North Dakota state park volunteer positions?

Kirk W · May 30, 2017

One of the few states left that we have never been to is North Dakota and so we are giving a lot of thought to finding a volunteer position up there for the summer of 2018. Does anyone on the forums have any thoughts about state or federal parks that might offer a good experience for a month or two next year? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

trostberg · May 30, 2017

I am working for a second season at Medora ND and would recommend it if you want paid employment There is a state campground or might be forest service right off the freeway a short distance from here called Buffalo Gap that you might want to check out if you want a volunteer position. There is also a start park on Lake Metogoshi near the Canadian border.

Chad Heiser · May 30, 2017

I am from the Medora area and highly recommend it. The Medora Foundation runs most of the concessions in the town and uses volunteers and paid employees for the tourist season. The Theodore Roosevelt National Park entrance is in Medora. I assume they use volunteers in and around the park, but I am not sure on that one. There are a couple of campgrounds in Medora (one is privately owned and the other is run by the foundation) and also Buffalo Gap (as mentioned above) outside of Medora. There is also a campground inside the park, but I can't remember if they have camp hosts there (they may though). There is lots to do in the area and they even have a PGA quality golf course just south of town (if your a golfer).

On edit, here is the website for volunteer positions in Medora.

gjhunter01 · May 31, 2017

We have heard good things about Garrison Dam which is a hatchery known for sturgeon, garrisondam@fws.gov. It is on our bucket list for a hatchery since Wolf Creek is not advised.

Greg

Kirk W · May 31, 2017

Quote

I am working for a second season at Medora ND and would recommend it if you want paid employment

1

We are not interested in any jobs, only a volunteer for RV site position in a park or public facility.

13 hours ago, Chad Heiser said:

The Theodore Roosevelt National Park entrance is in Medora. and also Buffalo Gap (as mentioned above) outside of Medora.

I will investigate both of those.

12 hours ago, gjhunter01 said:

We have good things about Garrison Dam which is a hatchery known for sturgeon, garrisondam@fws.gov.

Worth checking on too.

Thanks for the suggestions! Any others would be appreciated as well. I know very little of the state so have no idea of where is attractive and where has nothing to offer.

Beerboy · May 31, 2017

You might look into the Corps of Engineers facilities. I worked for them one summer many years ago on Lake Sakakawea (Garrison Dam). We had a volunteer camp host in the downstream campground. Very nice campground full of big old cottonwoods. I've been back for overnights a few times since then. They've upgraded the other campgrounds since my time and might have hosts in a few of them. It''s possible much of what I did has been taken over by volunteers rather than paid seasonal employees doing things like tours of the power plant and checking the time limits at dry campgrounds. When I was there we had an influx of workers camping to building some petrochemical plants. Probably similar today with oil production workers. The COE spent a lot of time enforcing the 14 day rule.

It's remote but Garrison has a substantial COE presence. I recall it was 30 miles to the nearest movie theater (two different directions though). While I was there the grocery in Garrison closed and we were driving 30 miles for groceries. It's also quite hot in the summer, 90's for certain and I recall a few days pushing 100. But you can always cool off in the river or the lake. For a night out or serious shopping, Bismarck is about an hour away on a good highway.

Kirk W · June 1, 2017

We have to find a position that doesn't require our presence for Memorial Day since we are staff at Escapade in Sedalia, MO and so won't be leaving there until June 3. We are thinking of state facilities since most federal want you there for the entire summer and we won't have that long this year.

trostberg · June 2, 2017

Buffalo Gap near Medora is still on volunteer.gov and I do not believe they had anyone last year so I think they would be flexible. It is listed as Dickinson ND but it is closer to Medora and it is the forest service because they administer the federal grasslands.

Kirk W · June 2, 2017

11 hours ago, trostberg said:

It is listed as Dickinson ND but it is closer to Medora and it is the forest service because they administer the federal grasslands.

Thanks! I'll check it out.

Kinsa · June 6, 2017

My family had a lovely visit to Icelandic State Park in the far NE corner of ND back in 2009. It preserves the heritage of the Icelanders who settled the area. It's not too far from the city of Grand Forks. I have no idea about volunteer positions though.

http://www.parkrec.nd.gov/parks/isp/isp.html

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_State_Park