Re: [RC] RC] LBJ grasslands... clarification - Sisu West Ranch
"...Forrest service says the volunteers have to
take special training and certification ..."
Working with the Forest Service as a volunteer
opens a can of worms that seems to defy solution.
To volunteer, the Forest Service wants your
organization to sign a "volunteer agreement". The good news is that you
and your organization is now covered by the Forest Service's workmans
compensation and liability. This provides medical care if you are injured
and relieves your org. of much liability. The bad news is that the Forest
Service now considers you to be an unpaid employee. As an employee you are
subject to all of the rules and regulations of a Forest Service employee.
The Forest Service has lots of training and certification required for
employees, you just have to tow the line.
There is another program, whose name escapes me,
where your org is "hired" as an unpaid independent contractor to do a specific
job. The good news is that all of the Forest Service employee rules do not
apply. The bad news is that as a "contractor" you assume liability, and
must abide by the state rules for insurance (liability and workmans comp).
As near as I can tell MT will require workman's comp insurance. Workman's
comp insurance is not cheap. It cost me, as a one person independent
contractor, about $200 for two months of part time work as a ditch
rider.
If anyone knows a way around this problem, let me
know. Our local BCH chapter has been wrestling with this issue all
year.
Ed
Ed & Wendy Hauser 2994 Mittower
Road Victor, MT 59875
