Seasonal Educator

Season dates: Monday, March 10, 2025 through Friday, November 21, 2025

Position & Program Summary

The Educator contributes to the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust’s long-term goals of conservation and community engagement by helping develop an environmental stewardship mindset in the next generation of leaders. They are responsible for teaching 4th-12th grade students about salmon, forest ecology, environmental stewardship, and more through classroom lessons, hands-on field trips, stewardship events, and internships. They also assist with volunteer events, helping community members improve habitat health for salmon and other wildlife by removing weeds or planting trees.

Organizational Overview

The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust works to steward a diverse landscape that stretches 100 miles from the shores of Puget Sound across the Cascade Mountains to Central Washington. Designated a National Heritage Area in 2019, the Greenway landscape encompasses two million people, 28 cities, three major river systems, two Interstate highways, and 1.5 million acres (900,000 acres publicly owned). Its working lands support forest and farms on both sides of the mountains. Its waterways provide habitat for salmon. Its protected alpine wilderness includes recovery corridors for wolves, grizzly bears, and other species once hunted to regional extinction. Its expansive access to nature, including 1,600 miles of trails, is the heart of Washington’s $20 billion outdoor recreation economy.

Vast natural resources, the nation’s 15th largest metropolitan area, and many competing interests create the potential for conflicts. Navigating these conflicts, with the goal of conserving that precarious balance between natural and built environments, is the founding and enduring purpose of the Greenway Trust.

An early adopter of “collective impact,” the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust was founded on the belief that to grow in harmony with nature instead of consuming it, the full community must be engaged. The goal of conserving this region’s wild and green character brought together the spheres of government, industry, and conservation and community organizations for the first time. Collaboration, compromise, and common good were the rules of engagement. We are proud to say that, three decades later, they still are.

Essential Job Functions

Teaching (75%)

• Teach 4th-12th grade students about salmon, forest ecosystems, stewardship, green careers, human impacts on watershed health, and similar topics.
• Manage safety for groups of approx. 25 students and 2-5 adult chaperones in outdoor settings using sound judgment and applying appropriate risk management decisions.
• Spring and Fall: Teach the Next Generation Stewards and Forests and Fins curricula to classes of approx. 25 4th-12th grade students.
• Summer: Co-teach two internship programs for high school students: Youth Engaged in Sustainable Systems (YESS) (six weeks with 16 students based in Carnation) and Burien Green Teens (two weeks with 14 students based in Burien). Work closely with staff from the Greenway Trust, school districts, and partner groups to plan, deliver, and evaluate lessons.

Volunteer and Outreach Events (10%)

• Co-lead volunteer restoration events at the Greenway Trust’s native plant nursery and other sites in King County, occasionally on Saturdays.
• Represent the Greenway Trust at job fairs and other outreach events to promote Greenway Trust high school internship opportunities and share information about the Greenway Trust, occasionally in the evening.

Program Support (10%)

• Assist with program documentation (i.e., enter participant waiver data into Salesforce, take and upload photos, document pre/post assessment scores in Excel).
• Assist with updating or creating educational materials, including creating activities for high school student interns and providing feedback on Science Journals and worksheets.

Other (5%)

• Cultivate an inclusive environment by maintaining respectful, supportive, and compassionate relationships with coworkers, students, teachers, and field trip chaperones.
• Perform other duties as situations require or as assigned by supervisor.

Experience

Please review the complete job description for this posting with additional information on skills, abilities and requirements. At least one year of demonstrated experience with a combination of the following:

• Teaching 4th-12th grade students, formally or informally.
• Mentoring groups of high school students to build technical and social-emotional skills.
• Planning lessons for high school students.
• Ecological restoration (including plant ID, native planting, and weed removal).

Reports To

Education Program Manager

Work Schedule

This full-time, non-exempt position works 8:00am-4:30pm, Monday-Friday for most of the season. From mid-September to mid-November, the schedule shifts to Tuesday-Saturday. A typical week involves four field days and one office or remote day.

Work Location

This position is based out of the Greenway Trust’s field office in Issaquah. The position is hybrid, with approximately 80% of the time spent in the field. Office work takes place at the Greenway Trust’s Issaquah Field Office (1980 NW Sammamish Rd, Issaquah, WA 98027), the employee’s home, and other meeting locations. Field work takes place at schools and project sites around King County, including Issaquah, Burien, Snoqualmie Valley.

Physical Requirements

Office work involves sitting or standing for long periods while working on a computer and participating in meetings. Fieldwork includes site visits and event leadership, with physical requirements such as working in all types of weather; walking up to five miles across uneven terrain; transporting event supplies (e.g., backpacks, shovels, potted plants, A-frame signs); and visual and auditory ability to identify and respond to environmental hazards.

Field Gear

The Greenway Trust provides a long- and short-sleeved shirt and a hat at the start of the season, and loans rain gear (overalls and jacket) and required personal protective equipment. The Greenway Trust provides a $250 gear stipend at the start of the season to help employees purchase required personal gear, including closed-toe shoes that are comfortable for walking up to five miles and a backpack.

Equal Opportunity Provider

The Greenway Trust is committed to providing equal opportunity for all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, ancestry, genetic information, use of a service animal, honorably discharged veteran, military status, political ideology, personal appearance, family responsibilities, or any other characteristic protected under federal, state or local law. Each person is evaluated on the basis of personal aptitude and merit.