Reno, NV

Position Title: Seasonal Fire Impact Monitoring (Vegetation) Technician

Organization: Great Basin Institute

Location: Reno, NV

Position Overview: The Great Basin Institute (GBI) is recruiting Post Fire Monitoring Technicians to work with GBI and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) staff. Each technician will work with one other technician under the supervision of a Field Lead to characterize vegetation using the terrestrial AIM core methods. The BLM in the state of Nevada is collecting terrestrial AIM data to inform management decisions related to hazardous fuels reduction and Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation treatments. Monitoring data is needed to determine the locations and desired types of treatments, and to evaluate treatment effectiveness, and to help inform future management decisions on how and when to implement treatments. Crews will collect standard AIM protocols and Plant Density to help inform BLM Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation treatment decisions and restoration efforts. During field work, car camping for 7 night “hitches” in remote locations will typically be required.

Duties:

• Maintaining safety awareness and practices.
• Extensive 4×4 driving on unmaintained roads.
• Navigating off-trail to sampling sites.
• Establishing sampling plots and transects.
• Identifying and describing soil horizons to help verify ecological site descriptions (ESDs).
• Collecting vegetation data (including species inventory, forb diversity, species abundance, sagebrush shape, foliar cover, canopy gap, and herbaceous and woody heights).
• Taking photo-points.
• Regular communication with GBI support staff and agency staff.
• Participation in GBI and agency trainings.
• Entering data into both Field Maps and Survey 123 software.
• Identifying plants to species using dichotomous keys.
• Employing extensive QA/QC data checks.

Qualifications: Experience, education, or a combination of both in botany and/or range management must meet the following criteria (Crew Leads should also have education and experience with plant identification):

• Bachelor’s degree in botany, biology, ecology, or rangeland ecology or other natural resources and at least 9 semester hours in plant or biological sciences.

And/or

• Bachelor’s degree in plant or soil science or similar with at least 9 semester hours in soils or a minimum of 1 year of field data collection describing soils (any of the 4 certifications from the Soil Science Society of America may substitute for education or experience).

Start/End Date: April 13 or May 29 to September 29

Salary/Pay: $18-$20 per hour depending on experience

Application Deadline: March 6

How to Apply: Please use the online application to view the full job description as well as how to apply.