Pros
Access to really special outdoor locations - national and state parks, etc. Mountains and lakes and incredible hiking trails. Good work/life balance, remote work available, solid comp time for outdoor work. People in lower non-management roles are tend to be really cool and interesting. Really committed and responsive volunteer network. Reliable seasonal work in rural New England.
Cons
REALLY RACIST! The way they talk behind closed doors is shocking. Very few people of color in the organization and they are treated as problems over and over, never given promotions. They hired a consultant to diagnose racial issues and the results were extremely bad. Management then ignored their suggestions and it's like it never happened. Over the past couple of years most staff of color quit or were fired. Customers of color who come into the parks and locations to hike & camp are treated with suspicion. Leadership is comically incompetent - they have no idea what goes on in the organization and even less about the outdoor industry. Seems like they hire their friends as consultants and executives and blow money and then went on a firing spree to save money. Cliquey and dishonest management. They will lie to you about everything and everything. It's really frustrating to have some random manager who knows nothing about your job lie to your face. They're always looking for someone else to blame for failings and there is zero loyalty. Working here does not feel stable, everyone is constantly worried they'll be laid off or fired. A general vibe of misery throughout the organization. You get the feeling people can't quit because they don't have options in their rural areas. The pay and benefits are also really bad, even for a non-profit. Compared to other organizations in the field they pay the lowest they can get away with and the health insurance has a very high deductible. It's called passion exploitation, people want to work outdoors and care about the environment so they take poor pay etc. to be able to. And then people sort of live with and deal with the unhealthy work environment because they want to be outdoors. It's not worth it.
