ACE EPIC USFWS WA: Puget Sound Olympic Peninsula Fisheries Complex - TWO Individual Placements - AmeriCorps
Summary: American Conservation Experience, a nationwide Non-Profit Conservation Corps based in Flagstaff, AZ and Salt Lake City, Utah in partnership with the USFWS Puget Sound & Olympic Peninsula Complex in Lacey, Washington is seeking TWO Fisheries Field Individual Placements - AmeriCorps to dedicate 8 months to the monitoring of fisheries resources. The fisheries monitoring includes providing field, lab and hatchery support for a diversity of projects. Field sampling and hatchery evaluation efforts (biosampling and sample processing) will be primary roles. While each member will primarily assist a specific biologist, opportunities to assist with other projects will be permitted when the schedule allows in order to maximize experience diversification. This opportunity is intended for enthusiastic young professionals with a deep interest in advancing their career goals in fisheries management.
Start Date: April 13th, 2020
End Date: 8 months later (35 weeks)
Location: Lacey, WA
Project Partner Website: For more information about Puget Sound & Olympic Peninsula Complex, please visit: https://www.fws.gov/PSOPFC/
For more information and ACE, please visit: www.usaconservation.org
Compensation: Members will receive a Living Allowance of $450 /week, paid bi-weekly.
PLC Competitive Hiring Authority: These positions are authorized by the Public Land Corps (PLC) Act of 1993 and expanded by the Public Lands Service Corps Act of 2013. Interns who meet basic requirements during their term of service may be eligible to receive their Noncompetitive Hiring Eligibility Certificate to be used when applying to future federal jobs. Requirements are: (1) Intern must be between the ages of 18 to 30 and (2) Intern must complete at least 640 hours on a federally approved PLC Project. More information can be provided upon request.
AmeriCorps: These positions MAY be eligible for a 900 hour AmeriCorps Education Award ($3,097.50 each) upon successful completion of internship service hours.
Position Description:
MAJOR DUTIES
Safety:
- The work involves regular and recurring moderate risks or discomforts which require special safety precautions. This includes the inherent risk of working around water and watercraft, as well as the risks associated with the operation of electrofishing units.
- This could include day trips or overnight trips lasting up to a week or more. These trips may involve cross-country off-trail hiking.
- This positions will require, on a regular and recurring basis, working outdoors, in other such environments with extreme temperatures (warm and cold), and/or exposure to adverse weather conditions (i.e., snow). The water will be cold and river work will include areas with fast currents.
- This position will require an understanding of the communication plan, and a basic level of comfort using both cellular and inReach devices.
- Members are required to use protective clothing or gear such as hard hats, masks, gowns, earplugs, coats, boots, goggles, gloves, personal floatation, or shields to moderate risks, or to follow procedures for minimizing risk.
- Members should be proficient in operating a 4-wheel drive vehicle on rugged roads and able to navigate using topo maps, compass and GPS. Applicants should be willing to work independently.
- An array of mandatory trainings will be provided upon initiation of the position. This may include taking and passing swift-water and/or other applicable outdoor training necessary to complete work tasks. This training will be provided only if necessary for the assigned work.
Communication:
- Relay daily mission, technical skills and safety concerns to interns and other crewmembers as assigned.
- Personal contacts are with employees in the agency and immediate organizations, cooperating governmental, Tribal, private sector, and non-profit organizations. In some work situations, personal contacts may be with the public, contractor personnel, or special users, e.g., special interest groups.
- Contacts are for the purpose of obtaining, clarifying, or exchanging information and receiving instructions regarding work assignments.
Physical Demands:
- The work requires some physical exertion, such as regular and recurring hiking while carrying field equipment needed to collect, or record research data.
- In many situations, the duration of the activity (such as most of a workday) contributes to the arduous nature of the job.
- The selected member must be fit enough to hike in mountainous and swampy terrain over long distances in various weather while carrying equipment (40lb+) and should expect to hike and/or wade 10 miles or more per day in mountain streams.