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Student Conservation Association

This is an amazing organization with a worthwhile mission and many amazing, dedicated and thoughtful staff. Unfortunately, I worked there during a period of radical instability - with four major reduction in staff layoffs in 8 years. 

The outcomes with the youth are so very worthwhile and there can be an amazing esprit de corps among staff- particularly on the program side. Efforts to imbue that spirit into the operations of the org are steps in the right direction and I can only hope the new CEO (2020) trusts and permits that spirit and attitude to permeate SCA. The peers I worked with were some of the most extraordinary and emotionally mature colleagues I’ve ever had and it’s still sad that so many fled or were fired during this period. I remain hopeful for the organization and hope that it’s unique approach to youth leadership, land stewardship and team building can thrive once again. It remains to be seen if the great strides in HR and the replacement of the CEO can allow SCA to reach its potential as more than an auxiliary administrative unit to deliver interns to the NPS- because it is really is so much more than that.

This job is designed for college kids in the forestry and or environmental sciences. If you are an adult looking to get into this field of work you are heavily gated by several processes that are not possible for some people to be able to accomplish despite the company trying desperately make it seem like anyone one can get into it. The people going to school for environmental sciences will always get a call back for another season where as if your not but still have interest in things like the DCNR, good luck trying to stick out from them and seem like a worthy candidate you will always be overshadowed and forgotten. The DCNR are more labor intensive positions with skill sets that resemble those of trades. So that fact that college kids with no interest in the field of actual labor get first grabs and every option before they even consider you is kinda pathetic. The pay is really bad and they treat you like a child the entire time because well it’s for young adult who are still kids. Basically if you’re not a kid with college tuition being paid for, the program is not for you and they will do nothing to help you get any where in this field if you aren’t attending school. 

I performed three internships with The Student Conservation Association.
Each project I worked on, expanded my life's experience, and helped me grow and really enjoy life and serving my country.
Through, their agreements with Americorps, they don't disappoint, you are free to do as much volunteer work, that you can possibly want to do.
I received well over 10,000.00 dollars of training opportunities, on par with what two years of a college, would not be able to even touch.  If I didn't have to eventually get a career, I would do Internships, through the SCA, for the rest of my life.
If you have a chance to challenge yourself, or have no clue, what type of career you want to do in life, and you want to explore and experience an area, of our Country, that you have never been to before, and always wanted to see.  If you like the outdoors, and don't mind hard work, then don't miss your chance to do an internship, with the SCA.
It is an invaluable and truly rewarding experience !

A typical day at work included going to the site, stretching, sanitizing the tools and safety equipment, taking out the invasive species, taking water breaks, lunch, an energizer, more removal of invasive species, and going back to the office. Some days we had activities, like our E.E. (environmental education) or a water balloon fight to cool off. I learned more about how to lead an environmental education activity to kids by giving the activity to people who are experienced in environmental education. They gave us feedback on the good and bad points of our activity and we learned from it. I'd say the hardest part of the job was getting up to go, it was difficult for me because I'm not a morning person, but the more I went to work, the more I began to enjoy it. As for the most enjoyable part of the job, it would be meeting new people and forming meaningful relationships with them as well as knowing that the work that we've done is benefitting the environment.

Working with the SCA was a great experience.  I completed two internships with the SCA both of them awarded me scholarships that helped pay off college loans.  
      One internship was with the New Hampshire Conservation Corps based out of Bear Brook State Park in NH.  My duties for this internship were to build trail structures such as bridges and staircases.  Structures were built out of logs and stone.  I worked in both front country and back country settings using chain saws and hand tools to achieve the crews goals. This was not only a job but also a life experience because crews were asked to go on 24 day work hitches on location.  This involved living and working with your crew mostly out of tents in a backcountry setting,  
      The other internship was at The Gateway National Recreation Area in NYC.  During this internship my responsibilities included developing a Bike tour for the public at the historic Floyd Bennet Air Field, taking inner city youth on sailing excursions on Jamaica Bay and leading environmental education programs with local youth.

The High School Supervisor positions are - or at least were - very rewarding on a personal and sociological level. After six weeks of a successfully run trail crew, the transformation in the "kids" was phenomenal and, from my accounts so far, permanent. If you want good Karma and an unforgettable, at times breathtakingly beautiful and extremely adverse wilderness adventure, then this might be for you. But it is a highly demanding job that pays peanuts (you're with the crew 24/7) and offers neither benefits nor advancement. I stopped working for them in 1996, chiefly because they began to require that supervisors be certified as Wilderness First Responders, rather than the every-bit-as-useful and much cheaper Wilderness First Aid course. They also required that HS supervisors pay for the course out of their own pockets (we're talking hundreds of dollars for - in my opinion - nothing more than a fancier title. Anyway, if you're young and rugged and relatively footloose and fancy-free, check em out.

SCA was founded in the 1950s, modeled after the New Deal Civilian Conservation Corps, to provide support to over-loved and under-supported national parks. From trail crews it has grown to offer a variety of opportunities for staff and interns/corps members. Just out of college I got hands-on experience and training in environmental education, trail work, community sustainability. I went on to lead crews, spending 8-10 days straight camping out where we worked. It was great. 

I've heard from more recent employees that the organization is struggling under the weight of trying to do many things in conservation, asking a ton from staff and not providing as much support as they'd like. I think it's a common story in non-profits. 

Its a year around volunteer program. We would meet up every month for a meeting on what we'er going to do a week ahead. Tell us what we are going to be working on and do fun activities to keep us all involved. A week later we meet up in Oakland early in the morning. Pack our tools and camping supplied and drive off to where we go.We would do volunteer work cleaning parks or planting trees. I learned the name of a lot of tools and the proper way to use them. My teammates were all help full and we worked together and they are all friendly. The hardest part of the job wasn't all the lifting and working, it was the heat that was killing me. The most enjoyable part of the job was when we finished the job and took a look at how it looked before and how it looks now.

In 2008 a major Hurricane hit the gulf coast and caused major damage to homes businesses and many state parks and local city parks.The Student conservation Association was given grant funds to assist in the construction and renovation of these damaged parks, I was considered a dislocated worker and was recruited and a working Forman for a group of younger students from this Organization and was given the task of helping to rebuild decks, fencing and out buildings for a state park on Galveston Island. It was a great job and the supervisor was excellent to work under. The students were excellent learners and followed safely and directions very well. 

My job overall was a good experience. I would recommend it for anyone who cares for parks and nature and preserving it in any way they can. They are incredibly forgiving for mistakes and allow 3 days absence before  writing up. It is a physically demanding job and there is a learning portion of the day, but they do provide water and occasionally other refreshment. It  is a very satisfying job as you often do small scale construction, i.e. building trails, clearing gardens, clearing invasive species of plants, planting and tilling. The management is very nice and enthusiastic about the job, very supportive people and understanding.


Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Crew member 95 salaries reported	$17.31 per hour
Crew leader 29 salaries reported	$902 per week
Shift leader 34 salaries reported	$887 per week
Intern 1 salary reported	$1,100 per week
Youth leader 14 salaries reported	$800 per week

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