Overview
We’re hiring outdoor educators! Share your passion for the outdoors with students, work and play all throughout California! This position is a seasonal, traveling naturalist role.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Lead students in 2-6 day outdoor education camping programs for grades 4-12.
• Teach concepts such as natural history, human history, environmental education, basic ecology, local flora/fauna identification, Leave No Trace, and team building.
• Guide students in activities such as camping, hiking, canoeing, backpacking, and cross-country skiing.
• Assist specialist instructors (and even become one!) with instruction in activities like rock climbing, high ropes courses, snorkeling, kayaking, and stand-up paddle boarding.
• Attend specialty site trainings at Catalina Island and/or the Lower Colorado River
Qualifications:
• Significant personal outdoor experience.
• Previous professional experience working with youth in an outdoor setting.
• Group management, time management, and solid facilitation skills.
• Enthusiastic self-starter capable of working with minimal supervision.
• Demonstrated leadership/facilitator skills and safety/risk management skills.
• Familiarity of basic science concepts (biology, botany, geology, ecology, astronomy, etc.)
Required Skills:
• Ability to work and travel to various sites throughout California. NAL does not offer travel stipends.
• Weekly availability for field placement (Spring season runs March-June; Fall season runs August-November)
• Authorization to work in the U.S.A.
• Minimum Wilderness First Aid (WFA) and CPR certifications.
Preferred Skills:
• Bachelor's Degree in related field OR equivalent work experience in outdoor education.
• Wilderness First Responder (WFR) or higher.
About Naturalists at Large
Naturalists at Large is a leading outdoor and environmental education group in California. Since 1985, we have provided outdoor education programs for tens of thousands of students from over three hundred schools. We have introduced students to environments as diverse as the pygmy forest of Sonoma, the Giant Forest of Sequoia, the spring wildflowers of the Sonoran Desert, and giant kelp forests of Santa Catalina Island’s waters.
We pride ourselves on our ability to facilitate outdoor programs that are exciting and fun, while giving students an understanding of the beauty and diversity of our planet. We are committed to teaching people of all ages the skills to be at ease in the outdoors, and to come to a better understanding of the Western ecosystems: mountains, deserts, and seashores.
