The Internship Program provides students enrolled in a variety of educational environments (high schools, colleges, trade schools, and other qualifying educational institutions) with paid opportunities to work in agencies and explore Federal careers while still in school. This is a temporary appointment for the 2026 summer season (May through September) working in Glacier's backcountry program as a student trainee.
All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-01/20/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience. To qualify for this position at the GS-4 grade level, you must possess one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement: EXPERIENCE: At least six (6) months of General Experience and six (6) months of Specialized Experience equivalent to at least the GS-03 level for a total of one year of experience. General Experience is (1) Any type of work that demonstrates the ability to perform the work of the position, or (2) experience that provided a familiarity with the subject matter or processes of the broad subject area of the occupation. Specialized Experience is experience that involved the management and protection of natural and cultural resources. Examples of specialized experience include the following: patrolled wilderness areas or backcountry patrols for the primary purpose of; collected inventory and monitoring data and evaluations; completed patrol reports; contacted visitors; inspected and monitoring park resources; completed routine maintenance on backcountry facilities, or similar operations. You must include hours per week worked. -OR- EDUCATION: Successful completion of 2 years two years of education above high school (60 semester hour or 90 quarter hours) which include 12 semester hours of course work in at least one of the following fields: natural resource management, natural sciences, earth sciences, history, archeology, anthropology, park & recreation management, law enforcement/police science, social sciences, museum sciences, business administration, public administration, behavioral sciences, sociology, or other closely related subjects pertinent to the management and protection of natural and cultural resources. You must include transcripts. -OR- Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. For example, 3 months of general and 3 months of specialized experience or 6 months of specialized experience (50% of the experience requirements for this position and grade level) combined with one year of education as outlined above (50% of the education required to qualify), which included at least 6 semester hours of related courses such as American history, science, and/or public speaking (50% of the directly related courses required). You must include transcripts. Volunteer Experience: Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
Duties include but are not limited to: - Performing regular wilderness and backcountry patrols as a trainee or under the direction of other wilderness rangers, ranging from day trips to multi-day overnight camping trips, via foot. Routine backcountry patrol duties and responsibilities include: collecting inventory and monitoring data and evaluations, patrol reports, visitor contacts, routine trail maintenance, and inspection, inventory, and repair of backcountry facilities (campgrounds, pit toilets, and patrol cabins). Incumbent will be expected to assist with search and rescue (SAR) operations and perform emergency medical services (EMS) as needed. - Assisting other wilderness rangers as a trainee with various projects in the backcountry in each district as needs arise. Examples would include evaluation and rehabilitation of campsite facilities, pit toilets, and/or trail infrastructure. Other duties include vegetation monitoring, wilderness character monitoring, campsite evaluations, and backcountry resource impacts. - Assisting with field implementation of the Wilderness Implementation Schedule (WIS) as a student trainee, which includes the strategies for managing the wilderness and backcountry park-wide. Assist with wilderness character monitoring using Glacier's wilderness character monitoring format. - As a trainee, monitoring bear activity and participating in bear management training, and entering data into the Bear Management Inventory and Monitoring System (BIMS). May also participate in other park training in EMS, SAR, and Backcountry Operations as a trainee. - Become trained in Leave No Trace outdoor ethics and be able to demonstrate and explain to visitors.