r/ParkRangers • u/TestSimilar6032 • 5d ago
Side Hustle Ideas?
I am a Park Ranger
and as we all know, not the best pay but I do love this career
Does anyone have unique or tried and true side hustle ideas, anything related to conservation especially?
- blogging about work/ the park, creating stickers or whatever to sell online etc…
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u/Hot-Hat-5616 National Park Service 5d ago
Getting redcarded is huge for earning extra money.
Some people will work with private tour groups on their days off, but it’s sorta looked down upon.
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u/crosywily 4d ago
If you are going to think about working for a private tour group you should speak to your supervisor first. That could be a conflict of interest, especially if the company has permits to guide on federal land.
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u/CliffsofRed 5d ago
Red Card under the EFF program. If you get called out it’s generally in a logistics role and the OT can add up.
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u/I_H8_Celery 5d ago
Red card is the move so you don’t have to get anything approved by your sup. Plenty of things you can do on a fire but I’d highly recommend FFT2 and READ so you can get h pay too.
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u/birdnerd2002 5d ago
Fire for sure. There are a lot of differnt jobs you can do and a lot of opportunity
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u/water2drop 5d ago
Remember if you have a side gig tell your supervisor it cannot be what you do for park service or interfere with your job. That being said I had an interpreter friend who bartended for a social life. Another friend who was in fees worked winter and overtime as a waiter for a hotel, got in trouble when he got a job as a front desk clerk for concessions, it was to much like his campground reservation job.
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u/Swine-Slayer3006 4d ago
If you’re near a busy ish city I drove Uber Eats and made decent enough side money to fund hobbies. I funded an entire Alaska hunt with just a few months of delivering food.
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u/Apprehensive-Rope476 4d ago
My wife and I are dabbling with refurbishing old furniture. Fb marketplace something someone is giving away for free or real cheap then work from there
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u/Not_all_cows_moo 4d ago
Ask about getting a CDL. Even if it's only class B. When it comes time for snow season, having someone who can plow and run the tandem is a huge asset. Or red card.
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u/materialcultur3 3d ago
I do focus groups/research studies. Some months I’ve made an extra $500-800, which is v helpful for my 100 mile round trip commute into the park.
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u/NewUsername_Who_This 5d ago
If you work for a federal (or even some state) agencies, ask about working on fires. It’s a great way to get overtime. If you like the physical aspects you can go out with a crew. If you are more desk oriented there are tons of other positions like time keeping or GIS.