Botany Technician (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 Botany Crew Members to perform vegetation surveys within the Sierra Nevada mountain range. 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. 

Crew members will benefit from exposure to USFS processes, procedures, compliance measures and reporting, and technical experience. Expanded opportunities and exposure to additional disciplines (e.g. archaeology, wildlife, hydrology, recreation, etc.) and projects may exist. These positions serve to protect sensitive botanical species and contribute to USFS vegetation management and fuels reduction efforts, and to support initiatives for healthy, productive, and resilient forest landscapes and resources.  Outcomes of field work, conducted in accordance with USFS protocols, will advance planning for management actions on National Forest lands.

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:

• Botanical surveys to determine species identity, population characteristics, environmental conditions, factors affecting vigor and extent of species and their habitat;
• Lay out monitoring plots;
• Photograph or collect specimens as directed;
• Produce maps of survey areas;
• Record, enter and summarize data;
• Use botanical keys to identify plants; and
• May be asked to assist with reporting tasks.

Botany crew members will conduct botanical surveys to establish distributional occurrences of targeted species and populations in and around designated project sites and access routes. Data from these surveys will inform mitigation measures set to protect targeted plant species and vegetation communities considered habitat for designated wildlife.

LOCATION

In and around Sequoia National Forest; 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: $21/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.

Required:

• Degree in botany, plant ecology, or a closely related field in the biological sciences, including coursework in plant taxonomy and/or systematics (transcripts may be requested); AND/OR
• Experience conducting rare plant surveys and other botanical field work; AND/OR
• Six months of professional fieldwork experience.

Other Required:

• Experience using technical keys to identify plants to the species or sub-species level;
• Experience working with hand-held GPS, maps and compass for field navigation and data collection;

• Capacity to collect and maintain field data in an organized manner that is easily understood and accessible to other resources staff;   
• Ability to communicate effectively, both written and orally, with a diverse audience;  
• Possess a clean, valid, state-issued driver’s license;
• Ability to live and work in rural and remote field and office setting; and   
• Physically fit to work outdoors, carry up to 50 pounds of personal and/or field equipment and withstand the rigors of a forested and/or high desert environment in all seasons.   

Preferred:

• Knowledge of the flora of the Eastern Sierra/Great Basin transition zone;
• Skills related to Geographic Information Systems (GIS);
• Comfortable with noxious weed control;
• Ability to understand, implement and adhere to established data collection, inventory, assessment and monitoring protocols; and
• Ability to safely operate and maintain a 4WD vehicle on and off paved roads.

TO APPLY

Qualified applicants will be contacted to schedule an interview. For questions regarding this position, please contact

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 : $21