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Regional Volunteer Coordinator Intern

The position is located within the U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region. The Resource Assistant (RA) will participate in the development, coordination, implementation, monitoring and reporting of the volunteer program across multiple forests. The position requires the RA to have excellent communication skills in speaking and writing/typing. The RA will be communicating with forest service employees on multiple forests as well as regional office staff; volunteers; academic professionals; community partners and state and local government officials. The position requires the RA to be professional, articulate, organized, detailed oriented, and innovative.

Major Duties:
  • Assists forests and regional office staff with the development and implementation of volunteer coordination to ensure the program is in sync with the wide variety of program goals, vision and values.
  • Provides assistance in managing and maintaining efforts in developing and implementing a synergized volunteer program.
  • Assists forests staff and regional office staff with establishing and maintaining a communications network across staff boundaries, supervisors, volunteers, and partners.
  • Articulating and communicating volunteer needs and responsibilities to ensure that forest strategic plans, mission, vision and values are understood by all parties. Performs other duties as assigned.
  • Ability to work across staff boundaries and organize volunteer opportunities, events, forest service webpage as it pertains to volunteerism on respective forests units, etc.
  • Ability to listen, influence and persuade staff to accept new, revised or modified plans, methods or techniques and to utilize the products and services.
  • Ability to seek opportunities to foster and implement a cultural change from traditional attitudes to more modern volunteer approaches.
  • Implementing the Volunteer program and ensure participants are safely operating within their scope of work.
  • Recruitment, retention and management of new volunteers and the volunteer program.

Program Goals:

Understand the existing Forest & Ranger District Program
  • Understand from the Forest & RD staff what is working well
  • Where they have suggestions for improvement
  • Help staff's at all levels implement those changes/improvements
  • Understand from the individual and group volunteer prospective what is working well
  • Where they have suggestions for changes/improvement
  • Help staff's at all levels implement those changes/improvements

Develop and expand the individual & group Volunteer programs
  • If there is not a volunteer program, why not?
  • Help develop one
  • Specifically work with existing groups to help foster/improve communication with the USFS
  • Understand their desires in terms of project work
  • Are we just having volunteers do the work we want? Or are we also being flexible to allow then to perform work/tasks they see beneficial
  • Create a partnership atmosphere
  • We need/want their help

Develop District level Volunteer's to serve as Volunteers Coordinators
  • Help to foster our long-term relationships with passionate trusted volunteers that may have an interest in helping to manage the local volunteer program
  • Do we have groups or non-profit partners that would like to take this on
  • Identify potential scope and scale
  • What training is needed?
  • Develop/Improve Forest and Local Volunteer Recognition
  • Analyze existing awards program, if there is one?
  • Can it be improved?
  • What does USFS Staff think?
  • What do volunteers think?
  • Implement suggestions for improvement or development of program
  • Reach out to RO staff for long term volunteers' awards suggestions

Analyze Current Volunteer Skills Training & Safety Training
  • What training is being offered?
  • What training is needed?
  • Does the Forest, with current staff, have the ability to offer that training?
  • If not, why not? (gaps)
  • Develop a plan to provide the training (You may need regional resources)

Improve Forest/District Required National Reporting in VSReports
  • Analyze reporting capabilities
  • Share the importance and requirements associated with reporting
  • Who has been reporting?
  • Are they reporting correctly?
  • Is training needed?
  • Is there a group or individual volunteer willing to help with reporting?

Physical Demands:
  • Occasional physical activity is required to include walking, bending, or carrying light items. There may be occasional brief trips to business, construction or national forest sites to engage potential groups.

Work Environment:
  • The work involves normal risks or discomforts requiring safety precautions typical of office environment. The work area is usually lighted, heated, and ventilated.
  • There will be exposure to outdoor conditions such as field trainings and working with volunteers and or groups. Also, travel required via government or commercial vehicles such as planes, trains, buses, boats, ferries, or automobiles.

Education Requirements/Preferences:
  • Bachelor's degree required, master's degree preferred.

For questions email Jaina Reed at jreed@gyfoundation.org