Bushcraft & Wilderness Survival Instructor

The Opportunity

Join us! Help shift the movement of outdoor education through Bushcraft, Tracking, and Wilderness Skills. Share your passion for the wilds and wildcrafting with youth. This position goes beyond a job—you help create a village. Your role? A Trackers Guide is a mentor to hundreds of students and staff. As a subject matter expert, contribute to and help develop our Bushcraft, Tracking, and Wilderness Skills curriculum in serving upwards to 3900 kids a year.

What We Do!

We have served our community and the natural world since 2004. Through this journey we have provided key program scholarships to families in need, conserved hundreds of acres of forest and wildlands, and educated tens of thousands of youth and adults outdoors. Our mission? Help kids build a relationship with nature and give them the essential knowledge, skills, and experiences they need to stand up with us to save the world!

Grow with Trackers

The programs you help build teach leading edge outdoor skills that cultivate competence, capability, and curiosity in the youth we serve. Your efforts guides kids to better contribute to their family, nature, and many generations beyond us. In this critical role, you help our community build our Village both as students and guides. Join a seasoned, dedicated, and expert team to move outdoor education toward its greater potential. Come guide kids to reclaim childhood and their connection to the wild!

Educator Roles

Trackers offers both seasonal and full-time, year-round roles.
Coordinators (seasonal day or overnight options).
Supervisors (year-round, full-time options).

Bushcraft Instructor - Teacher

Teach, lead, and mentor during the summer. Guide kids outdoors to teach stealth, archery & wilderness survival. Manage teen and adult staff.

Required 1+ years general education experience, 18 years & up.
Pay Day Camp $745-$785 per week
Pay Overnight $1,175 per week
Free camp for 2 children (Grade K-5).
25% off Trackers Earth programs.
Flexible training schedule.

+ Learn more...

Apply now

As a Bushcraft - Teaching Coordinator, you act as a mentor for teams of Trackers Guides and youth during incredible outdoor adventures, showing kids why we care for and preserve the places we explore. You teach stealth, archery, and wilderness survival. You collaborate with families and Trackers leadership to deliver the highest quality experience for campers.

Responsibilities:

Guide a group of campers, teaching Trackers curriculum and theme-specific content.
Supervise and manage Lead and Intern staff assigned to your Group.
Provide fun, engaging, and safe experiences for campers and co-workers Manage, administer, and run the daily operations of a Trackers Fellowship and/or Bus Team.
Communicate with guardians about needs, accomplishments, and expectations of campers.
Anticipate and exceed the needs and expectations of Trackers Earth campers and families.
Model, teach, and maintain proper gear and tool usage, care, and organizational tidiness.
Observe and document staff performance evaluations, executing development strategies.
Communicate and document safety and behavior incidents.
Teach speciality programs based on skills and experience:

Forest Craft, Archery & Wilderness Survival
Farm Craft, Animal Care & Wild Plants
Mariners Craft, Fishing & Boating
Outdoor Adventure, Paddling & Rock Climbing
Woodworking, Ceramics, Blacksmithing & more!

Keep and safeguard confidential information.
Other responsibilities and duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

1+ years (or 3 seasons) experience in outdoor education or 2+ years in general education.
Experience with outdoor programs similar to Trackers and/or skills relevant to Trackers programs.
Can exercise independent judgment that reflects Trackers policies and protocols, while managing campers and staff in remote locations with limited support.
Can coordinate, adapt and plan for complex logistics, and be flexible in working with challenges.
Possess grit, becoming more calm, creative, and proactive when challenged.
Can stand, bend, squat, climb, lift (up to 50 lbs), hike on and off trail (up to 5 miles) per day.
Trackers Earth completes pre-employment criminal background & references checks.
Coordinators need the following certifications (or able to complete before starting):
- CPR/First Aid/Anaphylaxis & Epinephrine Auto-Injector
- Food Handlers
- (ages 18+) Recognizing & Reporting Child Abuse & Neglect (OR & WA)
- State fishing license if guiding a program that includes fishing
- Optional Pay Add-on - Class C CDL Trackers can assist you in getting this certification. Class C Commercial Drivers License (CDL) required for driving a 15 passanger vehicle (van or bus).
- Completed Vaccinations for COVID-19 (verification required).

Location

As a seasonal Coordinator and educator you are not assigned to an officially fixed worksite. You are responsible for your own transporation and be able report to work at any of our locations within 30 miles of Portland.

2022 Salary

Day Camp

Day Camp Coordinator: $745 per week
Day Camp Coordinator & Driver (with Class C CDL): $785 per week
Overnight Camp Coordinator & Driver (required Class C CDL): $1175 per week

Training

Our flexible training times going into summer accommodates school year schedules. Part of your training may occur online, while others sections are in-person and in the field. Please Note Training pays Minimum Wage. During your normal teaching and work schedule your regular pay scale applies.

About Trackers

Since 2004, kids and extended families in all their forms have journeyed on adventures with Trackers Earth and our Guides. We share the Arts of Tracking through stewardship and enduring outdoor skills. We commit to developing opportunity by respecting the diverse cultures and values of every Guide, youth, and family serving with us. We endeavor to grow with families for the increased accessibility of these experiences. We define ourselves by an ever deeper kinship to the more than human world, multi-generational character, and the principles discovered and found in the quietest moments with the forest.

Bushcraft Instructor - Manager

Manage a team of Teaching Coordinators (4-6 teachers) who teach stealth, archery & wilderness survival. Independently operate field logistics while constantly elevating our programs.

Required 1+ years Outdoor Education, 1+ years management, 21 years & up.
Pay $940 per week
Free camp for 2 children (Grade K-5).
25% off Trackers Earth programs.
Earliest begin date April 1. Latest begin date June 13th.

+ Learn more...

Apply now

As a Managing Coordinator, you manage a team of Day Camp Teaching Coorindators (4-6). You act as a mentor for teams of Trackers Guides and youth during incredible outdoor adventures. You plus the experience of Trackers Guides, Educators, youth, and families—always enriching what we offer. You drive and are captain of the bus journeying to far off places and sites where your team teaches stealth, archery & wilderness survival. You collaborate with families and Trackers leadership to deliver the highest quality experience for campers.

Responsibilities:

Provide fun, engaging, and safe experiences for campers and co-workers Manage, administer, and run the daily operations of a Trackers Fellowship and/or Bus Team
Communicate with guardians about needs, accomplishments, and expectations of campers
Anticipate and exceed the needs and expectations of Trackers Earth campers and families
Model, teach, and maintain proper gear and tool usage, care, and organizational tidiness
Observe and document staff performance evaluations, executing development strategies
Communicate and document safety and behavior incidents
Lead one of our speciality programs based on skills and experience:

Forest Craft, Archery & Wilderness Survival
Farm Craft, Animal Care & Wild Plants
Mariners Craft, Fishing & Boating
Outdoor Adventure, Paddling & Rock Climbing
Woodworking, Ceramics, Blacksmithing & more!

Keep and safeguard confidential information
Other responsibilities and duties as assigned
Supervise, mentor, and evaluate up to five Coordinators with their Lead Guides and Interns
Drive school bus with CDL Class B required—Trackers can help you get this certification
Co-plan and organize curriculum with Team

Qualifications

1+ years (or 3 seasons) experience in outdoor education or 2+ years in general education
1+ season experience leading and managing adult teams, preferably in outdoor or educational settings.
Experience with outdoor programs similar to Trackers and/or skills relevant to Trackers programs
Can exercise independent judgment that reflects Trackers policies and protocols, while managing campers and staff in remote locations with limited support
Can coordinate, adapt and plan for complex logistics, and be flexible in working with challenges
Possess grit, becoming more calm, creative, and proactive when challenged
Can stand, bend, squat, climb, lift (up to 50 lbs), hike on and off trail (up to 5 miles) per day
Trackers Earth completes pre-employment criminal background & references checks
Coordinators need the following certifications (or able to complete before starting):
- CPR/First Aid/Anaphylaxis & Epinephrine Auto-Injector
- Food Handlers
- (ages 18+) Recognizing & Reporting Child Abuse & Neglect (OR & WA)
- State fishing license if guiding a program that includes fishing
- Completed Vaccinations for COVID-19 (verification required)
- Class B Commercial Drivers License (CDL) required for driving a Bus. Trackers can assist you in getting this certification.

Location

As a seasonal educator and Coordinator+ you are not assigned to an officially fixed worksite. You are responsible for your own transporation and be able report to work at any of our locations within 30 miles of Portland.

2022 Salary

Coordinator+ (with Class B CDL): $940 per week

Training

About Trackers

Bushcraft Educator & Supervisor

Develop and oversee Trackers Earth camp programs that teach stealth, archery & wildernes surivival. A year-round, full-time position.

Required 2+ years Outdoor Education, 2+ year management, CDL (we help you get this), 21 years & up.
Pay $45,760 - $51,140 per year
Benefits Medical, PTO
Free camp for 2 children (Grade K-5).
Starting before May 23.

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Apply now

Your role? A Trackers Supervisor is manager and mentor to hundreds of staff and thousands of students. You contribute to a curriculum that teaches stealth, arhery & wilderness survival. As a subject matter expert, contribute to and help develop and manage speciality content and teams serving upwards to 2500 kids a year. Co-create and teach content for in-depth forest school, homeschool, apprenticeship, and after school programs, cultivating strong relationships with Trackers families as we build our community. Working with the region’s General Manager and Site Supervisors, collaborate in the growth and quality of all specialty programs.

Responsibilities

Teach, develop, and implement programs based on one or more of the following subjects: Forest Craft, Archery & Wilderness Survival, Farm Craft, Animal Care & Wild Plants, Mariners Craft, Fishing & Boating, Outdoor Adventure, Paddling & Rock Climbing, Woodworking, Ceramics, Blacksmithing & more!
Be a mentor, and remember what it’s like to be a kid.
Break Camp: Summer, Spring, Winter Oversee and manage a Trackers Earth summer and break camp team serving upwards to 2500 campers a year.
School Year: Plan for Summer, Spring and Winter programs. Mentor and teach in our Homeschool, Weekend Apprenticeship, or After School programs.
Recruit, assemble, train, manage, and evaluate Interns, Guides, and Coordinators.
Reinforce a culture of can-do attitude and positive, and solutions based collaboration.
Follow and enact all of Trackers policies and procedures for safety and quality.
Direct staff in proper usage, maintenance and storage of program gear.
Document matters of safety, quality, operations, staffing, and culture on a daily basis.

Qualifications

Completed Vaccinations for COVID-19 (verification required).
2+ years (or 4 seasons) experience leading and managing adult teams, preferably in outdoor or educational settings.
2+ years (or 4 seasons) experience in outdoor skills or 3+ in general education.
Experience with summer camps similar to Trackers or skills relevant to Trackers programming.
Ability to exercise independent discretion and judgment that reflects critical thinking while managing campers and staff in remote locations with limited support.
Model professionalism while supporting campers, families, and colleagues.
Can stand, bend, squat, climb, lift (up to 50 lbs), hike on and off trail (up to 5 miles) per day.
Passing pre-employment criminal background & references checks.
Willingness to develop your own skills that apply to Trackers culture and goals.
Possess the following certifications (or able to complete before starting): CPR/First Aid/Anaphylaxis & Epinephrine Auto-Injector, Food Handlers , Recognizing & Reporting Child Abuse & Neglect (OR & WA), State fishing license.
Class B Commercial Driver's License (CDL) required. Trackers will assist you in getting this certification.

Location

As an outdoor educator and supervisor you are not assigned to an officially fixed worksite. You are responsible for your own transporation and be able report to work at any of our locations within 30 miles of Portland.

Compensation

$45,760 - $51,140 per year

Benefits

Medical, Dental, Vision
Accrued sick leave (up to 95 hours per year) can also be used as flexible PTO
Professional and career development opportunities
Free winter, spring & summer camp options for immediate family members (Grade K-5)
Industry pro deals for gear discounts

About Trackers

Please note: all required dates are mandatory. If you cannot make the full summer commitment, consider our Flexible Substitute role. Guide staff have the option to take a week off from June 30 to July 4.

Locations

Educators are not assigned to a fixed worksite. You must be able to report to any of our locations in Portland (NE, SE, W) or Sandy, OR.

Training

Training includes both pre-reading and in-person workshops. Please note: training is paid at minimum wage. After training, the regular pay rate applies.

Flexible Substitute

Can't commit to the entire summer? Choose Flexible Substitute when applying. We can call you to serve as a Guide Educator based on weekly or daily needs.

About Trackers

We help children feel like that group of kids wandering country backyards 50 years ago: independent, tired, muddy, wet, and happy from the woods and wild. Through our many years in education, we are acutely aware of the real hazards of the outdoors. We work to keep kids safe but not encapsulated from, nor phobic of what is wild. We believe children need to develop ever increasing independence, competency, and capacity in nature—not only for their own connection and fulfillment but also to contribute to their families, future generations, and the more-than-human world. We believe it is okay to be thirsty at times, cold at times, and wet at times. This builds empathy and care for the gifts of life, fostering true adventure and genuine accomplishment. We also believe it is critical for children to feel supported and cared for as they explore their passion for service and responsibility. And through a healthy life found in nature connection, they can test their limits and discover the great potential of the often untapped physical grit and emotional resilience they possess.

Bushcraft & Wilderness Survival Instructor

The Opportunity

What We Do!

Grow with Trackers

Educator Roles

Bushcraft Instructor - Teacher

Bushcraft Instructor - Manager

Bushcraft Educator & Supervisor

Locations

Training

Flexible Substitute

About Trackers

Employment Application

Contact

Section 1 - Roles

Section 2 - Work Experience

Section 3 - Trackers Compass

Section 4 - Locations

Section 5 - Schedule

Additional Comments

Trackers Earth Portland