Forest Corps Member, Jun 2025 - April 2026, AmeriCorps NCCC

✅What is AmeriCorps NCCC?

The mission of AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) is to strengthen communities and develop leaders through team-based national and community service. Serving with Forest Corps is a great way to gain experience by direct, hands-on service on public lands in the areas of wildfire risk mitigation, reforestation, environmental conservation, and resource management. You’ll undergo intensive training with the United States Forest Service to prepare you and take on leadership roles and specialized assignments along the way. Learn and grow with a team of your peers and get a foot in the door to work environmental conservation as a career.

✅Position Overview:

Forest Corps work is field based and rigorous. You must be prepared to handle hiking long distances while carrying a heavy pack, and navigating uneven terrain, carrying tools, and be able to complete trail work, surveys, prescribed fire burns, planting seedlings, and other labor-intensive outdoors projects. This may include hiking up and down mountainous terrain, at elevation, on and off formal trail systems. Click here to view Work Conditions in National Forests.

Service will be full-time for 10 months, which includes 1 month of training that will start June 2025 followed by 9 months of service projects with an 8–12-person team of your peers while traveling across the country. You and your team will be deployed to 4-6 projects across the country serving on National Forest lands. Training for our Summer 2025 Forest Corps will be held at our Pacific Region campus in Sacramento, CA. You will return to the Pacific Region campus between project rounds.

Note: All incoming Forest Corps members must pass the arduous pack test to serve, which is a 3-mile hike with a 45-pound pack in 45 mins. This test will be strictly administered to the standards of the National Wildland Coordinating Group (NWCG), and incoming members should plan to only have one opportunity to complete this test. As potential applicants, you should plan to follow a fitness regimen prior to arrival on campus. This level of test is required to receive the certifications necessary to be qualified for the work of the program.  

✅Eligibility Requirements:

• To serve as a Corps Member, you must be between 18-26 years old. 
• Must be a U.S. Citizen of the U.S.
• Must pass an initial drug screening test upon arrival to the program. A positive test on a drug screen for any substance (including marijuana) at any time during service could result in dismissal from the program.
• Must be available for 10 months of full-time service consisting of extensive travel.
• Upon arrival to campus, you must pass the arduous pack test to serve, which is a 3-mile hike with a 45-pound pack in 45 mins.

✅Corp Member Duties: 

• With your Forest Corps team, you will work on the following activities in National Forests across the country:
  • Wildfire Risk Mitigation: Projects focus on planning, implementing, and monitoring hazardous fuels reduction with the goal of mitigating wildfire risk to communities, restoring fire resilient landscapes and ecosystems, and/or protecting threatened and endangered species habitats. Activities may include, but are not limited to, burn preparation, prescribed burning, and fire effects monitoring
  • Reforestation: Projects support reforestation and stand improvement activities on lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and/or provide training for nursery work and forestry careers. Activities may include seed and cone collection or processing; nursery services to support growing seedlings and seed stock for formally managed orchards, reforestation needs assessments, planning, implementation, and monitoring/survival rates of trees; stand improvement and site preparation for natural regeneration; tree improvement area maintenance, measurements, data collection, and capacity.
  • Resource Management: Projects support recreation management (infrastructure and trail maintenance), timber marking, vegetation management, ecosystem management, wildlife surveys, wetland restoration, boundary line/land line maintenance and marking, geographic information systems (GIS) mapping, resource monitoring, and conservation education.
  • Wildfire Suppression Incident Response: When needed, teams comprised of members who have successfully passed the Work Capacity Test and has received other USFS certifications by the Forest Service, may be mobilized for USFS-determined disaster response and recovery efforts.

✅During Service, You Will Receive:

• Basic expenses, including communal housing, meals, and a limited health benefit
• All program-related travel, including to your training location, projects, and back home after your service term
• A modest living allowance for your personal expenses
• Valuable training in leadership, technical skills, teamwork, and more
• Forbearance for federally backed student loans; after you successfully complete your term of service, you are eligible to have the interest incurred during service paid in full

✅After Service, You Will Receive:

• Segal AmeriCorps Education Award of $7,395 to use on future educational expenses or to pay back qualified student loans
• Competitive job edge in your job search, including access to a network of over 700 Employers of National Service
• Opportunities to make your education more affordable through scholarships, application fee waivers, and other benefits for AmeriCorps alums provided by hundreds of Schools of National Service

✅How to Apply:

1. Review Position Details - Go to the my.AmeriCorps.gov portal to review the position listing linked here to ensure it is the position you want to apply to. For other open positions, visit here.
    
2. Create Your Profile – You’ll need to register by creating your profile before applying. Input the required information, and then get started on your application.
    
3. Start Your Application – Tell us about your motivations, skills, and experience. You’ll also need to provide two professional references.
    
4. Submit Your Application – After completing your application, submit it to the specific service opportunities you want to pursue, which can be more than one.

✔ Be sure to use the visual guide to walk you step-by-step through the process and consider signing up for one of our application and selection webinars.