Field Team Experience

An Adventure in Environmental Service in the Pacific Northwest

Overview

The Northwest Service Academy (NWSA) – Mt. Adams Center (MAC) is looking for energetic and positive people to fill the ranks of its field team program. Are you seeking:
• To serve in the great outdoors while protecting and preserving the environment?
• To explore the natural treasures of the Pacific Northwest?
• To form friendships that will last a lifetime?
If so, the MAC has something to offer you.

The MAC Field Team program provides members the opportunity to serve on a variety of environmental restoration and educational projects throughout Washington and Oregon.

Teams tackle projects such as trail and bridge construction to enhance recreational access, planting trees and removing non-native species to improve wildlife and fish habitat and educating trail volunteers in and about the natural world.

There are two ways to serve in the Field Team Program: as a Field Team Leader or as a Field Team Member.

Field Team Leaders provide the leadership for the field teams. They work with MAC staff to handle project logistics, address team challenges and empower the field team members.  Most leaders have prior team/crew exposure, along with a college degree and/or related life experience.

Field Team Members comprise the majority of the MAC positions. These positions require the ability to work well with others and to serve in all types of weather collaboratively with their teammates to accomplish project goals.
Many members have either just graduated from college or bring other relevant life experiences.

Location

From the Central Cascades of Bend to the coastal shores of the Olympic Peninsula, MAC field teams serve in some of the most beautiful places that Oregon and Washington have to offer. Whether your team is clearing trail through the volcanic ash of Mt. Saint Helens or planting trees along a tributary of the Columbia River, rest assured that the landscape will remain indelibly impressed upon your mind for years to come. In fact, be advised that it might cause you to rethink future plans that take you away from this place.

Trainings will be held at the MAC, and some teams may be based there periodically or for the entire season. At the MAC we have high-speed internet access, an organic garden, tipis for our summer camp and other educational programs, a volleyball court, ping pong table, a horseshoe pit and a fire pit. Though most teams will live away from MAC for the majority of the summer, the Center will serve as a training and event site throughout the season. The dorms, bathrooms, kitchen, and dining hall are all shared spaces. While at the MAC, members will live in dorm-like accommodations in bunkhouses.  Bedrooms will be shared between two members of the same sex, while the bunkhouses themselves are co-ed.  The bathrooms are a large communal co-ed space with individual toilet and shower stalls.

Trout Lake, where the Center is located, is a rural town with about 700 residents. The town has one diner, a deli, a small grocery and offers access to many recreational gems. It is half an hour north of the Columbia River Gorge (a hot spot for windsurfers, kite boarders, mountain bikers and kayakers and home to Hood River, OR and White Salmon, WA). Both towns offer a variety of places to dine, have coffee or a beer, see a movie or visit the library.

Outdoor Opportunity

Location, Location, Location! The magic of the Pacific Northwest lies in the welcoming people and awe-inspiring places that pull at the heart of every resident and visitor alike. Inspired by this environment, MAC participants seek out recreational opportunities that allow them to explore the surrounding natural wonders by foot, bike, boat and car.

On any given day, you are likely to find someone preparing to summit Mt. Adams, bike the single track along the Cascade Crest or drop a paddle in the Wild and Scenic White Salmon River. So grab your gear and get ready for a season of outdoor adventures.

Not ready to tackle these outings alone? Don’t worry. Not only will there be plenty of willing partners, but the MAC development program will help you learn the skills needed to recreate out-of-doors and, in doing so, develop a closer relationship with the natural world. Opportunities include:
 
• Five Day Natural History Trip
• Leave No Trace Training
• Regional Geological Issues
• Outdoor Living Skills
• Natural World Exploration
• Principles of Ecology

Professional Development

The MAC realizes that it is only as good as the people who fill its ranks. That’s why it spends up to twenty percent of its time training its participants. While one strand of the development program focuses on exploring the natural world, another seeks to provide you with the skills that you will use during your daily service.

Initially, each team will participate in team building exercises, First Aid and CPR training, and receive some technical training at the Mt. Adams Center.  Trainings will continue throughout the course of the summer through the Mt. Adams Center and with your team’s sponsor.  We believe that the better prepared you are to go into the field, the better the experience you will have as a member and the better our program will be.  Thus, we have developed a training program that will give you the skills necessary to have a successful field season and that will help you grow personally and professionally.  Over the course of your term we will help provide you with opportunities to explore different areas of the Northwest, participate in workshops and learn about careers in the natural resources field. 

Trainings include:

Hard skills:
• First Aid/CPR
• Wilderness Advanced First Aid (FT Leader Only)
• Professional Driving & Trailering
• Leave No Trace Camping
• Tool Training
• Chainsaw Training (FT Leaders Only)
• Conservation and Restoration skills, such as
o Trail Building and Maintenance
o Bridge Building
o Planting and Site Revegetation
o Riparian Fence Building
o Wildfire Fuels Reduction
o Non-native Species Removal

Soft Skills and Training in:
• Conflict Resolution
• Communication
• Diversity
• Teamwork and Group
Development
• Sexual Harassment
 
The MAC believes so strongly in its development program that it guarantees not only will you leave this program a better person, but also more prepared to take the next step in your professional career. Take a look at what some of our alumni have done:

• Executive Director of the Mid-Columbia Regional Fisheries Enhancement Group
• U.S. Forest Service Wildfire Technicians, Mt. Adams Ranger District
• Farm Director, Morning Star Farm, Orcas Island WA
• Undergraduate and graduate students at: Harvard University, Evergreen State College, Prescott College, Lewis and Clark College, Alaska Pacific University.

Natural History Trips:

People join our program because they love the outdoors and wish to live and work in some of the most beautiful places our country has to offer.  The Mt. Adams Center feels it is important to help maintain our members’ connection to the natural world as they spend the summer working to preserve it.  As a result, each season we take every team on a week-long development trip that serves as an opportunity to learn outdoor living skills, build team rapport and gain a better understanding of the environment in which the team serves.

Examples of trips include a backcountry canoe and camping trip on Ross Lake in the North Cascades of Washington; camping and hiking on the Olympic Peninsula’s Shi Shi Beach; and a rock climbing and kayaking trip in eastern Oregon.

Community /Group Living

As one of the few residential service programs in the country, MAC members serve and live together. Many past participants claim that this arrangement is the most challenging, and yet most rewarding aspect of the program. Learning to make individual sacrifices for the betterment of the team is difficult, but in doing so participants build skills and friendships that last a lifetime.

While this is a team-focused experience, there is room for individuality. In fact, it enriches the experience. However, individuals need to arrive prepared to make compromises and address issues that affect the morale of their team. MAC participants learn firsthand how to address problems directly, expediently and effectively. In doing so, they build communication and conflict resolution skills that benefit them personally and professionally.

On the lighter side of things, the residential component ensures participants a season of laughter, joy and fun that can be found nowhere else. There is always a willing partner ready to play a game of volleyball, bike a stretch of single track, see a movie or even summit Mt. Adams. At the end of the season, people lament not that there was not enough to do, but rather there was too much to do in just one season.

The actual physical location of your residence varies with your project site. Some teams travel weekly to a new spike site, while others can spend the entire season at MAC or at another satellite base camp. Either way, your team becomes a community upon itself.

As a residential program, members share the living responsibilities. You prepare group meals, assume cleaning rotations and manage the Greenworks Program – recycling, composting and other light living techniques.

Food

Whenever possible we try to provide our members with organic food options from local suppliers. While teams are at the Mt. Adams Center, food will be delivered from a distributor of bulk, organic products. While teams are at their sites they will purchase food from local grocery stores using a company VISA card. Team members will be responsible for developing menus and creating grocery lists together.

Day In The Life

While no day is the same, some general patterns do exist. First and foremost, a service day is long and filled with strenuous physical and/or mental labor. Participants should be in above average physical condition. Even so, the first few weeks of service will exhaust even the fittest people.

Days begin early. Some teams start at 6:30 A.M.; others begin at 7:30. Either way, participants need to be able to function in the early hours. Over the course of the day, teams take a couple of short breaks and a 30 minute lunch. The service day ends between 5:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M.

Throughout the season, teams will typically follow one of the following schedules:
• A five day schedule (Monday-Friday): 7:30 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.
• A four day schedule (Monday-Thursday): 6:30 A.M. – 6:00 P.M.
• A nine day schedule (Monday- following Tuesday): 7:30 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.

In addition to the service time, participants are also responsible for residential/spike chores such as meal preparation, kitchen clean-up and other tasks that add on average an additional hour on to the day.

The Reality

The reality is that being placed in a new environment, with new people and new responsibilities is a challenge for anyone. You will experience frustrating moments as your team learns to live and work together. You will be limited by a minimal stipend that affords only the simplest of living. Your body will be physically and mentally exhausted by the service.

Yet, you will also experience moments of brilliance that will quickly ease all of your troubles. And each challenge that you work through makes you stronger and your relationships more profound.
And in the end, you leave a better person . . .

Benefits

The MAC guarantees that you will benefit from this experience. You will learn tangible skills, make lifelong friends and help shape the world that you want to live in. But if that is not enough, we also offer some simple economic incentives. Benefits vary depending on your term of service and are illustrated below:

*Each month a program fee of $476 will be deducted from this monthly living allowance to cover food, training and field trip expenses.
**Vacation days for both Leaders and Members must be approved by staff ahead of time and cannot be used before June 10th due to the critical nature of all training sessions.

Participants may also be eligible for food stamps, loan deferments and some child care expenses.