Join the Cascade Backcountry Alliance Board!

We’re looking for new volunteers to join our board for the upcoming season! Why are we recruiting again this year? Well, thanks to the incredible success of our 2024 recruitment, we're excited to bring on new board members to further expand our working capacity and increase our efforts to improve and protect backcountry access.

If you’re interested in joining a passionate team to improve access to winter backcountry recreation, our short application only takes 15 minutes to complete. You can expect to volunteer around 10 hours per month. Applications are due by September 4th. 

Photo credit: Simon Hoke

What You Gain as a Board Member

As a young and growing organization, we’re hoping to add up to four new volunteer board members based in Washington to join our already strong team. We know there are many members in our community who want to dedicate themselves to making a positive difference on winter backcountry access, and we’d love to have you apply. 

Benefits of serving on the Cascade Backcountry Alliance board include: 

• Having your voice be heard on timely and important issues that impact backcountry recreation access

• Gaining experience working with regional and local land managers and advocacy groups

• Meeting and collaborating with other passionate members of the backcountry community

• The opportunity to help grow a young and dynamic non-profit where you can make a direct and meaningful impact

Who We’re Looking For 

While we all enjoy spending time outside in the winter, being an advanced recreationist is not a requirement to apply! Anyone who participates in winter hiking or climbing, snowshoeing, splitboarding, or backcountry skiing is welcomed as part of our community. 

This year, we’re looking for skillsets that increase our team’s capacity in specific areas. Here we have described six types of experiences that would be incredibly valuable to our organization, though we understand we may not fill six positions this season.

Experience we’re looking for includes the following:

• Recreation or public transportation management, especially working with federal, state, or county land management agencies or Tribal nations. An individual with professional experience in recreation or transportation management would provide expertise on access and land use initiatives. We are looking for someone with experience working alongside federal agencies such as the Forest Service, National Park Service, or Bureau of Land Management, as well as state and county recreation and transit departments or Tribal governments. The ideal candidate will bring operational knowledge of permitting processes, environmental compliance, or stakeholder coordination relevant to public lands access, including public transit.

• Public policy, advocacy or public agency work experience. Professional policy or advocacy experience could help assist our team with strategic initiatives, including regulatory engagement, stakeholder relations, and policy development projects. We are seeking someone who has experience within government agencies, advocacy organizations, or consulting roles that interface with public decision-making processes. The ideal candidate will have worked on legislative analysis, regulatory compliance, community engagement, or coalition building, with particular value placed on experience with land use, recreation access, environmental, or transportation policy issues.

• Social media and digital communication management. This individual would manage our current social media channels (primarily Facebook and Instagram) and help actively build community engagement on these platforms. We are seeking someone who has professional experience managing social media for a company or nonprofit. The ideal candidate will grow to have a clear understanding of Cascade Backcountry Alliance’s purpose and voice, a vision for growing our online community, and the ability to consistently respond to community comments in a timely manner. This individual will also play a supporting role in managing our blog, newsletter, and communications strategy.

• Cross-functional project management. An individual with cross-functional project management experience is needed to guide our volunteer board members toward high-impact tactics that fulfill our strategic plan. We are seeking someone who has professional experience in project management, volunteer management, or other roles managing workflows across team members. The ideal candidate will understand the balancing act between moving projects forward while allowing for flexibility in schedules and asynchronous work of our all-volunteer board. 

• Nonprofit digital fundraising strategy, implementation, and data management. Experience creating fundraising strategies and implementing them, particularly in a professionalized nonprofit setting, will help scale the impact of our organization in the coming years. Familiarity with basic CRMs and data management, including the use of data to inform donor retention and engagement strategies is a plus. The ideal candidate will want to work creatively to tell compelling stories about Cascade Backcountry Alliance’s work to inspire greater investments from our community and is comfortable managing the fundraising process from inception to acknowledgements and will contribute to short-term and multi-year strategies as we grow.

• Nonprofit finance or budget administration. A team member with professional financial experience would assist with fiscal management initiatives including budget forecasting, annual report development, and other strategic projects to support Cascade Backcountry Alliance’s goals. As a young, growing, organization, we are seeking someone who has experience in larger organizations, or has scaled up smaller teams to meet increasing fiscal needs.

Sound like you? Apply now

What to Expect from Board Service

Board members are expected to attend monthly meetings, and all board members participate in one or more committees or extended projects. The majority of this participation is virtual, but board members in the Seattle area have the option to join every other board meeting in person. We’d love to have more representation from other areas of Washington!

We are seeking a diversity of perspectives from people who are willing to serve a minimum 2-year commitment, spending an average of 10 hours per month on board activities. We expect board members to use Slack for internal communications and we’ll provide a dedicated Cascade Backcountry Alliance email address to you for official communications.

Board members should be able to effectively and professionally represent Cascade Backcountry Alliance in communications, at events, and to their personal network. We especially love folks who are willing to engage with the public about relevant issues that impact backcountry access!

Apply Now 

Interested? Take 15 minutes to fill out our online application form by September 4th. We’ll be in touch soon thereafter and aim to conduct short interviews before October 1st.

If you have any questions, we’re happy to chat! Email us at info@cascadebackcountryalliance.com.