NEWS RELEASES
Forest Service Volunteer On Track To Hit 3000 Hours
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through US Forest Service's website.
Bob Schneider is a long-time volunteer approaching 3,000 hours with the Forest Service. Schneider, a retired Sheriff’s deputy, is celebrating a milestone about the same time his “boss,” Smokey Bear celebrates his 75th birthday. If everything goes as planned, by this summer he will have racked up 3,000 hours over the last six years as a volunteer with the Forest Service Conservation Education program.
“It happened that they needed a temporary volunteer about six years ago,” Bob said in a press release. “When the regular volunteer could not return, I stayed on. I tell everyone that I have the best volunteer job in the world—the best job of any kind, really.” In 2018, Forest Service volunteers served more than 5.2 million hours at a value of $128 million; the equivalent of 2,900 full-time employees. They serve as camp hosts, pick up trash, help with educational programs, serve as citizen scientists, repair historical buildings and make trails passable again. Schneider’s volunteer work often spills over into his personal time with as many as 12 weeks a year spent camping. He has long since traded in a tent for a more accessible RV, and at each campout two signs are among the first things he sets up.
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