Rangeland Ecology Research Technician (Manager, Laboratory Research)

Position Summary

The Jornada Experimental Range seeks a Manager, Laboratory Research (Rangeland Ecology) to join our collaborative research team to support a rangeland vegetation assessment and mapping project to prioritize landscapes for restoration and to guide adaptive management.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Field work includes working as a member of a two- to four- person team at remote locations in southwestern NM (possibly the southwest) collecting landscape-scale vegetation inventory and monitoring field data (e.g., plant cover estimates, standardized monitoring methods, digging soil pits and characterizing soils, and determining ecological sites and states). Field work will include extensive travel and overnight stays. Lab and office work includes data entry, error-checking, creating metadata, data analysis, project and data management and self-directed work. Position will involve the use of ArcGIS, MS Excel, MS Access (DIMA), Survey 123, R and GPS units.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in ecology, environmental science, range science, soil science, natural resources or related field.
• Experience identifying plants to species.
• Strong communication skills and ability to work collaboratively with multiple researchers, private land managers, and agency personnel.
• Strong time management skills.
• Attention to details.
• Experience performing self-directed, independent work.
• Experience with vegetation monitoring (e.g., the BLM AIM protocol), describing ecosystem function (e.g., Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health), using ecological site descriptions, and characterizing soil profiles preferred but not required.
• Ability to identify the relationships among landforms, soil/site potential, and plant communities at the landscape scale preferred.
• Ability to work outdoors during hot or cold, windy weather.