Wilderness Ranger

Summary

American Conservation Experience, a nonprofit Conservation Corps, in partnership with Eldorado National Forest, is seeking 5 Wilderness Ranger members to contribute to projects alongside Forest Service Staff.

The Wilderness Rangers will assist the Forest Service backcountry patrol of the Mokelumne Wilderness and Desolation Wilderness areas. This opportunity is intended for an enthusiastic young professional with a well-developed working background in conservation, natural resources management, wilderness management, recreation management, or a similar field. The Wilderness Ranger should possess a passion for public land management and a professional interest in advancing their career towards natural resource management, policy, and/or wilderness.

For more information about ACE, please visit our website.

Start Date: Mid May 2026

End Date: 22 weeks after start date

Location: Eldorado National Forest, CA, Amador & Pacific Ranger Districts

The Eldorado National Forest is located in the central Sierra Nevada region within California and encompasses a total of 798,279 acres, which includes 193,027 acres of private ownership. The Eldorado National Forest is bordered on the north by the Tahoe National Forest, on the east by the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit and the Humboldt-Toiyabe, and to the south by the Stanislaus National Forest.

The Eldorado is within 3 - 4 hours of the San Francisco Bay Area and about 1 - 1 1/2 hours from Sacramento. It ranges in elevation from 1,000 feet in the foothills to more than 10,000 feet above sea level along the Sierra crest. The mountainous topography is broken by the steep canyons of the Mokelumne, Cosumnes, American, and Rubicon rivers.

Plateaus of generally moderate relief are located between these steep canyons.

The forest is also home to 297 lakes and reservoirs (including both public and private acreage), which total 11,994 surface acres. 11 large reservoirs account for 9,000 acres. The rest are mostly small, high mountain lakes. Both the rivers and lakes provide excellent fishing opportunities. The Eldorado National Forest provides diverse recreational opportunities to the public. The Forest offers every visitor the chance to enjoy nature and be outdoors.

In addition to two popular wilderness areas (Mokelumne Wilderness), the forest offers more than 70-day use and overnight developed recreation facilities across the forest for the individual, families and groups.

• Assist the Forest Service in backcountry patrol of Mokelumne Wilderness and Desolation Wilderness.
• Backcountry patrol will include visitor contacts, outreach/education and trail work.
• Work with wilderness staff and volunteers to schedule/perform backcountry patrol of Mokelumne Wilderness and Desolation Wilderness.
• Candidates should be comfortable backpacking and camping in the backcountry for up to 5 days.
• Trail work experience and/or crosscut saw certification would be beneficial for the position. Training will also be provided.
• The member may assist with monitoring efforts, such as campsite inventory and solitude monitoring.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

• Living Allowance: The ACE Member is expected to contribute ~40 hours/week and will receive a living allowance of $760/week to offset the costs of food and incidental expenses, dispersed bi-weekly.
• Travel Assistance: Up to $500 available for costs related to relocating to work location.
• Field per diem is available when overnight work is required.
• Housing: Not provided:
  Housing is the responsibility of the member and not provided by ACE or USFS. A $100/wk housing reimbursement will be available to help offset the cost of housing.
• Public Land Corps Hiring Authority: Members serving under this agreement may be eligible for a federal hiring authority upon completion of their term of service and 640 hours of service. If the duration of a PLC-eligible term is not long enough for Members to accrue 640 hours of service (~16 weeks), the total hours served at the completion of the term may be eligible to be combined with hours accrued from another PLC-eligible term to meet the 640 hours requirement.
  
  PLC projects also include…