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Carnivore Monitoring Crew Supervisor – The Great Basin Institute
Shaver Lake, California
The Region 5 Carnivore Monitoring Program has been monitoring fisher and marten populations in the Sierra Nevada Mountains annually since 2002. The fisher population was recently listed as endangered with the USFWS, and assessing their population and its response to recent tree mortality is a U.S. Forest Service priority. Broad-scale monitoring will help identify how tree mortality and subsequent extreme fires are influencing fisher occupancy, density, habitat use, diet and connectivity across the southern Sierras. This information can be used to better understand how fishers are adapting to this changed landscape and guide management to promote continued population persistence while also addressing the need to reduce fuel loads to prevent catastrophic wildfires.
Crew Supervisors are mainly responsible for overall logistics of the field work for the crew, including:
- Pre-scouting monitoring locations;
- Preparing crew schedules and work assignments;
- Providing training and guidance for both senior technicians and crew members;
- Tracking inventory of field supplies and equipment, as well as vehicles and needed vehicle repairs/maintenance;
- Communicating problems or concerns to the Carnivore Monitoring Field Coordinator and Program Leader.
They will also conduct field work to assist crew members in accomplishing sampling targets. Crew supervisors will be responsible for overseeing data quality and organization for the project, and ensuring consistency and accuracy in data management across the crew. They may also help summarize data for analysis and reports. Lastly, they will coordinate with U.S. Forest Service staff to organize, provide training, and execute district or forest level carnivore surveys as needed.
These physically demanding duties, primarily in remote locations, will provide crew members with rewarding exposure to California’s backcountry. These positions require extensive off-trail hiking in steep terrain at high altitudes (3,000-10,000 ft.) on a daily basis. This position requires a high level of physical fitness (capable of hiking 3-10 miles off-trail/day) and ability to cope with strenuous field conditions that include hot temperatures, steep terrain, dense vegetation, poison oak, inclement weather, snow, and insects, all while maintaining a positive attitude and high degree of situational awareness.
Overnight camping will be required throughout much of the field season as many survey locations are long distances from the crew office/housing. The field crew will receive field per diem for these overnight travel days.
