Work Camping: Please excuse my nose!

Yeah, I?m just nosey.  ;D

We were asked several times last year at state parks, if we would be interested in ?Hosting.? We would, but we can?t. Barely up to camping at all, physically, and not capable of doing anything that could be called real work. Eg: breaking camp - driving 200 miles - setting up camp - about does it, for us, for the day. Rewarding but exhausting. Like to just relax with no responsibilities, the next day. Day after that, OK to hit the road, again.

Interested, never the less. (Nosey!) What does a ?Host? do? Any perks, over and above a ?free camp site??  ;D  Are income taxes involved - the value of the perks, for example?  Must one do this all summer - several months - or from week to week? Do some ?Host? for a while at one site, then move on to another Host job, elsewhere, for a while? How does it work? Do different hosting jobs have different responsibilities?  ???

I have met a lot of hosts, over the years, including some out in the mountains in the near-wilderness mountain campgrounds. Now there?s a rugged job for real mountain folks! 

Have met a number of camp hosts, every one of them very nice company, even the ?rugged? ones!

Thanks for any comments, any at all!

Ray D  ;D

Some folks spend the whole season hosting in a park. Some go from park to park, spending a month or two at each. Some people go back to the same park every year, others go to a new place every season. Depends a lot on the park, their season, their needs and what you want to do as a host.

As for income tax, technically, the value of the 'perks' (i.e. free campsite) is income HOWEVER because you are a host, you are required to live in the park which makes the cost of the site deductible. Bottom line, it's a wash. Any per diem may be taxable.

Volunteer hosts in state parks are generally just that - volunteers who act as hosts. They aren't required to do much, if anything, other than be there as a point of contact and don't get any remuneration other than the "free" campsite. Other workamping jobs, including some in state and federal parks, require more actual work (e.g. security patrols, registering guests, collecting fees, mowing lawns or cleaning out fire places) and often provide some pay in addition to a campsite. At the high end of the scale are workamping jobs that are essentially just jobs (part of full time) that pay for hours worked and provide a campsite too.  And any of these can have other perqs or rewards, e.g. store discounts, propane, firewood, meals, telephone, etc. That stuff will vary by location and whatever the campground has to offer.

This summer Nancy & I will workamp at the Suncrest Resort in Moses Lake, WA. We get paid and have a very nice site. I will take care of their swimming pools (5 of them) and Nancy will work on the office/store part time, handling registrations, reservations and store sales. Will probably put in 25-30 hours per week each. We also have fun, meet lots of nice people and reap dozens of new tales to tell around the camp fire [Priceless!]

Just wondering, in order to work in state parks do you have to be a US citizen? I am a teacher and my wife is an OR nurse, we would like to be camp hosts but we are Canadians.
Michael

Work rules will vary by the organization doing the hiring, but for volunteer positions I believe the general answer is that US citizenship is not required. Some employers may require a US tax ID number, though, so be sure to ask. For most US citizens, their Social Security number is their tax ID. The US Internal Revenue Service also issues specific tax ID numbers for people who have a tax liability but no SS#, but I don't know how easy or hard it is for a Canadian to get one.

Thanks Gary,
  This something that we both would like to do, so now we will look into it further.
Michael

Hmm.... this is interesting.
Is there any kind of work I can get at a camp part-time?

Most workamping positions are part time, with 18-24 hours being fairly typical but some may be 30+ hours.  Some are for a site only and some pay a little as well. If you join workamper.com you will have access to numerous ads describing all sorts of part time jobs. Or simply ask about possible work at every campground you visit - many of them need some part time help, even if just lawn mowing and such.

Has anyone ever been a camphost with coach?  I was thinking the other day, that perhaps down the road that might be in interesting fun thing to do for a season, but then I thought about the hassel if I needed to break everything down because I was out of propane, or needed to dump and the site didnt have facilities. Especially if in a remote area and several miles to the nearest town.  I could see that if in a 5er or a TT, you could just drag the propane bottles out and get one of those large blue portable dump containers, load all of that up in your tow vehicle and head to town.....at the same time you could restock the margarita mix  ;D

Most of the camp hosts are provided full hookup sites, even in COE, National Parks, State Parks, etc.. As far as propane, you could have a propane truck come to you and fill up.

My friends hosted in a state park in Missouri they got a site and mileage to the state park nearest home. I believe it was full hookup.
and usually hosts don't need to do much greet people and i've seem some have coffee and donuts on staurday or sunday morning.

 

We were camp hosts at Turkey Run State Park in Indiana for the month of June.  We had Electricity, but no sewer of water hook up.  I showered in a park shower house to conserve.  We had to unhook the MH and dump weekly, and filled the fresh water tank at the same time.  This was a pain, but not all that bad.

Duties were to visit with campers informing them of park facilities, and stocking toilet paper.  Turkey Run expected 20 hr per person.  My wife helped out at the nature center to get her 20 hrs in.  Each evening I walked the campground visiting with campers, answering questions, and spreading good will. 

Having said all of that, we had a great time and look forward to returning.  We met lots of nice people and enjoyed a very nice park. Our main dissatisfaction was that we were expected to be in the park six days a week, leaving little opportunity to get out and see things.

We like it well enough that we are trying to find something like that in the Phoenix area for Jan - April. 

We workamped for seven summers with our various motorhomes. Chances of runing out of propane are slim in most campground job becasue you usually have at least good electric and often full hook-ups. And "breaking camp" is not all that big a deal anyway, especially if you are just going to town for propane. You can leave most of the stuff in place.

Thanks for the info, RV Roamer.
I'm going to check out that site now!

Ok, so where do I go to find a camp host position?

Is there a website?  I haven't googled it yet.

I'm heading to Savannah GA and maybe Florida.

Sorry, I can't seem to do the hyperlink insertion correctly, but here is the URL for Workamper News.

http://www.workamper.com/?gclid=CIOFz9ilrJcCFRMvHgodMHlZjw

Margi

We have been volunteer camp hosts at a state park in Idaho for the last couple of summers and are going back next summer.
There are 11 camping units (campgrounds) in the park and duties vary some from unit to unit.

In all the units the hosts are the eyes and ears of the rangers. 70 % of the hosts time is spent in PR work and explaining the rules. If a camper doesn't obey the rules after having them explained a couple of times we call a ranger on the provided base station radio and have him come do the enforcement.
Some units require reservations and the hosts handle that.
Some units require hoses to be drug around for watering the grounds. The hosts are expected to pick up any trash left behind and to remove trash left in fire pits. Seasonal employees clean the bathrooms and do maintenance.

Regarding propane, the local propane companies will not fill tanks on site. We have an "Extend A Stay" Tee that allows us to connect an external tank to our motor home.
We carry a 40 pound tank with us and take it to the local propane station and have it filled.

I just came across this thread...which goes back a few months and noticed something which our overseas visitors might take note of... 

Gary, I noticed you said that you do not need to be a US citizen to camp host.  However, working for reward or remuneration,  would fall afoul of the INS Visitor Visa regulations, which prohibits work of any kind.    Certainly US citizenship is not required to work in the US but the appropriate work permit would be for non-US citizens and/or visitors. (Green card/H1-2 visa etc)  Unfortunately such a permit would be hard to come by because it would be way down on the list of 'Preferences' under INS regulation.  I doubt it would even be approved for such temporary employment which could easily be filled by a US citizen.  There may be a 'temporary' work permit available, but those are typically for seasonal agricultural workers and applied for by the intended employer on behalf of the hiree with, I think, strngent stipulations and requirements. 

I think that it would be more difficult to find hosting work in a a Government owned park because they are more likely to have stricter requirements, i.e. Proof of eligibility (to work), whereas private campgrounds might not be so stringent - yet still be illegal - if hired without qualifying documentation.

BT

Gary, I noticed you said that you do not need to be a US citizen to camp host.  However, working for reward or remuneration,  would fall afoul of the INS Visitor Visa regulations, which prohibits work of any kind.

Click to expand...

You are certainly correct about the Visitor Visa restrictions on paid employment. However, not all camp host positions are considered to be work for remuneration. So-called volunteer positions provide a campsite but no pay and the campsite is considered to be for the convenience of having the volunteer onsite rather than pay for services. That's official Internal Revenue Service policy, though I suppose the Immigration folks could chose a different interpretation (can't be sure with the US gov't!).

Yes...In fact all three Government agencies involved - INS (under Homeland Security), Dept of Labor and Internal Revenue will each have their own interpretation of what 'work' or 'gainful employment' means.  That said, before any work - even that which might be 'un-paid', save for some quid pro quo  (free campsite etc.) would require authority to do so under INS rules first.  Without the lawful permission to work to begin with,  from the INS,  then subsequent employment becomes illegal.  It dosn't matter that tax obligations may be met, persuant to IRS regs. (they don't much care, the Feds just want the tax obligation to be fulfilled),  volunteering as a camp host for a free campsite, would likely be considered as unlawful employment under INS rules and terms of the visitor/entry visa.  The conditions upon which a visitor's entry is allowed into the US are unambiguous, "...shall not seek employment nor perform work..."  I don't believe there are any exceptions to that under the Visitor's /Non-Immigrant Visa.  Despite the well meaning of the 'volunteer' and need for such people, it would be hard to establish that  volunteering  as a camp host, was not 'work' - especially if given something in return for their services.  Furthermore, even volunteering would require some kind of Workers Compensation and/or Liability insurance to be carried by the employer on behalf of the volunteer, which further establishes 'employment'.

Of course entry (into the US) could be lawfully made under a 'work permit' visa or other visa which allows employment but as I said before, that would be difficult to obtain given the temporary nature of the position.  The primary issue is whether or not there are suitable and sufficient US citizens (or lawful residents) available to fill the post.

I would imagine the first line on the Camp Host position Application Form would be, "If not a US Citizen or legal resident, please provide proof of authority or permission to work."  The Visitor's Visa  will just not satisfy.

BT