Our display at the CLCA show at the LA Convention center.

Today and tomorrow, the Cal-IPC Student Chapter will have a booth set up at the California Landscape Contractor’s Association industry show at the Los Angeles Convention Center. We were invited to participate in the show by the CLCA, who thought it would be an opportunity to provide the professional landscaping community with information on invasive plant species.  We agreed that this would be a great audience to educate and would go hand and hand with a recent report by the UC Master Gardeners about invasive plants being sold in California nurseries:

http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6371

As we put the booth together, I was impressed by the amount of material that we have accumulated over the years and was now available for display. Through funding from the SAROC and LA WMAs, we have been able to create a professional looking display that will hopefully help to disseminate information on invasive plants and help these landscapers make educated decisions moving forward.

Series:  GS-0455-5 or GS-0404-5

Vacancay Announcement:  OCRT-455-5-RANGE-DT or OCRT-404-5-PLANT-DT

Temporary position not to exceed 1039 hours in one year (about April to September).  Duties:  Invasive plant inventory, control, and monitoring.  The duty station will be in Redding, California, but the position will involve significant overnight travel on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Submit applications through Avue:  https://www.avuedigitalservices.com/usfs/applicant.html

Additional information about non-fire temporary jobs on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest is available here: http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5347383.pdf

Information on other permanent positions with the Forest Service is available at http://www.usajobs.gov and http://outreach.fsr5.com

Pay: ~$10-$15/hour depending on experience. Free housing in a new refuge bunkhouse (sorry no pets).

Description: Modoc National Wildlife Refuge will have a Weed mapping in partnership with California Waterfowl opening during spring/summer, 2012.  Modoc NWR, located in northeast California near Alturas, is a 7,100 acre refuge established to manage, protect, and produce migratory waterfowl. For more information on the Refuge, please visit the Refuge website at http://modoc.fws.gov.

Major Duties: Incumbent performs tehnical work in support of the management, conservation, of wildlife habitats; collects and records biological data and monitors wildlife activities, and provides findings to higher-level biologist; Examples of possible biological work include: Mapping invasive weeds on the refuge using GPS and entering data into a GIS database. Other work would include bird banding, wildlife surveys and habitat management. Also the incumbent will be required to attend mandatory training on ATVs and heavy equipment.

Qualifications: Interest and beginning coursework in ecology, biology, botany, wildlife, or a related field is required. Applicants must have a driver’s license and a clean driving record. Applicants must have a positive attitude, good work ethic and communication skills. Applicant must be willing to work independently in hot weather with little supervision. Ideal candidates will have interest in the NWR system, experience with GIS and GPS as well as using ATVs. Cadidate may be required to partially supervise a high schoool aged biological intern.

Interested applicants should send a resume and 3 references to dominic_bachman@fws.gov

For additional information about this position, please contact:
Dominic Bachman
U.S. Fis and Wilflife Service
Modoc National Wildlife Refuge
P.O. Box 1610
Alturas, CA 96101
Office: 530.233.3572
Cell: 530.640.1427
dominic_bachman@fws.gov

POSITION TERM: Minimum of one year; two-thirds time minimum, with additional hours possible based on project-need.

STARTS WHEN: Immediately

REPORTS TO: Executive Director/Operations Manager

SUMMARY: This position offers tremendous opportunities for experience in native plant restoration on the California Channel Islands. Primarily this person works as part of a team (but sometimes individually) to eradicate invasive plants on Anacapa Island in Channel Islands National Park (approximately %70 of time) and on various mainland locations in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties (approximately 30% of time). The candidate will be involved with a wide range of invasive plant removal techniques and will help propagate, grow and plant native species.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
An ideal candidate will possess a substantial combination of all these requirements:
1. Conduct eradication and control of priority invasive plants at various restoration sites on the Channel Islands and Mainland. Utilize hand tools, power brush cutters, chain saws, herbicide spray bottles, backpacks, and motorized rigs.
2. Supervise individual volunteers, volunteer groups and sub-contracted crews in invasive plant management activities and installing and maintaining native plants at project sites.
3. Possibly propagate and grow native plants in an island nursery
4. Record locations of invasive and rare native plant populations using Global Positioning Systems (GPS units) and hard copy maps.
5. Maintain program equipment.
6. Participate in desk duties relating to position including compiling and disseminating field notes and data.
7. Perform other duties as directed by supervisors.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:
The ideal candidates will possess:
• A Bachelor’s degree in weed science, botany, biology, ecology, natural resource management, or equivalent from an accredited institution.
• Experience with propagating and growing native plants
The candidate must possess:
1. Good knowledge of native and invasive plant species.
2. Willingness to work with herbicide (training in herbicide safety and application will be provided as needed).
3. Knowledge of the use of hand tools and power tools needed, such as loppers, Pulaski, McLeod, shovel, hoe, chainsaws, backpack sprayers etc.
4. Knowledge of GPS equipment (training with specific equipment will be provided).
5. A Class C Driver’s License. Applicant must be willing to commute to neighboring communities to perform work.
6. The ability to work and hike outdoors in all weather conditions, ability to work long hours outdoors, ability to lift and/or move up to 40 pounds. Fieldwork involves manual labor, hiking over steep, rugged terrain with frequently unstable rocky substrate while carrying hand tools and filled backpack sprayers. Handling of plants is routine. Contact with cactus, stinging nettle and poison oak is common. Must be willing to wear appropriate safety gear such as coveralls, hiking boots, gloves, and goggles.
7. The ability to deal with field conditions that are strongly weather-dependent and may be hot, dusty, cold, muddy, and/or wet depending on season and degree of exposure. Must be willing to make multi-day trips to the Channel Islands.
8. The ability to live on a small, isolated island for five days or more while working with a team in an effective and congenial manner.
9. A great work ethic, work efficiency, enthusiasm, ability to pay attention to detail and the ability to be a positive functioning member of a diverse team.

SALARY LEVEL:
$18 to $22 per hour, commensurate with qualifications and experience.

TO APPLY:
Submit cover letter of intent to apply (limit one page), and a résumé (limit two pages) and previous employment references (at least three) via email. The most qualified candidates will be invited to interview.

Further details can be provided by contacting:
Ken Owen, Executive Director, Channel Islands Restoration. (805) 448-5726. ken@cirweb.org
More information on Channel Islands Restoration can be found on our web page at: www.cirweb.org

A student is eligible to apply for a Student Research Grant if they are conducting undergraduate or graduate-level research in wetland science at an accredited college or university worldwide.  Please note that the student applicant must be a member of SWS to be eligible.

Please click here to obtain the application and to submit your completed form and proposal document. Providers of letters of reference will also submit their documents through the website.

The application deadline is World Wetlands Day – February 2, 2012.

Please contact Dianna Hogan, Chair of the Student Grants Subcommittee with questions.