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By Kathy Stunden Hall
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If the thought of sitting behind a desk day in, day out drives you crazy, then maybe you should be working....
Imagine getting paid to patrol the wonders of Banff National Park by horseback! Imagine hugging the shorelines on the magnificent Pacific Rim on northern Vancouver Island! Or rescuing hikers and skiers from rocky terrain in Alberta!
The people profiled on these pages all work outside for a living. Some of them (like Chris Kennedy) teach. Some of them (like Samia Lewis) work in environment. Some work in the recreational management field, like Percy Wood.
There are lots of 'outdoor' jobs-ski instructor, construction, forestry, biologist, surveyor, lineman, orienteering, and conservation.
Out door jobs with technical backgrounds will find easy employment in the next decade.
Government ministries, both federal and provincial, consulting firms, private businesses form the employer base for these jobs. For instance, in Ontario the Ministry of Natural Resources divides its outdoor jobs into four areas-forester, biologist, resource technician and conservation officer. Jobs involve work in forests, on land, in water with fish, in parks with wildlife. Other provinces have corresponding ministries.
A conservation officer might be part policeman, part conservationist, part athlete, part camper. It can be lonely, patrolling dusty back roads at twilight looking for deer poachers. And an officer may patrol by aircraft, conoe, boat, snowshoe, or on foot.
This person works in all kinds of weather during all hours and needs good public relation skills. Education required includes graduation from a two or three year college course in law enforcement.
Technicians in parks may do just about everything from maintenance work to enforcing park rules, clearing trails, rehabilitating old campsites and planning and presenting evening programs. And fighting forest fires.
In many outdoor jobs, it helps to be strong in such subjects as maths and sciences. While the forester still must cut a lot of brush to clear powerlines s/he now has to have some knowledge in planting 'crops' too. As a biologist, you could study moose herds, birds, fish and plants. Work time gets divided between the lab and the field. Many biologists work to ensure species in Canada don't become extinct.
Graduation from a four year degree program in biology is the minimum requirement for a biologist. Environment Canada's Parks Service offers a variety of duties in the 33 national parks since they span the entire country. Someone on the east coast might need to navigate ocean craft for their job while someone working in a mountain park should be skilled at horseback riding and rock climbing.
Cliff White, Assistant Chief Park Warden at Banff National Park, says it's one of the few jobs he can think of that demands good horsemanship skills. White, with a masters degree in forestry from the University of Montana, actually grew up in the park and remembers when most of the job was done on horseback.
Today those who patrol the park might spend three or four months in total working with horses. It's not unusual for trail crew workers to take 25-day trips on horseback.
Skiing skills are also required in Banff National Park.
Basically, those who work for the Canadian Parks Service can work in three areas: law enforcement, public safety and management of resources. An employee can work in all three areas or specialize in one.
Competition for jobs is stiff these days. White says 840 people applied for the last job competition and only 15 were hired. In addition to getting through a job interview, applicants take written and oral exams to demonstrate how well suited they are to the work.
"We look for people between 21 and 30 who want to be outside. They should be self-reliant and physically fit.
Working for a utility company like Ontario Hydro stresses fitness, endurance, and the ability to climb!
If a career working outside is where you think you're headed it's not too early to start planning. Get involved in 4-H groups, naturalist clubs or work on a construction crew or trimming Christmas trees for the summer. The career possibilities are varied and quite often a summer job or volunteer or hobby work can lead to a full time career-away from a desk!
tgmag@tgmag.ca