Winter at El Morro National Monument

El Morro is seeking energetic and enthusiastic volunteers to assist our visitor services operations!

Duties:

As a uniformed volunteer with the National Park Service, the volunteer serves as a front-line representative of the agency. The volunteer is responsible for providing current, accurate information about El Morro National Monument and the National Park Service (NPS) to visitors, along with information on surrounding areas.

The volunteer primarily assists with daily operations of the visitor center, aiding seasonal and permanent staff with a variety of duties. These include, but are not limited to: staffing the visitor center; handling bookstore sales; operating a cash register; opening and closing facilities according to standard operating procedures; assisting with organized groups; recording visitation statistics; answering telephones; driving a government vehicle; utilizing park radios; assisting with community outreach events; roving park trails; assisting, as needed, with basic emergency response; and helping with special projects.

Special projects could include, but are not limited to, such things as: library tasks; invasive species control; rockfall and inscription monitoring; campground patrols; assistance with interpretive displays and publications; and contributing to the park's social media efforts. If they wish, the volunteer can assist with light trail maintenance We are also very receptive to volunteers creating special projects based on their own unique interests and skills, and with direction, oversight and support provided by park staff and the Volunteer Coordinator.

Special Physical Requirements:

From time to time, the volunteer will potentially spend a significant amount of time standing. Occasionally, the volunteer may be asked to drive a government vehicle. The volunteer will rove park trails of uneven terrain. Park trails climb 250 feet and are moderately strenuous. If they wish, the volunteer can assist with light trail maintenance and occasional snow removal, following park safety protocols and in accordance with the volunteer's own comfort level and physical abilities.

Supervisory Controls

The volunteer works under the direct supervision of the Lead Interpretive Ranger. After receiving specific instructions, the volunteer performs routine assignments independently. The supervisor is available when problems or unusual situations arise. Supervisor spot checks routine work for accuracy, with closer review performed for more difficult or non-routine assignments.

Complexity

The volunteer contacts visitors, conducts bookstore sales, provides trail information and is occasionally required to perform multiple tasks. Assignments are primarily repetitive, consisting of clearly defined tasks. Questions regarding non-routine tasks are referred to the supervisor.

Goal / Outcome of job:

The results of the incumbent's activities contribute to visitor enjoyment and understanding of the park area and the public’s appreciation of the National Park Service mission. These activities affect the NPS and its employees, visitors, land managers, neighbors, and other park partners.

Compensation

This is a non-paid position. On-site housing and utilities are provided free of charge. There is no stipend or monetary compensation. 

Housing:

Please Note: Volunteers must work 32 hours a week to receive park housing. Although start and end dates are somewhat flexible, a minimum commitment of two months is required.

Housing is provided on site, free of charge. Depending on availability, the housing may be either an efficiency apartment (suitable for single occupancy), or it may be shared housing in a bunkhouse, where the volunteer has his/her own bedroom, and the kitchen, bathroom, and communal space is shared (may vary from 0 to 2 housemates). Shared housing may be co-ed, where housemates may be of the same or opposite gender.

Description of El Morro National Monument

All other rocks in America do not together hold so much history as do those of El Morro National Monument. Rising 200 feet above the valley floor, this massive sandstone bluff was a welcome landmark for weary travelers. A reliable waterhole hidden at its base made El Morro (or Inscription Rock) a popular campsite. Beginning in the late 1500s Spanish explorers and soldiers, followed by American surveyors, immigrants and soldiers, passed by El Morro. While they rested in its shade and drank from the pool, many inscribed their signatures, dates and messages. Ancestral Puebloans, living in a 300-room pueblo on top of the bluff over 700 years ago, began this trend by carving hundreds of petroglyphs. El Morro was proclaimed the second National Monument in the National Park system on December 8, 1906. The vast continuum of human history inscribed upon the rock and preserved in the ancient ruins makes El Morro National Monument a handbook of cultural history of the Southwest. The majestic bluff, shady pool, high desert forest (7200 ft.), and sweeping vistas make this a natural wonder as well.