The Great Basin Institute is working cooperatively with the National Park Service Klamath Network (KLMN) Inventory & Monitoring (I&M) program to recruit two Biotechnicians for vegetation monitoring. The overall objective is to perform Vegetation Community monitoring in Whiskeytown National recreation Area, Ca, and Lassen Volcanic National Park, Ca. Vegetation communities will be monitored and collected data will contribute to a multi-year dataset aimed at detecting status and trends in park vegetation. Field data are intended to provide decision-makers with indicators of change in status and trends of vegetation communities. A GBI Crew Lead will assist the Biotechnicians and the KLMN Vegetation Ecologist with implementing the Vegetation Monitoring protocol and provide day-to-day oversight of workflow and data collection. Training and oversight will be provided for all duties.  

Specific duties include:

• Be a member of the KLMN I&M Vegetation Community monitoring field crew;
• Participate in preparing for the field season;
• Properly identify vascular plant species and utilizes dichotomous keys;  
• Estimate cover of vascular plants;
• Collect and prepares voucher specimens of difficult taxa for later identification;
• Collect Tree DBH, Height, Height to Crown data;
• Collect, dead and down fuel data; 
• Assists with field data collection, data entry, and QA/QC; 
• Maintain field equipment and tools;
• Participate in GBI or partner-sponsored training opportunities;
• Monitors site specific conditions and reports safety concerns to crew lead.

General field duties include walking long distances over uneven terrain, off-trail, often in dense vegetation; navigating off-trail with map compass and GPS; relocating monitoring sites; collecting vegetation and fuels data using established procedures; taking photos at each site; ensuring the consistency of data quality during the field season; and maintaining safety awareness and practices. The successful applicant must have strong communication skills (both verbal and written) and exhibit strong leadership and organization skills. Office tasks are only about 5% of work but include data organization, processing and QA/QC; and compiling concise field notes. This position will require regular overnight travel and camping during the field season. The field schedule is an 8-day-on, 6-day-off hitch, requiring long hours (10+ hrs a day), including early mornings and some weekends.

The Klamath Network contains 6 parks: Crater Lake National Park (Crater Lake), Lava Beds National Monument (Lava Beds), Lassen Volcanic National Monument (Lassen), Oregon Caves National Monument and Reserve (Oregon Caves), Redwood National and State Parks (Redwood), and Whiskeytown National Recreation Area (Whiskeytown), located throughout northern California and southern Oregon. The parks span a land area of complex topography in the geologically ancient Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion in the west (containing Redwood, Oregon Caves and Whiskeytown), and the younger, volcanic Cascades-Modoc Ecoregion to the east (containing Crater Lake, Lassen and Lava Beds). Vegetation of the two subregions ranges from temperate rainforests with enormous, world-record-height trees along the coast at Redwood, to barren shrublands on infertile soils and rock in the sagebrush desert of Lava Beds. Elevation extends from sea level at Redwood, to above timberline in Crater Lake and Lassen. Floristically, the parks capture elements of the southern Oregon and northern California Coast Ranges, the Sierra Nevada, Cascade Range, and Great Basin, all near the northern end of the California Floristic Province.