Botany Crew Lead (Sequoia NF, Supervisor's Office)

Description

Position Description Summary: 
Ranger District: Supervisor’s Office; Porterville, CA

USFS, California

The Great Basin Institute, in cooperation with the USFS, is recruiting multiple Botany Crew Leads to perform and help manage vegetation surveys within the Sierra Nevada mountain range (USFS Region-5 locations). These projects all serve the Basin & Range Forestry program’s greater mission of helping the USFS in their critical goal of improving forest resilience in the face of worsening climate conditions and increased wildfire threats. The work that you will do directly improves the quality of these forests helping ensure they continue to thrive for generations to come. 

A Temporary Special Assignment (TSA) employee is one who is hired for a specific temporary assignment external from the institute’s administrative operations with one of GBI’s partners for 52 weeks or greater or less than 52 weeks and may work full-time (30 or more hours per week) or part-time (less than 30 hours per week).

Essential Job Functions may include the following:

1. Lead field crews in conducting botanical surveys to determine species identity, population characteristics, environmental conditions, factors affecting vigor and extent of species and their habitat.
2. Manage crew safety, coordinate daily tasks, and ensure data collection adheres to USFS management protocols.
3. Lay out of monitoring plots, data collection, and produce maps
4. Collaborate with USFS and GBI staff to support vegetation management and environmental compliance measures.
5. Administrative duties such as meeting with GBI staff, leading report writing, receipt management, managing crew members and team dynamics.
6. Additional tasks may include survey equipment setup, data quality assurance, and training.

LOCATION

Ranger District: Supervisor’s Office; Porterville, CA

Porterville, California, is a vibrant city nestled in the San Joaquin Valley at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Known for its rich agricultural heritage, it thrives on crops like citrus, olives, and nuts. Porterville serves as a gateway to outdoor adventure, offering easy access to Sequoia National Forest, where towering sequoia trees, scenic vistas, and diverse wildlife await. The forest, renowned for its Giant Sequoia groves, rugged trails, and opportunities for hiking, camping, and fishing, is a natural treasure that complements Porterville’s community charm and rural beauty. Together, they provide an ideal blend of small-town hospitality and stunning natural landscapes.

WORK SCHEDULE

This position will begin in mid-May and end as late as mid-November. Season start and end dates are project and weather dependent and may change slightly. 

Forestry Crew positions follow 10 hour days, 4 days a week schedule. 

Temporary Special Assignment employees are eligible to receive holiday pay, if partner approved. TSAs working four (4) ten (10) hour days per workweek will be paid ten (10) hours for all holidays.  Same with other approved/allowable workweek configurations; these can be accommodated accordingly with Banked Holiday(s).

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

Wage: $26/hour with overtime at 1.5x hourly rate. Full time, average 40 hours per week

In addition to a competitive base salary, this full-time,onsite position includes company-paid comprehensive medical, dental (with option to upgrade in coverage), and vision insurance, as well as $25,000 Life/AD&D policy. Voluntary short-term and long-term disability policies are available, and voluntary Life/AD&D policies for family members.  Mental health support resources are employer provided, competitive PTO accrual, and paid holidays.   Shared housing is provided. This exciting role contributes to GBI’s significant positive impacts within the fields of environmental research, education, and conservation.

TSA employees who serve a term under 52 weeks in duration, and have a thirty (30) day or less break between terms, and then sign a second term that (cumulatively) becomes greater than 52 weeks of employment, will be eligible for the >1-year TSA benefits (equivalent to Regular full-time employees).

Qualifications

Requirements/Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, employees must be able to satisfactorily carry out each essential duty. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

1. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 

• Experience in conducting rare plant surveys and other botanical work 
• Experience using technical keys to identify plants to the species or subspecies level
• Ability to understand, implement and adhere to established data collection, inventory, assessment, and monitoring protocols;
• Willingness to work a variable schedule in response to project needs
• Skills in GPS navigation and map reading
• Physical ability for fieldwork in remote areas, including overnight camping if necessary
• Effective communication skills for coordination with multidisciplinary teams
• Possess a clean, valid, state-issued driver’s license with the ability to safely operate and maintain a 4WD vehicle on and off paved roads
• Experience leading crews in the field preferred

1. Education: Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Ecology, Natural Resource Management, or related field, with fieldwork experience OR three years of botany fieldwork experience.

TO APPLY

Qualified applicants will be contacted to schedule an interview. For questions regarding this position, please contact Katie McKinnon at kmckinnon@gbinstitute.org

PHYSICAL DEMANDS  

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, use hands, stand, walk, bend, and have specific vision abilities to include close and distance vision, and ability to adjust focus working with computer business equipment and other job/industry specific equipment. The noise level in the work environment is usually low.

NOTE:  This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employees may perform other related duties as negotiated to meet the organization's ongoing needs.

Disclaimer: Although the organization has attempted to accurately and thoroughly describe this position, GBI reserves the right to change the same, including to change, add to or subtract from the duties outlined, within the sole discretion of the organization, at any time, with or without advance notice.

Salary : $26