About this site

What this is, where the numbers come from, and how it pays for itself.

What this site is for

Most articles about well-paid outdoor work are written by people who have never done any of it. They recycle the same seven job titles, quote salary figures with no source, and never mention the two things that decide whether a season is worth taking: whether housing is included, and when applications actually open.

This site answers those questions with figures you can check. Every wage on every page carries a source and a date. Where we do not have a reliable number, we say so rather than estimating one.

Where the figures come from

• Wages — the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, mostly the Occupational Outlook Handbook and the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics series. Public domain, updated annually, and the same dataset the federal government uses.
• Federal pay — the Office of Personnel Management's published General Schedule tables, including the special rates that apply to wildland fire.
• Housing costs and hiring dates — the employers' own published material. Where an employer states a daily rate or a recruiting window, we quote it and name them.

Wage data describes an occupation, not a job offer. A median is the middle of a national range: half of the people in that occupation earn less. Local pay, overtime, seasonality and experience all move the real number, sometimes a long way.

How this site makes money

Some links to clothing and equipment are affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you buy through one. That costs you nothing extra.

Two rules go with that. We do not put affiliate links on life-safety equipment — climbing saddles, ropes, helmets, personal flotation devices — because that kit has to meet a specification and be inspected, and it should never be chosen from a page that earns money on the click. And wherever free or employer-paid training exists, we name it, even though telling you not to pay for something earns us nothing.

The full disclosure page sets this out in detail.

Corrections

If a figure here is wrong or out of date, we would rather know. Tell us and we will check it against the source and correct it. Pages carry the date they were last updated so you can judge how fresh the numbers are.