Cooper Creek Campground Host

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The Blue Ridge Ranger District on the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest is actively recruiting for a volunteer campground host for the Cooper Creek Campground in Union County, GA. Cooper Creek Recreation Area is located along the banks of Cooper Creek in the North Georgia mountains. This is a high use recreation forest located within a 3 hour drive of 4 major cities. Visitors can experience a wide variety of recreation activities, including camping, hiking, trout fishing, and hunting. Anglers may fish Cooper Creek and nearby Mulky Creek, both of which are trout streams for wild and stocked trout.

Cooper Creek Campground and Mulky Campground are managed as one, and cumulatively offer 24 standard sites and one group site. These campsites are "reservation only" and there are no sites available as first come first serve. The campground provides potable water, two vault toilets, and the host site includes landline phone service and a large, covered parking area, no wi fi or cell service is available at this location. Cooper Creek Campground is reservable through Recreation.gov, and visitors can plan their visits up to six months in advance. The campground is open seasonally, from April 1 to November 1.

The following represents the duties and expectations of the campground host:

· Perform a variety of tasks associated with managing and maintaining the Cooper Creek Recreation Area. Common duties include checking visitor reservations, updating kiosk information, grounds maintenance, and providing information to visitors. Hosts are expected to interact with campground visitors but will have the full support of district staff and Forest Service Law Enforcement Officers.

• Promote equal opportunity and employs nondiscriminatory practices for merit promotion, recruitment and hiring of applicants; encouragement, recognition, and fair treatment of all employees; and career development and full utilization of employees’ skills.

• Adhere to nondiscriminatory employment practices regarding race, color, national origin, age, disability; and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal; or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program.

Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest

The Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest’s four ranger districts encompass approximately 867,000 acres across 26 counties and support approximately 850 miles of recreation trails and dozens of campgrounds, picnic areas, and other recreation activity opportunities. The three mountain districts include ten Congressionally designated wilderness areas, 430 miles of trails, including the first (or last) 76 miles of the Appalachian Trail from/to its southern terminus at Springer Mountain, and nearly 1,400 miles of trout streams.

The District

The BRRD office is based in Blairsville, Georgia, County Seat of Union County, roughly two hours north of downtown Atlanta. The district consists of approximately 325,000 acres in six counties in north-central Georgia. The northern portion of the district is located on mid-to-high elevation terrain in the Blue Ridge Mountains physiographic province but also includes mid-to-low elevation transition zones into the Upper Piedmont physiographic province to the south.

The Blue Ridge Ranger District Recreation program is active and diverse with year round visitation that includes ten developed campgrounds, all or portions of seven congressionally designated Wilderness Areas, the Ed Jenkins National Recreation Area, two permitted shooting ranges, numerous dispersed camping and day use areas including Brasstown Bald Visitor Information Center, three OHV trail systems, Jake & Bull trail system (over 30 miles of multi-use horse, bike and hike trails), ASKA trail system (over 15 miles of multi-use bike and hike trails), the Toccoa River Canoe Trail (13.8 miles) and numerous hiking trails including portions of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, the Benton MacKaye Trail and three National Recreation Trails (Duncan Ridge, Jacks Knob, and Arkaquah Trails).

The Communities

Union County has growing economies based on a diverse mixture of jobs in light manufacturing, service industries, tourism, recreation, and agriculture. Blairsville supports a number of retail outlets, including major big-box stores like Walmart and Home Depot and a variety of national / regional chain and locally owned shops and restaurants. Comprehensive medical care is available at Union General Hospital in Blairsville. Larger medical facilities are in nearby Gainesville, which is within 50 miles of the district office. There are numerous convenience stores and specialty shops located in and near Blairsville. Union County also provides a robust and diverse number of religious institutions.

The areas around the district are highly desirable second home and vacation retreat communities and have experienced relatively rapid growth over the past 20 years. New and used home prices are higher than are usually found in other rural areas. Union County has a fair housing market with numerous properties and houses for sale, however, rental property can be scarce. No government housing is available.

Union County Schools enroll approximately 2,900 pre-K through high school students at campuses in Blairsville and Suches www.ucschools.org/. Young Harris College is located in Young Harris, GA, approximately 15 minutes from Blairsville. The following colleges and universities can be reached within one to two hours: University of Georgia - Athens; North Georgia College & State University - Dahlonega; Brenau University - Gainesville; Gainesville College and Lanier Technical College - Oakwood; and Clemson University - Clemson, SC.

Cultural and Recreation Opportunities

There is a conveniently located place to participate in most any outdoor recreation activity near the district: hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, hunting, fishing, camping, canoeing, kayaking, rafting or tubing, climbing, rappelling, tennis, pickleball, golf, and a variety of other activities. Municipal facilities in both communities include several golf courses, tennis courts, community centers, and recreational parks, ball fields, swimming pools, and playgrounds. There are numerous lakes for fishing and water sports and many trout streams for cold-water anglers. Whitetail deer, eastern wild turkey, black bear, and ruffed grouse provide hunting opportunities in spring and fall.

Climate

The average daytime winter temperature is 45 degrees, and the average daytime summer temperature is 80 degrees. The growing season is 220 days, with an average rainfall of approximately 50-80 inches per year. Fall leaf color is abundant, as are flowering blossoms of numerous native plants and trees in spring and summer.

Contact Information:

For additional information about this opportunity, please contact John Stephens, District Recreation Program Manager, Blue Ridge Ranger District, (706) 897-1546, (john.r.stephens@usda.gov)

Start Date - 2025-04-01

End Date - 2025-11-01