Denali National Park and Preserve is offering some unique summer employment opportunities to teens. This program is open to all applicants ages 15 through 18.
Applicants must have parental consent to participate in the program. Enrollees will be paid a special remote park Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) wage of $10.00/hour and will work for eight weeks beginning on or about June 4, 2017 and ending on or about July 29, 2017.
The park will fill as many as 12 YCC positions in 2017, described below. Jump to application info, at the bottom of the page.
Youth Conservation Corps
Do You Enjoy Working Outdoors?Trails Department (4 positions)These positions work for the Trails crew of Denali National Park and Preserve. Work is performed outdoors in all weather conditions and is physically challenging. Duties include hiking as many as 8 miles per day, wearing a backpack and lifting heavy loads, trail brushing, clearing drains, repairing trail tread, hauling materials, transplanting native vegetation, digging, installing signs, and collecting data. Tool use may include shovels, picks, sledges, rakes, wheelbarrows, and hand tools. This position may include light custodial work. YCCers are responsible for actively participating in safety trainings, adhering to safety policies, and wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when required.
Do You Enjoy Trades Work?Buildings & Utilities Department (East District) (1 or 2 positions)This position works for the Buildings and Utilities Department. Work is performed outdoors in all weather conditions. Duties include light maintenance and landscaping of park grounds, cleaning buildings and yards, preparing recycling for weekly town trips, and assisting maintenance and trades workers as assigned.
Do You Enjoy Sharing Denali National Park & Preserve With Others?Interpretation Division: Denali Visitor Center (DVC) (1 position):Staff the Denali Visitor Center front desk and provide quality customer service to park visitors. Work includes answering trip planning questions, sharing safety tips, and working with Junior Rangers. Walk around the Denali Visitor Center Campus, Wilderness Access Center Campus, Riley Campground, and trails to greet visitors, answer questions, share safety tips, and provide informal interpretation. Staff a “touch table” and talk with visitors about park resources (topic and props may be based on employee’s interests). Develop a short talk (as long as 10 minutes) to deliver to visitors upon request. Assist with projects as assigned and shadow park staff in a variety of disciplines.
Interpretation Division: Denali Backcountry Information Center (BIC) (1 position):Staff the Backcountry Information Center, providing quality customer service for park visitors planning on visiting the backcountry. This includes answering trip planning questions, sharing safety tips, and educating visitors regarding Leave-No-Trace principles. Prepare computer-based permits. Rove the Denali Visitor Center Campus, Wilderness Access Center Campus, Riley Campground, and trails to greet visitors, answer questions, share safety tips, and provide informal interpretation. Staff a “touch table” to talk with visitors about park resources (topic and props may be based on employee’s interests related to backcountry travel). Participate in overnight backcountry operations, traveling by foot and carrying a backpack weighing as much as 50 pounds. Assist with projects as assigned and shadow park staff in a variety of disciplines.
Do You Enjoy Working on Computers?Information Technology (IT) (1 position):Support information technology operations for Denali National Park and Preserve. Your work includes limited phases of computer technology functions in support of personal computers (PCs). Install and test PCs and associated peripheral devices in accordance with manuals and instructions. Trouble-shoot commonly occurring problems and assist users in resolving them. Refer highly technical difficulties to a computer specialist. Upgrade PCs due for replacement with new equipment, including migration of user data and programs to the new machines. Install patches and software updates on PCs. Provide assistance with IT systems maintenance, including Cisco VoIP telephone system and network on an as-needed basis. If there is interest, an extension of employment may be possible.
Do You Enjoy Thinking Like a Scientist?Road Ecology & Museum Collections (1 or 2 positions):Enjoy world-class wildlife viewing 2 - 3 days per week while collecting data essential to the park. Collect data using iPads as GPS units while riding in concessioner buses traveling the Denali park road. Collect data on wildlife observations, wildlife behavior, and management indicators (the number of vehicles at wildlife stops, rest stops, and visitor centers, amount of time hikers wait before being picked up by a bus). During the remainder of the week, assist the park’s museum curator performing tasks related to the care of museum collections or facilities, including handling techniques for acquisitions, moving specimens, cleaning and sorting; preparing simple preservation solutions; documenting specimens, replacing labels, simple filing and organizing; constructing boxes and crates for out-going specimens, receiving training in museum storing and packing techniques; and conducting routine lab inspections. If there is interest, an extension of employment is possible. Optionally: Participate in early-season, ground-based Dall’s sheep surveys. Work will involve weekends and early-morning departures (6 a.m.) from the Wilderness Access Center. Sheep surveys will involve hiking in wilderness and working in grizzly bear habitat.
Do You Enjoy Working with Dogs?Kennels (1 position):Assist with all aspects of care, feeding, exercise, and training of 30-plus active Alaskan huskies weighing between 60 and 90 pounds. Assist with all aspects of dog yard, pen, and equipment maintenance and repairs as needed. Assist with informal interpretation and safety in the dog yard before, after, and between demonstrations for the visiting public. Assist with the safe and smooth delivery of formal interpretive programs and dog sled demonstrations, including handling and harnessing dogs for the sled run. (YCCers do not drive the summer demo sled teams.) Assist with raising and training any puppies born during the work season. This position requires extensive physical labor outdoors in all weather conditions. Applicants must be comfortable working with large, vigorous sled dogs.
How to Apply Enrollees must be able to commute from home to the program site. Park housing is not available. The park will make selections based on applicants’ desired position priority list (part of the application form) and input from school staff. The reason for this change in the process is to best match applicants with the work experience they desire. If two applicants are equally matched for a position, the park will use a random drawing method to make the selection. The park will give preference to first-year applicants. First-year applicants will include those who applied previously but did not fill a YCC position. Application forms are available from the Denali National Park Human Resources Office and from all high school guidance offices in the Denali Borough School District, as well as right on this page (download the YCC application now! Applicants: Please be sure to fill out the entire application, pages 1 & 3) Please return applications in person or mail to: Attn: Cass Ray, Human Resources Office
National Park Service - YCC PO Box 126 Denali Park, AK 99755 Applications must be postmarked by March 23, 2017 or received by the Human Resources Office at Denali National Park and Preserve by 4:00pm on Thursday, March 23, 2017. Mailed applications must be received by March 30, 2017 to be considered for a position. Applicants will be contacted starting April 10, 2017. Individuals selected for participation in the program must have a Social Security number. Social Security card applications are available from the Social Security Administration office located at 101 12th Avenue, Fairbanks, and should be filed as soon as possible to allow time for processing. For more information about how to apply, please email Denali's YCC Coordinator Cass Ray or call (907) 683-9533. Enrollee Eligibility Young men and women, 15 through 18 years of age, who are permanent residents of the United States, its territories or possessions, are eligible for employment without regard to social, economic, racial, or ethnic backgrounds. To be eligible youth must:
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Last updated: March 13, 2017