Hydrology Crew Lead (Sequoia NF, Hume Lake Ranger District; Dunlap, CA)

Position Description Summary: 

Ranger District: Hume Lake Ranger District; Dunlap, CA , 

USFS, California

The Great Basin Institute, in cooperation with the US Forest Service, Sequoia National Forest, is recruiting one Hydrology Crew Technician who will work under the direction of a GBI Hydrology Crew Lead and/or the USFS to perform assignments of limited scope and complexity which are designed to contribute to the continuing professional development of the employee and forest objectives. Work will include opportunities to gain resource management experience in land management planning and implementation, hydrologic evaluation techniques and procedures used to identify management opportunities, preparing management prescriptions for protecting and/or enhancing the water resource, and standard administrative procedures, including program budgeting. Work on this position will begin as soon as hired personnel are available and will continue until approximately October 2025.

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:

• Conducting water resource inventories, field surveys, flagging and preparing the resulting data for application into the land management planning process;
• Prepare and direct implementation of water resource improvement project plans;
• Evaluate impacts of forest management on the water resource; and
• Aid in assessing water resource capability and suitability and identifying goals, issues, and concerns for water resource management. Duties include brief assignments to other functional areas to gain understanding of how they operate and how hydrologic information may be used by related disciplines.

The goal is to carry out relatively routine hydrology assignments or portions of more complex activities of a broader scope. The technician will inventory, analyze, and interpret various hydrologic factors and conditions to determine interrelationships, deviations, and relationships to forest resource management.

The work is physically demanding and involves hiking in steep terrain at high altitudes (4,000 to 9000 ft.) on a daily basis, commonly during extreme or inclement weather such as snow or rain or high wind events. Candidates will need to bring their own gear for such conditions. The position will require working in remote locations on National Forest lands to accomplish project goals. Work schedules can consist of 5 days per week (8 hours/day). However, there is high potential for an abbreviated work schedule consisting of 4 days per week (10 hour days). Work schedules are subject to change depending on weather and project needs. This is principally a field-based position with 80% of time in the field and 20% in an office.

Camping may be required as part of work. During the work week camping will occur at established sites within the Sequoia National Forest. The field work schedule is likely to be Monday-Thursday, 10 hours/day, 40 hours/week. Some weekend work or irregular hours may be required. 

LOCATION

In and around Sequoia National Forest; Hume Lake Ranger District, Dunlap, CA

The incumbents will be based out of the Hume Ranger District (Dunlap, 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: $26/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 GBI’s 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).

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.

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in hydrology, geology, soil science or biological sciences with coursework in watershed sciences, aquatic ecology, or related subjects and/or equivalent experience.
• Aptitude for or experience in the following are highly desired: LiDAR, aerial photos, field survey protocols and methods, GPS, and GIS.
• Must be reliable, able to follow directions, maintain a positive and professional attitude, dress appropriately for office and field work.
• Tasks involve different and unrelated processes and methods.  The work requires familiarity and judgment in selecting appropriate alternatives from among a number of standard hydrologic principles, methods and practices, in order to solve relatively limited problems.
• High level of computer literacy, including MS Office, databases
• Ability to understand, implement and adhere to established data collection, inventory, assessment, and monitoring protocols;
• 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;
• Possess a clean, valid, state-issued driver’s license with ability to safely operate and maintain a 4WD vehicle on and off paved roads;
• Ability to live and work in rural and remote field and office setting;
• 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; and
• Willingness and ability to consistently enact high performance standards and a strong work and team ethic in support of the mission of GBI and the goals and objectives of the USFS.

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. 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.