*Wilderness inventory technician: Sierra Nevada, California*
**
*General Description*
**
This thirteen-week, field-based job in the Sierra Nevada is an excellent
opportunity to spend the summer exploring, inventorying, and evaluating
some of the wildest and most remote unprotected forests in California,
with the ultimate goal of prioritizing lands to add to the National
Wilderness Preservation System. The technicians will operate as a pair
and inventory and describe the wilderness and non-wilderness
characteristics of largely-roadless lands between Lake Tahoe and Lassen
Volcanic National Park.
The Wilderness Inventory Technicians will play an essential role in
inventorying potential wilderness areas and evaluating the wilderness
characteristics of those areas in Tahoe and Plumas National Forests. The
technicians will be responsible for inventorying roadless wildlands,
mapping boundaries of potential wilderness areas, evaluating a suite of
wilderness characteristics in those areas, helping to write reports on
potential wilderness areas, keeping regular contact with The Wilderness
Society (TWS) staff in San Francisco and working with local conservation
groups (Forest Issues Group and Friends of Plumas Wilderness) and U.S.
Forest Service staff.
Identifying wilderness-quality lands—undeveloped, roadless blocks of US
Forest Service lands generally of at least 5,000 acres that are affected
primarily by the forces of nature—is the first step in the process to
protect these areas in the National Wilderness Preservation System. TWS,
Forest Issues Group, and Friends of Plumas Wilderness are working to
make sure that potential wilderness-quality lands are not overlooked and
that opportunities to conserve these lands are not lost. This job is a
unique opportunity to understand the federal wilderness inventory and
evaluation process, gain an intimate knowledge of the characteristics of
wildlands and how to inventory and describe them, practice data
collection in primitive conditions, live in the Sierra backcountry, and
assist in writing the definitive account of wilderness character for two
iconic national forests.
This contract position plays an important role in supporting an
inclusive organizational culture that is grounded in trust and
accountability to shared goals and outcomes. TWS has made diversity,
equity, and inclusion strategic priorities for the organization. The
wilderness inventory technicians will have a track record working
successfully in teams representing a rich mix of talent, backgrounds,
and perspectives—across race and gender.
*Essential Duties & Responsibilities*
**
* Inventory relatively undeveloped, roadless wildlands in the Tahoe
and Plumas National Forests in areas previously identified by TWS
G.I.S. analysts and locate previously unidentified areas that may
possess roadless and wildland qualities;**
* Use U.S. Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Maps and Travel Analysis
Reports to identify roads and motor-vehicle trails and ground-truth
their condition;**
* Follow a protocol for recording roads, off-road vehicle trails,
powerlines, public utilities, structures, anthropogenic sights and
sounds, timber harvests, and other human developments in and around
potential wilderness areas;**
* Follow a protocol for recording outstanding natural features of the
landscape, broad habitat types, land forms, scenic vistas,
recreational opportunities, and other outstanding scenic,
recreational, cultural, and ecological values;**
* Delineate boundaries of potential wilderness areas and record
landscape features and locations on GPS-equipped, electronic field
tablets;**
* Take photographs of human-made and outstanding natural features
within potential wilderness areas;**
* Help to write a report summarizing the quantitative and qualitative
measures that describe the wilderness characteristics of roadless
areas;**
* Build and maintain relationships with U.S. Forest Service staff and
local conservation leaders;**and**
* Perform other related duties as assigned. **
**
*Qualifications*
**
* Must be self-reliant, a self-starter, and have the ability to solve
problems in the backcountry;
* Must be able to complete tasks with little supervision;
* Must have great attention to detail and the ability to collect,
record, and organize data from the field and to help write
compelling and concise narratives;
* Must have (at least one of the technicians) and be able to drive a
high-clearance 4WD or AWD vehicle in remote areas on rugged dirt
roads (valid U.S. driver’s license required);
* Must be comfortable traveling by vehicle, foot, and/or bicycle in
isolated and remote backcountry settings for several days at a time;
* Must be comfortable camping and cooking in remote locations on the
national forests;
* Must have good navigational skills, ability to work with a GPS
device, and ability to record observations in primitive conditions;
* Must work well in a two-person team;
* Must have strong environmental and backcountry ethics; and
* Specialized knowledge in natural resources policy, federal land
management, wildlife ecology, botany, recreation, conservation
biology, or related fields is a plus.
The position will provide an hourly wage of $16 and is likely to last 13
weeks, including at least 2 weeks in the office helping to complete the
potential wilderness area reports. At least one of the two technicians
must provide his or her own high-clearance AWD or 4WD vehicle and
backcountry camping and cooking equipment. Mileage driven in personal
vehicle(s) will be reimbursed at the IRS standard mileage rate
($0.535/mile) to a combined maximum of $2,500.
To apply, please send a resume and cover letter (preferably by March
21^st ) to:
Matthew S. Dietz, Ph.D.
Lead Ecologist, Research Department
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
