Office
Volunteer
Job Description
FROM: https://www.volunteer.gov/s/
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ADDRESS: Princeton, Oregon 97721
DEPT: Fish & Wildlife Service
DATES: 6/1/2021 – 10/31/2021
DESCRIPTION:
Volunteers needed for March – October
A Protective Oasis in the Oregon’s High Desert
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is one of the crown jewels of the National Wildlife Refuge System. The Refuge protects more than 187,000 acres of prime habitat that is a part of the northern Great Basin. The Refuge is disproportionately important as a stop along the Pacific Flyway, and as a resting, breeding, and nesting area for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds and other wildlife. Famous for its tremendous diversity and spectacular concentrations of wildlife, Malheur is a mecca for birdwatchers and wildlife enthusiasts and well-loved by its visitors, many returning year after year.
For more information, please visit the following:
- Official Website: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/malheur/
- Friends of Malheur Website: https://malheurfriends.org/
- Friends of Malheur Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/malheurfriends/
Why volunteer at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
A season at Malheur provides lodging, excellent birding, unlimited outdoor recreation, and professional growth and development.
- RV pad with full hookups, Wi-Fi, laundry facility, shower facility, and a common day room with extra sitting space and kitchen
- Work 3, 8-hour consecutive days per week
- One-month commitment needed (or more)
- Enjoy sightings of more than 320 bird species and 60 mammal species, including rare and incidental birds
- Rural atmosphere, open spaces, beautiful landscapes, peaceful, and dark skies
- Live short distance to BLM and Forest Service public lands
- Wonderful and engaging staff
Connect the hearts and minds of visitors with the places and resources the Refuge protects
Volunteers in the Visitor Center welcomes visitors and offers them a safe experience of the Refuge’s outstanding features (diversity of wildlife, signs of earlier inhabitants, scenic landscapes, and solitude). As a result, visitors will leave the Refuge with a memorable experience that fosters a connection between themselves and nature, and with an appreciation of Malheur’s unique resources. Maintenance volunteers job duties will vary with volunteer experience.
The volunteer will dedicate 24-hours a week (one-month commitment) to staff the Visitor Center providing an integrated set of welcome and orientation features for visitors to feel welcome, easily find accurate, timely, and appropriate orientation materials and information, be aware of their options (available activities and experience, where and when to go, how to get there, etc.), and safely pursue self-guided activities. The Visitor Center is open 8:00 am – 4:00 pm daily and located only a short distance to the volunteers living area (RV sites). Couples will work on the same shift, but may not be conducting same duties, such as maintenance volunteer duties.
*If applying as a couple, please provide both applicant names.
Visitor Services
- Open and close the Visitor Center, and maintain materials to reach and orient visitors
- Foster a friendly, inclusive visitor-centered experience for visitors
- Provide visitors with accurate, up-to-date information about bird sightings, wildlife-dependent recreational opportunities, and rules and regulations
- Facilitate intellectual and emotional connections between visitors and Malheur, including the surrounding areas
Interpretive Programming
- Rove areas on the Refuge and provide informal interpretation of wildlife, history, and Refuge management
- Staff 1880s historic Sod House Ranch (August – October) and provide informal interpretation of the historic features of ranch, wildlife, and Refuge management
- Optional: Assist with school field trips
- Optional: Lead interpretive programs
- Optional: Assist with community events
Administration/Special Projects
- Enter data into Cornell Lab account (eBird) of bird sightings
- Distribute brochures to local businesses
- Optional: Support the Refuge with trade skills (e.g., photography, drawing, etc.)
Maintenance
- Duties vary with volunteer experience, but may include light construction, landscape maintenance, emptying garbage and recycling receptacles, installing/maintenance of signs, and trail maintenance
- Willing to work 24 hours per week, including weekends and holidays
- Willing to commit for one-month or more
- Ability to communicate effectively to the public about rules and regulations in a courteous, friendly, tactful, and intelligent manner
- Desire to converse and inform visitors about wildlife and wildlife-dependent recreational opportunities on the Refuge and surrounding areas
- Advanced birding skills or building upon birding skills
- Enthusiasm and willingness to learn
- Wear a volunteer uniform, and maintain a neat and professional appearance
- Valid driver’s license
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is in the high desert country of southeast Oregon. The 187,000 acres Refuge is a remote, arid land of shallow marshes, lakes, small ponds, flood irrigated meadows, alkali flats, rimrock, and grass and sagebrush covered hills. The Refuge is situated at 4,100 feet in elevation. Radical weather changes can occur, including lightening storms and intense heat and cold can occur. Be prepared for a rural setting and limited services.
The nearest full-service community of Burns, Oregon is approximately 35 miles north of Refuge headquarters. The Refuge office, Visitor Center, Nature Store, George Benson Memorial Museum, and the volunteer living area (RV sites) are located at the headquarters. Gasoline and limited groceries are seasonally available near the headquarters at a variety of small communities. The volunteer position is primarily based in the Visitor Center, but may be subject to working outdoors as needed (i.e, interpretive programming, administration/special projects, maintenance duties). Volunteers will be working independently or working side-by-side with Refuge staff.
Hours: Volunteers will work 24 hours per week on 3, 8-hour consecutive days. Working on the weekends and holidays may be required. A one-month commitment is required. The Visitor Center is open daily from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm. Extra hours will be dependent on the volunteer flexibility.
Accommodations: RV sites are located a short distance to the Visitor Center. RV pads are level concrete pads with full hookups, including Wi-Fi. Just a few steps away, is complete with a laundry facility, shower facility, and a common day room with extra sitting space and kitchen.