Fuels / Vegetation Technician
In cooperation with the National Park Service at Joshua Tree National Park (JOTR), the Great Basin Institute is recruiting two (2) AmeriCorps technicians to assist with JOTR Vegetation Branch operations. Technicians will assist program leads to manage vegetation, construct and maintain fuel breaks, reduce fuel loads, monitor and control invasive plants and other weeds, and other duties as assigned.
Fuels work will require manual treatments to cut, bag, and remove vegetation using tools such as string trimmer (weed whacker), chainsaw, and rake, as well as chemical treatments to apply herbicide using backpack and truck-based hose-and-reel sprayers. Possession of a current California Pesticide Applicator’s License or Certificate is desirable but not required. Field work will require working outdoors in all types of weather, including cold, wind, dust, rain, snow, and very hot (greater than 1000F) days. Technicians will be required to operate a 4x4 truck pulling a trailer, including backing the trailer and negotiating tight turns and rocky roads. Technicians must be capable of hiking long distances in a desert environment, including steep, rocky terrain.
As part of the Vegetation Branch Team, technicians may assist with other tasks including vegetation monitoring, invasive plant inventory and control, Early Detection Rapid Response, restoration plantings and watering, and reclaiming damages caused be vehicles traveling off-road. Monitoring could include collecting plant cover, height, frequency, and density data, including identification to genus-species level. Invasive plant control could involve manual (hand pulling, clipping) and chemical (herbicide) treatments. Off-highway vehicle damage reclamation may include inventory of incursion tracks, construction of barricades, installation of signage, installation of vertical and horizontal mulch, and raking out vehicle tracks. Restoration tasks can include collecting and cleaning seed, plant nursery work (germinating, transplanting, watering, weeding, pruning), out-planting of propagated plants, and periodic watering of out-plantings.