline.
 
Many jobs not specifically outdoor-oriented do involve a lot of time in the outdoors. Here's a few of mine:
Farming and ranching, home construction, railroad construction, and mudlogging geology.

Have you considered some of the cons of working outdoors, or outdoor jobs in general?
They often pay very low with no benefits. Housing can be 'rustic', to say the least. Many fields are seasonal only, meaning you have to be migratory to find work year-round. Weather/climate/bugs/poison ivy...

You don't mind being in Southern Arkansas in August, or the windswept Wyoming dune fields in mid-winter?
 
i've also been thinking of something in Logging... I'm located in Minneapolis MN right now, but i dont like it here so i'm pretty open to relocating. as for working outside, i'm fairly resilient to cold since i'm a big guy. I dont care too much about making a ton of money as long as i can pay my bills and have a little extra to spend on somethin stupid :D.
 
I'm pretty luck as having worked in the outdoors my entire life (except for a small 4 years in the service). Not working for the government rules out a lot of the very best jobs, why don't you want to work for the government- nothing to fear from the black helicopters :)

Most of the good outdoor jobs also require formal education, most a minimum of a bachelors degree.

I was in the logging business for 3 years, tough way to make a living- no benefits, no retirement and a fair chance for a career ending injury :(
Most of the logging these days (in Montana anyways) has become mechanized, the day of the gypo sawyer I'm afraid is gone.

The Forest Service, Park Service and BLM all hire seasonal folks for a variety of jobs, including trail crews- it's a good way to get your foot in the door, but if you want to make a living of it- you'll need to figure college in there in as well.
 
work at a canoe rental place, or zip line place, or at a hunting or fishing camp. I believe there is alot of that in alaska chck for stuff up there.
 
After graduating from engineering I worked as a land surveyor for a year and most of that time was in the woods. I was teamed up with an experienced land surveyor who was also very experienced in the wilderness. We got paid for being outdoors, it was great! It's a career for some people but it's really not work if you love it. I moved on to bigger things but I still remember that job as one of my best experiences.

One of my worst experiences was working on a new dam site. I remember struggling with the fact that I was helping build a dam that was going to destroy a a lot of wild habitat.

Geologists also get to spend a lot of time in the woods/outdoors.
 
I'm a geology student. If you want a bachelor's degree in geology, you are probably going to need math through Calc III or Differential Equations, General Chemistry 1&2, and University Physics 1&2. If you can get through those, the rest of it shouldn't be too bad.
 
the armed forces is a good start...u mite also consider a caretaker position. there's a newsletter about caretaking called the caretaker's gazette (google it) and it's got listings all over the world...hope that helps...

Gene
 
I grew up with REI and always thought it would be cool to work with them and be able to test equipment in the outdoors:D

I can speak about the military (Army in specific). I've got a little over 23 years and have had some great assignments. What's key is training and education...you really need a lot of personal motivation and drive. I enlisted in the National Guard (Infantry) before I graduated high school and now have a graduate degree and working on a second with the potential for a post-graduate opportunity. With the right drive and focus, you can really position yourself in some very enjoyable assignments; there is some sacrifice, but I think that is common for any career you really want to succeed at and enjoy. With all the fun "dirt time", you still have responsibilities of writing reports, evaluations, etc. Good training "tabs" (Ranger School, Air Assault, Airborne, SERE, Pathfinder, etc.) will open up a lot of great opportunities...having a solid education will make you competitive.

I've had two captains in their mid to late 20's get out of the service and work for a big oil company. One spends half a year hiking and surveying in Canada and loves it...having a petroleum engineering degree helps.

There are a lot of recreational outfitters hiring during the summer and some year round maintenance jobs.

Very few ever step into their dream job...it often requires hard work, personal drive/motivation and commitment and it will require continued training/certification and education to maintain it. Good luck and keep us updated,

ROCK6
 
ROCK6 said:
Very few ever step into their dream job...it often requires hard work, personal drive/motivation and commitment and it will require continued training/certification and education to maintain it. Good luck and keep us updated,

ROCK6
Click to expand...

^ this is very true, one of the first classes we took as freshmen was "Wildlife Careers"- classroom of about 70-80 very hyped up folks, the first day the professor told us to look around the room and then predicted that next year there would only be half of us still in this major, that the following year half again and that only a dozen or so would graduate still in the major. Of that dozen, he predicted only a handful would actually work in our chosen field. Talk about a bummer, I was thinking to myself this guy is a real d1ck! After all was said in done, he wasn't very far off the mark :(

I will tell you though about the bright side- if you make your mind up and commit yourself to your goal- you will achieve it, simple as that (well not that simple, but you get my point :))
 
I've been in the environmental health field for 25+ yrs and have spent a lot more time outside than inside.--KV
 
Hey Sharpmind I am also a 25 year old currently working in my dream job, in the outdoors. I am right now as I type this packing up my gear and planning a 4 month trip into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho to lead a crew of 6 people on a trail construction and maintenance 20 miles into the wilderness. We will be living in tents with a wall tent for cooking and fully living in the wilderness for that entire time w/o coming out at all. To me this is a dream job and a great opportunity for job advancement. Personally I have a BS in Forestry but you don't need it to do the work I do, I work for Montana Conservation Corps, and found it in college by just googling Conservation corps.. It is a nonprofit organization that focuses on helping young people grow through outdoor experience. My season is part of a wilderness immersion program, it is a special program that only 2 of the 5 regions have, but the rest of the field crews usually work on 9 on 5 off type scheduals, in some of the most beautiful remote regions in the country. This is probably the best job I have every had, it is an Americorps program which is basically a domestic version of the Peace Corps.

Basically I am working my dream job living and working in the woods for the summer. I would really suggest that if you want to get into this type of work then looking up conservation corps would be a great way to get started. I think there is even one in MN, there is also one that operates in the inside passage up in Alaska. From there you could go to work in for the Feds, if you happen to change your mind about not working for the government. Plus it is a great way to spend a summer, unfortunately you are a little late for this season but check it out for next year.

Good luck with your decisions I could not imagine working in any other field then in the outdoors. The people are amazing and well the entire job is pretty epic!
 
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