Forestry Crew Lead - Sequoia NF (Western Divide District)
Job Description:
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 (Western Divide Ranger District) in 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.
Selected Leads will serve USFS Region 5’s 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.
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.
Contract Timeline:Start and end dates may vary according to local conditions and individual projects: May 2023 - October 2023.
Projects are weather dependent and there is always a chance the season will end earlier if weather prevents safe field operations.
Location:The incumbents will be based out of the Western Divide Ranger District (Springville, 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.
Compensation and Benefits:- Wage: $26/hour with overtime at 1.5x hourly rate. Full time, average 40 hours per week.
- Health, Dental, Vision Insurance paid 100% by GBI. Available on the first day of the month following the start of employment.
- Shared housing provided through Airbnb or USFS barracks. Saving you ~$1000/month.
- Camping Per Diem: $15/night as necessary.
- Uniform Stipend: $150.
Job Qualifications:Required:
- Bachelor’s 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 driver’s 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.