Forestry Crew Lead (Sequoia NF, Kern Ranger District )

Position Description Summary:

Kern River Ranger District; Kernville, CA

USFS, California

The Great Basin Institute, in cooperation with the USFS, is recruiting 1 Forestry Crew Lead to perform timber sale-preparation, vegetation management and restoration projects within the USFS Region 5 Sequoia National Forest (Hume Lake Ranger District) in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. These projects all serve the Basin & Range Forestry programs 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.

Selected Leads will serve USFS Region 5s vegetation management and fuels reduction efforts, supporting initiatives for healthy, productive, and resilient forest landscapes and resources. Projects will vary across the Western Divide Ranger District, and include but are not limited to fuels reduction initiatives in wildland urban interface (WUI) areas, in and around sensitive habitats for threatened and endangered species, and watershed protection. The Crew Lead will receive professional development opportunities and benefit from exposure to USFS processes, procedures, compliance measures and reporting, and technical experience.

This evergreen posting is designed to establish a talent pool for upcoming roles typically active from early spring to fall each year (typically March - October). Successful applicants will be hired for specific projects as they arise, with responsibilities tailored to particular species and habitat at various forest locations.

A Temporary Special Assignment (TSA) employee is one who is hired for a specific temporary assignment external from the institutes administrative operations with one of GBIs 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:

The Forestry Crew Lead will perform a wide variety of activities to support all stages of project work. The Lead will be responsible for crew safety and oversight, including coordination of daily tasks and affiliated project and crew needs, provide or assist in training, communicate daily/weekly with agency staff to plan and assess crew accomplishments, and communicate with GBI staff as needed. Crew size estimation of 2 people, total. Forestry duties may include:

• Timber sale unit boundary delineation and layout (GPS navigation, flagging, painting);
• Tree species identification;
• Green and salvage timber marking and cruising;
• Timber and biomass plot cruising;
• Collection of stand examination data;
• General silviculture data collection; and
• Identification of various resource concerns including hydrology, heritage, wildlife and recreation.

In addition to providing professional experience in natural resource management, this position provides opportunities to support stewardship of public lands and to contribute to the conservation, management and restoration of natural ecosystems and native wildlife in the southern Sierra Nevada.

LOCATION

The incumbents will be based out of the Kernville Ranger District (Kernville, CA) of the Sequoia National Forest (SNF), which is one of 19 National Forests in California and takes its name from the giant sequoia, the world's largest tree. The SNF's landscape includes soaring granite monoliths, glacier-carved canyons, roaring whitewater, and more than 30 groves of sequoia trees in the forest's lower elevation slopes. Elevations range from 1,000 feet in the foothill region to peaks over 12,000 feet in the rugged high country, providing visitors with some of the most spectacular views of mountainous landscape in the entire west.

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. This exciting role contributes to GBIs 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).

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:

• Bachelors degree in Forestry (preferred), natural resource management or related field, with coursework (by position start date) AND one year of forestry related field work OR three years of professional fieldwork experience;
• Experience leading crews in the field, including oversight of crew safety, communication, fidelity to methods and data quality;
• Proficiency in navigation using GPS, topographic map and compass;
• Experience with cruising and marking techniques;
• Possess a clean, valid, state-issued drivers license with the ability to safely operate and maintain a 4WD vehicle on and off paved roads;
• Ability to work effectively in a team setting with USFS staff, GBI staff, interns, volunteers, academic, state, and federal partners;
• Ability to work safely and productively in remote field settings under adverse conditions. This includes occasionally overnight camping in remote areas for consecutive nights;
• Ability to understand, implement and adhere to established data collection, inventory, assessment, and monitoring protocols;
• Strong organizational skills and ability to work cooperatively as well as independently;
• Strong communication skills with a diverse audiences, both written and oral; 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:

• Familiarity with and interest in resource management issues of western states and the ecology of the Sierra Nevada ecoregion;
• Familiarity with the mixed conifer forests typical of eastern California, including common plants (woody and herbaceous), wildlife, and/or geology/topography is desirable;
• Capacity to collect and maintain field data in an organized manner that is easily understood and accessible to other resources staff; and
• Advanced skill using specialized software such as Microsoft Office Suite, ArcMap GIS, and Google Earth.

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.