U.S. Forest Service Offers $30k and Benefits for Seasonal Work

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The U.S. Forest Service is actively recruiting permanent seasonal personnel for positions in Montana, Idaho, and North Dakota, with full-time salaries starting at $30,000 per year and benefits.

KGVO News spoke to Hilary Markin, acting Public Affairs Officer for the Lolo National Forest on Thursday about the job opportunities with the U.S. Forest Service.

U.S. Forest Service Recruiting for Permanent Seasonal Jobs

“We are hiring 60 permanent seasonal positions,” began Markin. “These are six-month positions where you work six months and then you're off six months, but they're permanent, so you get the benefits while you're working of having health insurance and life insurance and you get to come back year after year.”

Markin described the positions available in this recruiting cycle.

“These positions are going to be helping us out with wildlife with recreation trails, visitor experiences, and silviculture (the growing of trees) forestry. There's a wide variety of positions. There's only two position announcements, but within that, as we're going through the hiring process, you'll be filling positions within specific program areas.”

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Entry Level Positions with Competitive Pay and Benefits

Markin said these are ‘entry-level’ positions, but the salaries and benefits are competitive.

“These are entry-level positions with a starting salary of around $30,000 and can top out as high as $50,000 even more, it just kind of depends on the position that you come into. And then as you move up the pay scale, our positions are all based on a GS (General Schedule) pay scale level starting at the 3, 4, or 5 level and they go on up from there, but again, these are entry-level. So starting salary can be anywhere from $30,000 to around $50,000 or even above that.”

You Could get between $30,000 and $50,000 per Year with Benefits

Markin provided details on where to apply for these federal jobs with the U.S. Forest Service.

“‘USA Jobs’ is where you can go to apply for these jobs,” she said. “You can type in the search function, for permanent seasonal,” she said. “You can go to the Lolo National Forest website, right on the homepage, there's an icon that says ‘come work for us’, and you can get to the positions. We also have more positions opening next week, so keep coming back to check out our website or our social media sites. We'll be advertising the jobs on all of those places to get as many applicants as we can.”

Available positions include all non-fire activities such as trail work, maintaining recreation facilities, managing wilderness areas, timber marking, fisheries and wildlife management.

KGVO News received notices from both the Lolo and Bitterroot National Forests seeking applicants, but jobs are available in Montana, Idaho and North Dakota.