Forestry Technician - Plumas NF (MT. Hough)

Position Description Summary:  

The Great Basin Institute, in cooperation with the USFS, is recruiting Forestry Technician to perform timber sale-preparation, vegetation management and restoration projects in the Sierra Nevada region. 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. Forestry Crew Lead work will directly improve the quality of these forests helping ensure they continue to thrive for generations to come. 

Crew Leads will support 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 Forests and Districts, 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. Crew Leads will receive professional development opportunities and benefit from exposure to USFS processes, procedures, compliance measures and reporting, and technical experience.

Forestry Crew Leads will perform a wide variety of activities to support all stages of project work. Leads 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 will range between 2-6 people.

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:

• Timber sale unit boundary delineation and layout (GPSing, 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; 
• Identification of various resource concerns including hydrology, heritage, wildlife and recreation

LOCATION

Forestry Crew Technician positions are available with the Plumas National Forest (Feather River Ranger District, MT Hough Ranger District).

WORK SCHEDULE

This position is seasonal, running from mid-March to mid-November, with start and end dates dependent on project and weather conditions. Forestry crew lead typically work four 10-hour days per week. TSA employees are eligible for holiday pay, subject to partner approval, and will follow the partner’s holiday schedule unless otherwise specified in the employment offer. TSAs working four 10-hour days per week will receive 10 hours of pay for holidays; those working five 8-hour days per week will receive 8 hours of pay for holidays.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The position offers a competitive wage of $26 per hour, with overtime compensation at 1.5 times the hourly rate. This is a full-time role, averaging 40 hours per week.

In addition to a competitive base salary, the position includes company-paid, comprehensive benefits:

• Medical, dental (with an option for upgraded coverage), and vision insurance
• A $25,000 Life/AD&D policy
• Voluntary short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Optional Life/AD&D coverage for family members
• Mental health support resources
• Generous paid time off (PTO) accrual and paid holidays

Shared housing accommodations are provided for the crew members.

TSA employees who serve a term of less than 52 weeks, with a break of 30 days or fewer, and then sign a subsequent term that, when combined, exceeds 52 weeks of employment, will be eligible for benefits typically provided to full-time employees.

This exciting opportunity contributes to GBI's significant positive impacts in the fields of environmental research, education, and conservation.

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.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 

• 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;
• Ability to navigate and collect data using handheld GPS units;
• Experience using a compass and topographic map to navigate;
• 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.
• Familiarity with cruising and marking techniques;
• 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, geology and topography;
• Ability to safely operate and maintain a 4WD vehicle on and off paved roads;
• Ability to understand, implement and adhere to established data collection, inventory, assessment and monitoring protocols; and
• Experience using ArcGIS to create maps, GPS data collection, tree-species identification, timber marking and cruising, identifying hydrologic concerns, recognizing forest entomology/pathology issues, identifying heritage sites and experience with fire/fuels assessments or related field tasks.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Forestry (preferred), natural resource management or related field, with coursework AND one year of forestry related field work; OR      

Experience: Six months of professional fieldwork experience.

TO APPLY

Please submit an up-to-date resume, a one-page cover letter that details your interest in the position, and any qualifications not fully outlined in your resume, and contact information for three

professional references to the unique application link.  Qualified applicants will be contacted to schedule an interview.

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