We’re Hiring!

Work for a small, off-the-grid, sustainable organization in an exceptionally beautiful Alaskan mountain community. Clear the clutter of civilization and take a season of your life to focus on the basics and work for an organization that values the intimate connections that we share with the nonhuman world and with each other.

Page Contents

• Full-time, Paid Seasonal Staff Positions

• Internships

• Volunteer Opportunities

• Why Work at the WMC: Benefits & Commitment

Full-time Paid Staff: Summer Openings

To apply, please review the job description, then follow this link to fill out an application. We will be accepting applications on a rolling basis until positions are filled. Thank you!

Direct all Staff Position inquiries to sabrina@wrangells.org

Internships

Collaborative Leadership Training in an Off-Grid Wilderness Setting

To apply, please review the job description, then follow this link to fill out an application. We will be accepting applications on a rolling basis until positions are filled. Thank you!

Our Internship program is designed to give participants first-hand experience in collaborative leadership in an off-grid wilderness setting.

The following Internships are available for the forthcoming summer season:

• Media Artist, Volunteer with Stipend (PDF) Position Filled

Leadership Training

Direct all Internship inquiries to sabrina@wrangells.org

Seasonal Onsite Volunteer

Live and Work and Play in North America’s Largest National Park

To Apply: Please read the full job descriptions linked above. If interested, please send us an e-mail containing a current resume and a short cover letter detailing your motivations for applying; your training, educational, and outdoors background; and your available date range to sabrina@wrangells.org. Questions may also be directed to that address.

Why Work at the Wrangell Mountains Center?

People and wildlands thriving together in a changing world
Wrangell Mountains Center Vision Statement

Each summer we seek to assemble a mission-driven staff who work together in a wholesome and enriching environment. As a nonprofit organization, we do not distribute profits to owners or shareholders. All excess revenue gets reinvested in the organization. Volunteers and donors are the driving engine of our organization and have been for nearly a half century.  

As a place-based organization, we seek to provide an enriching, educational experience of our incredible place in the Wrangell Mountains, and we invest in the experience that we provide for our staff.

Benefits

• Community. For many, one of the most striking things about spending a summer with the WMC is the community connectedness. At the WMC campus, staff experience a community of creative artists as well as inquiring minds and scientists. We seek to cultivate dynamic, enriching conversations. The bonds that staff form are a refreshing alternative to the isolation and alienation that many of us experience in contemporary society. Lastly, the greater Kennicott-McCarthy community is distinct for its active social scene and for the very unique individuals who appreciate and celebrate the wild spaces here in the Wrangells.

• Meals & Lodging. We invest in food and lodging, which are provided as part of staff compensation. We provide a delicious and nutritious diet suited to each person’s dietary needs and preferences. (It is a mostly vegetarian diet, so the one diet we cannot accommodate is a heavy meat-eating diet.) Our off-grid living spaces are intentionally primitive and simple, and we seek to make this rustic experience comfortable and educationally enriching so that our staff can cultivate their own unique and special connection with the natural world. 

• An Epic Adventure Destination. We do everything we can to ensure that our staff is able to fully appreciate the enriching experiences that the area has to offer. Several local businesses offer free or discounted rates for local seasonal employees, and we provide our staff with a long list of adventures and local activities available in the summer.

• Meaningful Work. Above all, we seek to cultivate a better vision for work, an experience that is collaborative, purposeful, values-driven, and based on healthy human communication and relational connectedness. Work at the WMC is a meaningful, holistic endeavor that is intertwined with our experience of living in community with one another. We seek to empower all staff to engage in this collaborative work.

• In summary, we are eager to maximize the experience of our staff, to learn what energizes them, and to give them the information they need to connect with our transformative place in their own way.

Commitment

• The hours required vary widely depending on what needs to be done. We live in a remote wilderness setting, so our environment often places extra demands on us, and tasks can take longer than normal. Seasonal Alaskan work, more generally, is demanding, especially in a wilderness environment. Average hours vary, depending on the efficiency and commitment of our summer team as well as the work demands that the environment and circumstances place on us.

• The WMC exists because of many thousands of volunteer hours over nearly a half century of sacrifices and dedication to our mission. Each summer’s staff become a part of this tradition, and extra hours from our staff are recognized by our organization as volunteer hours, motivated by the mission to connect people with wildlands through art, science and education.

Local fun and adventures to be had

• Hiking and Walks

• Alpine hikes with opportunities to see copper mines from a hundred years past

• River rafting

• Pack rafting

• Flightseeing in a little bush plane — highly recommended and free/discounted if you time it right

• Backcountry, fly-out trips — Discounted but still several hundreds of dollars. Well worth it if you can afford it and can coordinate the scheduling.

• Glacier hiking

• Ice climbing on the Kennicott Glacier

• Exploring historic Kennicott (run by the National Park Service)

• McCarthy-Kennicott Museum in downtown McCarthy — small but highly recommended

• The Old Hardware Store on the WMC campus also has a small library as well as an art room, and these are available for your use on a rainy day or a mellow morning.

• Socializing w/ locals at McCarthy restaurants like The Potato and The Golden Saloon, which are located a short walk from the WMC.

• Concerts and other local events

• Friday night community softball near to downtown McCarthy and WMC

• There is also a local swimming hole about a half mile from the WMC

• In addition to all of the above, there is a steady stream of activities hosted by the WMC: author readings, arts and science-oriented workshops, small living room concerts, and a storytelling festival, to name a few. The WMC also has a good guitar in the Old Hardware Store, available for any skilled musician to use.

The Wrangell Mountains Center is an equal opportunity employer.

Banner Photo: Nathaniel Wilder
Other Photos: Dave Sarbell and Jon Erdman