Wilderness Inventory Technicians (2)

Temporary/Seasonal Contract [c. June/July-September/October 2019 (dates negotiable)]

General Description

This thirteen-week, field-based job in the northern Sierra Nevada, Cascade Range, and Modoc Plateau 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 Lassen Volcanic National Park and the Oregon border.

The Wilderness Inventory Technicians will play an essential role in inventorying potential wilderness areas and evaluating the wilderness characteristics of those areas in Lassen and Modoc 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 Oakland, and working with local conservation groups 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. The Wilderness Society and our conservation partners 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 backcountry, and assist in writing the definitive account of wilderness character for two remote 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 Lassen and Modoc 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 (iPads);
• Take photographs of human-made features and outstanding natural features within potential wilderness areas;
• Write reports 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 or at home completing 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 (no lodging is provided). Mileage driven in personal vehicle(s) will be reimbursed at the IRS standard mileage rate ($0.545/mile) to a combined maximum of $2,500.