If you love to camp and enjoy working with people, you might have what it takes to be a great campground host! Every year, more than 100 people serve on Iowa's state park campgrounds, providing a vital service to the state.

And you could be one of them!

By serving as a campground host, you'll get a chance to give back to the park you love, meet other camping enthusiasts, and camp for free. Welcome!

Goal: Campground hosts work with park rangers to ensure that campers have the best experience possible in our Iowa state parks. Live-in hosts provide a friendly presence in our campgrounds, perform valuable work, and act as models for other campers.

Sample Activities: Answering questions, explaining rules and regulations, helping with registration, directing people to points of interest, litter control, light maintenance, and added responsibilities in partnership with site supervisor.

Timeframe: At the discretion of the volunteer, and as park's schedule allows.

Worksite: State park campgrounds. Find a list of parks in need of one or more campground hosts.

Benefits: Designated free campsite in the park with a host sign; host cap or pin, volunteer awards and recognition from the DNR and the state of Iowa for valuable service performed.

Requirements: From May through September, the campground host volunteer serves as a "live-in" host at a state park or state forest campground for at least a four week period. A host's primary responsibility is to assist campers by answering questions and explaining rules that apply to them in a cheerful and helpful manner. Volunteers should be familiar with state park and forest campground rules and the reasoning behind them.

• Volunteers need to become familiar with local points of interest and the location where local services can be obtained; e.g., gas, bait, groceries.
  
  
• Volunteers perform light maintenance work around the campground such as litter pickup, sweeping and stocking of supplies in vault toilet building; and making emergency minor repairs when possible; and various other duties. State park volunteers may be requested to assist in the naturalist's campground program.
  
  
• Volunteers will take no law enforcement measure other than being observant and advising users of unintentional infractions. Flagrant violators will be reported to state park personnel or the area forester responsible for the campground. Hosts may be asked to serve as a witness for flagrant violations that have been observed.
  
  
• Volunteers will set an example by being model campers, practicing good housekeeping at all times in and around the host site, and by observing all rules.
  
  
• Campground host on-duty hours will be mutually agreed between the campground manager and the host.
  
  
• Applications will be accepted all summer. Please send complete applications to the park manager.

How to apply:
Contact the supervisor at the park where you want to host, the Program Administrator listed below, or download this form,*pdf to apply. You can also check the list of parks in need of a campground host.

Camp Host Program contact person:
Jolene Richeson (515) 242-3399, Jolene.richeson@dnr.iowa.gov