Pros
Location: The domain office is nestled perfectly at the division of wilderness and city so if you can budget for it, there are many opportunities for recreation and entertainment. The work sites are all typical PNW Forest - One has logging but the others are beautiful old growth fairy forests with infinite views. Culture: You work with like-minded nature folk so you're bound to learn some new outdoor and naturalist skills from one another. Camaraderie happens. Resume and Career building: If you are lucky you get to be placed on many different projects (called protocols) which is exposure to all sorts of new skillsets (e.g. plant pressing, soil chemistry, beetle ID, small mammals trapping) but we had a problem with getting permits so many of us didn't get to do a lot. Friendly Personnel: The permanent staff were good kind people also just trying to make a living. There were camping trips, cabin cookouts, hikes, potlucks, friday beers etc organized by one or two of the permanent staff.
Cons
Felt unvalued: You are a data-collecting tool with no value Unaffordability of job: We were forced to work fewer than 30 hrs/week and for low pay ($13-14.85/h) not meeting the cost of living in the area. They hired twice the amount of seasonal workers needed which lead to competition for work and bad vibes. Why didn't they just hold off on hiring people until the permits they were waiting on came through, 7 months later? I know the work hours will increase to normal full time but the pay probably won't. No benefits besides general medical, obviously. Miscommunications and misinterpretations between Permanent staffers( at the expense of data quality) made it difficult for temporary technicians to tell the right and wrong way to measure/sample data. The field operations department does not offer promotions or pay raises let alone opportunities for temporary technicians to become permanent. Only upward mobility opportunities might be at headquarters. Last year was akin to a clumsy toddler but I hope in year 3 it develops into a stable and productive machine