AIM Botany and Soils Field Technician

INR is hiring numerous Vegetation Field Ecology Crew Members, Crew Leads, and Team Leads for sampling in the 2024 field season.

These positions are seasonal (~4.5 month) positions to collect Terrestrial Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) data on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) across eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, northern Nevada, and northern California. INR will have numerous crews working across these areas, but the majority of plots will be SE Oregon (about 70%), with the remaining 10% in Washington and 20% in northern California and Nevada. Generally, individuals will be on a crew that is focused in one BLM district for the season, so that they can become familiar with the plants and geography of that area. Sometimes, particularly later in the season, crews may move around depending on project needs.

Data collected using the AIM strategy is used for land health monitoring to document the condition and changes of plant communities in the context of BLM management actions including grazing, burned area rehabilitation, and greater sage-grouse and other wildlife management. These data can be used by land managers to inform future management actions, monitor treatment effectiveness, and observe trends in the condition of public lands. The data also becomes publicly available for download. To learn more about the BLM’s AIM strategy, visit https://www.blm.gov/aim

This work involves following standardized protocols for vegetation sampling, plant identification, and digging and describing soil pits. We will be hiring 15 to 20 people under the Bio Tech 1 and 2 posting as crew members (who are part of a 2-person crew installing the plots), 5 to 10 people under the Bio Tech 2 posting as crew leaders (who manage the day to day activities of a 2-person crew), and 5 to 8 people under the Bio Tech 3 posting as team leaders (who manage the activities of 2 crews over each hitch). Crew members will complete all the same sampling tasks and day-to-day work as the crew lead and team lead but may have less experience with the vegetation and are paired with a more experienced partner. Crew and team leads typically have more experience in field work, botany, and/or crew management.

The position is entirely field based, with crews working a Wednesday-Wednesday hitch schedule (hitch 1 will be May 1-8) following a week-long mandatory training at the beginning of the season (April 18-19 online and April 22-26 in-person in Prineville, OR). On the first and last days of the hitch, crew members drive from their homes to the field sites in OSU vehicles. This allows crew members some flexibility in where they can live, but crews must be based within a reasonable driving distance of the sampling areas. In past seasons, crews have been based in western Oregon (such as Corvallis, Portland, and Eugene), central Oregon (such as Redmond or Bend), or central Washington (for crews based in Washington). Housing is not provided for this position, but a generous per diem is provided for food and camping while on hitch.