Description

Wildlife Program
Brewster, Washington – Douglas County
Anticipated Appointment Length: 6 Months
January 2, 2023 – June 30, 2023

Assist in performing maintenance and habitat projects activities on the Big Bend, Sagebrush Flat, and Wells Wildlife Areas.

Work on Big Bend Wildlife Area with duties including herbicide applications, habitat restoration and enhancement, sign maintenance, fence repair, and equipment operations.

With your experience, you will remove obsolete fence and maintain others through patching fence, replacing staples, bracing old posts, or installing new posts.

You are excited to preserve, protect, and perpetuate fish and wildlife through enhancing wildlife habitat.

Duties
Our Wildlife Area Technician will, 

• Use truck, tractor, UTV, ATV, and backpack sprayers to apply herbicide to control weeds and use mechanical means to remove weeds.

• Calculate applications rates, mix herbicides and adjuvants to rate and equipment specifications.

• Clean equipment after use.

• Maintain required records for each use.

• Operate power and handheld equipment to accomplish mechanical removal.

• Use GPS equipment to record new weed locations and navigate to past sites.

• Work safely and use good judgement in remote locations.

• Soil preparation, mowing, planting shrubs/trees, seeding, maintain irrigation systems, using tractor, ATV, UTV, and implements.

• Irrigate food plots, shrub rows using handlines, permanent irrigation lines, and center pivot system.

• Safely operate trucks and equipment in off-road situations.

• Assist with sign maintenance and wildlife area facilities and grounds maintenance.

• Assist with minor repair and maintenance of all equipment and vehicles.

• Safely use a variety of hand tools including hammer, shovel, wire cutters, tamping bars, hand saws, and chainsaws.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

• Work Setting, including hazards:

  1. Field 90% office 10%.

  2. Navigating through wetlands or upland shrub/steppe habitats while walking, carrying, and/or moving up to 40 pounds over uneven and difficult terrain. Transporting and loading gear.

• Schedule:

  1. Overtime Eligible; Monday – Thursday 7:00am – 5:30pm.

  2. At times work may be off-schedule due to seasonal demands, emergencies, and time critical assignments.

  3. Available for non-scheduled work week and travel.

  4. Willingness and ability to work long irregular hours.

• Travel Requirements:

  1. Daily travel to field sites.

  2. Wildlife area units are in Douglas and Okanogan counties and travel may require daily round trips of up to 170 miles.

  3. 5% to 10% may be occasional travel required for training or meetings.

• Tools and Equipment:

  1. Trucks, pickups, ATVs, UTVs, boats, trailers, tractors with a variety of implements, heavy equipment, sprayers, power, hand tools, GPS units.

  2. Occasional use of personal computer hardware and software (MS/Office/Outlook).

• Customer Interactions:

  1. Occasional interactions may occur during the workday.

Qualifications

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• High school graduation or GED.

-And-

• Three (3) months of natural resource related labor experience

-Or-

• One (1) year as a Natural Resource Worker 1.

  1. (Natural Resource Worker – Definition: Under close supervision and as a member of an organized crew, performs unskilled forest, agriculture, and/or aquatic land management labor.)

Licenses:

• Valid driver’s license.

• Obtain a WA Pesticide applicators license within the first 6 months of employment.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience with four-wheel drive vehicles and ATVs.

• Experience in building and equipment maintenance, construction, or repair work.

• Experience maintaining vehicles and equipment such as pumps, small engines, and tractors, etc.

• Pesticide Applicator’s license (opportunity to obtain this license will be provided).

CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT:
DFW requires all employees to be fully vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of employment.  You will be required to provide proof of vaccination as part of the hiring process.  Please do not upload your vaccination documentation with your application materials – your vaccination status will be verified by your supervisor before you will be allowed to work.  Exemptions may be granted for religious or medical purposes.

Supplemental Information
Please note: Failure to follow the instructions below may lead to disqualification.

In order to successfully apply for this position, you MUST complete your profile at www.careers.wa.gov and attach the following to your profile before completing the online application:

• A cover letter describing how you meet the qualifications of this position (Generic cover letter will not be accepted).

• A current resume. 

• Three professional references. 

Apply here: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/washington/jobs/3840371/natural-resource-technician-2-wildlife-area-technician-non-permanent-17630

IMPORTANT NOTES:
All new employees must complete an Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9 Form) on their first day of work. If hired for this or any position at WDFW, you will be required to provide documentation proving you are eligible to work in the United States. For a list of acceptable documents, please use the following link:  https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents

JOIN THE WDFW TEAM:
Learn about our agency and the perks of working for WDFW!

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has some of the most talented people in the natural resource field.  We celebrate and value diversity, appreciating that a workforce composed of those from different backgrounds and experiences creates an inclusive environment, strengthens positive relationships with the local community, and brings new perspectives and approaches to fulfilling the agency’s mission. We value demonstrated skill in living WDFW values of Accountability, Service, Professionalism, Integrity, Respect, and Empathy (ASPIRE).

WDFW employees may be eligible for the following:
Medical/Dental/Vision for employee & dependent(s), Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), Vacation, Sick, and other Leave*, 11 Paid Holidays per year*, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Tuition Waiver, Long Term Disability & Life Insurance, Deferred Compensation Programs, Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP), Flexible Spending Arrangement (FSA), Employee Assistance Program, Commute Trip Reduction Incentives (Download PDF reader), Combined Fund Drive, SmartHealth.
 
UNION – WAFWP:
This position is in the bargaining unit represented by the Washington Association of Fish & Wildlife Professionals and is subject to the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the State of Washington, Department of Fish & Wildlife, and the Washington Association of Fish & Wildlife Professionals.  

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Employer
VETERAN PREFERENCE NOTICE:

To take advantage of veteran preference, please do the following:

• Email a copy of your DD214 (Member 4 copy), NGB 22 or USDVA signed verification of service letter to RecruitmentTeam@dfw.wa.gov.

• Subject line should include recruitment number, position, and Vet (for example: #10155 Biologist 1 – Veteran)

• Include your name as it appears on your application in careers.wa.gov. 

MILITARY SPOUSE PREFERENCE NOTICE: 

To take advantage of military spouse preference, please do the following:

• Notify us of your military spouse status by email at RecruitmentTeam@dfw.wa.gov.  

• Subject line should include recruitment number, position, and MS (for example: #10155 Biologist 1 – MS)

• Include your name as it appears on your application in careers.wa.gov.

Note: Please blackout any PII (personally identifiable information) data such as social security numbers. For further information, please contact us at RecruitmentTeam@dfw.wa.gov.

As part of WDFW’s efforts to advance respectful and inclusive work environments, the Agency expects inclusivity as part of our professional interactions and communications. Therefore, we want to ensure that all individuals feel welcome, are treated fairly and respectfully. All staff are empowered to fully contribute to serving their work unit, Agency, and the citizens of Washington.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife is an equal opportunity employer. We strive to create a working environment that includes and respects cultural, racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and gender identity diversity. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, persons of disability, persons over 40 years of age, disabled and Vietnam era veterans and people of all sexual orientations and gender identities are encouraged to apply.

Persons needing accommodation in the application process or this announcement in an alternative format may call (360) 902-2276 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (800) 833-6388.

Apply here: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/washington/jobs/3840371/natural-resource-technician-2-wildlife-area-technician-non-permanent-17630