Interpretive Volunteer

D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery & Archives is seeking couples to join our team for the 2027 summer season. 

Location/Site Description: The D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery & Archives is located in Spearfish, SD. Nestled in the Northern Black Hills, Spearfish has around 14,000 residents and is a 45-minute drive from Rapid City, SD. Spearfish provides many essential amenities, while Rapid City features a wider range of services, including a regional airport. The Black Hills region is rich in outdoor recreation opportunities, with Spearfish Canyon, Bear Butte State Park, Devils Tower National Monument, Black Hills National Forest, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, and Badlands National Park all within a 2-hour drive.

Established in 1896, the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery was constructed to establish trout populations in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. It is the only hatchery within the National Fish Hatchery System designated as “historic” and is one of the oldest hatcheries still in operation today. The hatchery receives over 190,000 visitors annually. The D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery also houses the National Fish & Aquatic Conservation Archives. The collection contains over 2 million documents and 14,000 objects from past and present hatcheries.

Position Overview: Volunteers are entrusted with a variety of responsibilities and duties. The positions outlined below represent the primary responsibilities assigned to our volunteers. Please note, this summary is intended to provide a general overview of each position and is not exhaustive.

Booth House: The Booth House served as the superintendent’s residence and was occupied by families from 1905-1983. It was placed on the Register of Historic Places in 1979. Volunteer duties include welcoming visitors, providing visitors with a guided tour to learn about life at the hatchery, answering questions, ensuring visitors help preserve the historic building by following established guidelines, helping maintain the appearance of the home by performing light housekeeping, reporting any preservation or maintenance concerns, and completing daily opening and closing procedures.

Railcar: The railcar is a replica of Fish Car #3, which belonged to a fleet of 10 railcars used over a span of 66 years for transporting fish around the country. Volunteer duties include welcoming visitors, sharing the history of fish transportation, sharing stories about how fish were transported across the country by rail, answering questions, ensuring visitors help preserve the railcar by following established guidelines, helping maintain the appearance of the rail car by performing light housekeeping such as vacuuming, reporting maintenance concerns, and completing opening and closing procedures.

Museum: The National Fish Hatchery Museum was created to preserve the vibrant history and rich heritage of the American fisheries workers. Volunteer duties include greeting visitors, providing orientation to the museum, answering questions, monitoring the museum to ensure exhibits remain protected, helping maintain the appearance of the museum by performing light housekeeping and completing daily opening and closing procedures. (The museum is currently closed for renovations with no set reopening date. While we hope to finish by summer 2027, this timeline is subject to change).

Visitor Center/Nature Store: The visitor center/nature store functions both as a store and information center for visitors. It offers a selection of souvenirs, books, apparel, educational materials, and fish food for visitors interested in feeding the fish. Volunteer duties include greeting visitors to provide a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, answering questions about the hatchery and local attractions, operating the point-of-sale system, helping maintain the appearance of the store by performing light housekeeping, keeping it organized, and well-stocked, replenishing fish food bags, and completing daily opening and closing procedures.

Rover: The rover helps support daily operations throughout the hatchery. Volunteer duties include providing breaks for volunteers working in the venues, greeting visitors, distributing maps and informational materials, restocking handouts, answering questions, providing information about the hatchery, its history, fish production, and surrounding area, emptying trash, monitoring hatchery grounds and visitors, delivering 50 pound bags of fish food to the gift shop, checking bathrooms for toilet paper and soap, addressing minor housekeeping needs such as removing cobwebs and sweeping, and watering plants.

Other volunteer duties may occasionally include groundskeeping, fish culture, and assisting with special events such as weddings and fundraisers. There may also be opportunities to assist in archival work.

Housing: RV sites are available and equipped with water, sewer, and electricity hookups. Campground is pet friendly. Fiber optic and internet services are not available; however, volunteers may choose to purchase Starlink or utilize complimentary Wi-Fi options available within Spearfish. 2 laundromats are located within 2 miles of the campground.

Schedule/Time Commitment: Volunteers are expected to work a rotation of 3 days on followed by 3 days off. Each shift will be 4.5 hours in duration, resulting in a total weekly commitment of 36–40 hours per couple. A minimum commitment of 10 weeks is required. Positions will be available beginning in May or July.  

Physical Demands: Requires frequent sitting, standing, walking, going up and down stairs. May require kneeling, bending, and lifting/moving up to 50 pounds.

Interviews will begin as early as October or November 2026.