Subject: AmeriCorps Restoration Team Members Wanted in Northern Nevada

POSITION TITLE: AmeriCorps Restoration Team Member

STATUS: Half Time, 900-hour term from February 19, 2018 to August 22, 2019

NUMBER OF POSITINS AVAILABLE: 20

REPORTS TO: AmeriCorps Program Manager

POSITIONS REPORTING TO THIS POSITION: None

LOCATION: Yerington, NV

BACKGROUND: Established in 2014, the Walker Basin Conservancy (WBC) is leading the effort to restore and maintain Walker Lake while protecting agricultural, environmental and recreational interests in the Walker Basin (www.walkerbasin.org

). The nascent and dynamic nature of the WBC and its diverse management obligations provide unique opportunities to develop operations from the ground level up, working closely with staff who are passionate about their mission.

The WBC currently manages thousands of acres of land and assets on multiple properties in the Walker Basin.  Land planning activities are underway and focus on assessing public use opportunities, conservation values, long term land ownership and stewardship, active and passive revegetation and restoration activities.

JOB PURPOSE: The Restoration Team Members will serve alongside other members and WBC Conservation Technicians conducting primarily invasive species removal and native plant re-vegetation within the Walker River Basin. Members may also work on recreational trail construction, sign installation, and fence construction. Members will work in conjunction with other WBC field staff, providing on the ground support to larger project operations.

A working knowledge of, or a desire to learn more about, desert plant ecology and ecological restoration, nursery or horticultural practices, or agricultural systems and irrigation equipment is essential. The Restoration Team Members should also have a sincere interest in expanding their knowledge of Great Basin Desert ecology, restoration practices, the flora and fauna of Nevada, and agricultural methods and equipment.

Members will serve in an outdoor setting and will sometimes be required to camp in the field for the duration of the tour. Camping will generally be in areas with at least primitive road access for crew vehicles, but the camping sites will usually be undeveloped backcountry sites. Both camp and project sites will generally not have access to potable water, restroom facilities, or cellphone signals, and members will be expected to follow Leave No Trace principals in camp and on project. Project work will frequently require hiking over rough terrain while carrying tools and equipment.

LOCATION: Yerington, Nevada is a beautiful rural farming community located approximately 95 miles south of Reno, NV in the foothills of the eastern Sierra mountains. Yerington is small but growing with about 3,100 residents. Established in 1907, the city has heritage and deep roots in agriculture, mining, railroads, and gaming. Some of the nearby attractions, activities and recreational opportunities include:

• Camping, biking, hiking, backpacking
• Fishing, hunting and boating and OHV trails
• Flat and white-water boating (1 hour away)
• Rock Hounding and climbing
• Ghost Town Exploration
• Ski Resorts (1.5-2 hours away)
• Lake Tahoe (1.5 hours away)
• Lahontan Reservoir (30 minutes away)
• Walker Lake (45 minutes away)
• Topaz Reservoir (45 minutes away)

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

Primary Functions:

• Under the guidance of a WBC Technician, utilizing hand tools, backpack sprayers, and ATV mounted sprayers to conduct invasive plant removal and control.
• Under the guidance of a WBC Technician, utilizing hand and power tools to conduct native plant re-vegetation and restoration.
• Under the guidance of a WBC Technician, utilizing hand and power tools to conduct road decommissioning, recreation trail construction, and sign/fence installation.
• Communicating effectively and professionally with other members, WBC staff, agency partners, and the public.

Secondary Functions:

• Assisting with the management and supervision of community volunteers on WBC conservation projects.
• Uploading field data into databases and compiling reports to inform future management plans.
• Assisting with the inventory, maintenance, and repair of WBC tools and equipment.

Qualifications

• Willingness and ability to work outside in unpredictable weather conditions, including extreme temperatures, independently or as part of a team.
• Willingness and ability to camp in undeveloped, primitive conditions for multiple days.
• Willingness and ability to work irregular hours, such as starting early or working more days with shorter hours, in accordance with project specific requirements and conditions.
• Ability to bend and crouch for long periods of time and occasionally lift heavy loads or equipment.
• Ability to uses hand and power tools, operate motor vehicles, and work long days on labor intensive projects.
• Willingness to use chemical herbicides in the treatment and control of invasive weeds while following strict application protocols.
• Effective written and oral communication skills.
• Possess a valid, state-issued driver’s license and clean driving record.
• Meet AmeriCorps Eligibility Requirements, including:
  • Be at least 17 years of age at the commencement of service;
  • Have a high school diploma or its equivalent;
  • Be a citizen, national, or lawful permanent resident alien of the United States;
  • Pass a National Sex Offender Public Website check and National Service Criminal History Check; and
  • Be eligible to receive and AmeriCorps Education award, with a limit of four total terms in a lifetime and the equivalent of two full-time terms (3600 hours).

Compensation & Benefits:

• Living allowance of $9,180;
• Education award of $2,960;
• Medical, dental and vision insurance, child care, and federal student loan forbearance are available for eligible members at no additional cost;
• Uniform reimbursement;
• Per diem when on spike (while camping);
• Paid personal and sick leave; and
• Paid holidays.

Members will receive a variety of technical and professional training related to their service activities as well as personal and professional development. Available trainings include:

• First aid and CPR;
• Leave no Trace principals; and
• Plant identification, invasive species identification and treatment, and trails training.

Housing in Yerington can be difficult to find. WBC has limited and optional housing available for a low monthly rate. Housing accommodations are dorm or bunk style housing with shared bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen areas and common spaces.

Positions will remain open until filled. Only top candidates will be contacted.

Local applicants are STRONGLY encouraged to apply. Please stop by our office to pick up or drop off an application or speak with our Field Manager Terence. Our office address is: 1 HWY 95 A East, Yerington, NV 89447.

Please send cover letter and resume to:

Amy Gladding

amy.gladding@walkerbasin.org

Subject Line: 6-month Restoration Team Member

OR fill out and return our employment application found online at our website, www.walkerbasin.org,  or at our Yerington office (1 HWY 95 A East, Yerington, NV 89447)

Please call Miguel Gonzales, AmeriCorps Program Manager, at (775) 463-9887 ext. 110 with questions.

Walker Basin Conservancy is an equal opportunity employer. Persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.  The above functions may be completed with or without reasonable accommodations.  This program prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, creed, color, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, political affiliation or disability.

Equal Opportunity Statement – Walker Basin Conservancy is an equal opportunity employer. WBC does not discriminate against any employee, applicant, director, officer, contractor, or any other person with whom it deals because of race, creed, color, disability, age, sex, veteran status, religion or political affiliation. WBC complies with all federal and local statutes prohibiting discrimination in employment.

Disclaimer – The statements contained herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of work to be performed by the employees in these positions. The statements are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of a person in each position. Other responsibilities, duties, and skills may be assigned and management retains the right to add or change the responsibilities, duties, and skills at any time.

A PhD position is available at East Tennessee State University to study
life-history, biochemistry, and physiology of an emerging model organism
Daphnia (Crustacea: Cladocera) in context of aging and longevity. This is
a collaborative project with Prof. Marc Kirschner’s lab at Harvard Medical
School and possibilities exist for research visits and other collaborative
work with the Harvard Daphnia team. Questions to be addressed include
structural and physiological changes that accompany senescence and their
reversal during asexual oogenesis, mechanisms of caloric restriction and
epigenetic effects on longevity, and trade-offs between longevity and
other life-history parameters.

East Tennessee State University is located in a spectacular area of
Appalachian mountains which provides excellent opportunities for hiking,
boating, hunting, skiing etc. The Department of Biological sciences
consists of 17 faculty and several adjuncts with research interests
ranging from ornithology to aquatic biology to plant biochemistry and
everything in between. We strive to offer a vibrant, diverse, and
encouraging academic environment.

Position starts in the Fall of 2019; BS in biology or related field is
expected by the start date.

Please contact Lev Yampolsky <yampolsk@etsu.edu> with questions about this
position and Daphnia longevity project. Apply at
https://www.etsu.edu/gradstud.

E-mail inquiries (nico.franz@asu.edu) are strongly encouraged.

Applications are accepted until December 15, 2018; with a preference date
of December 01, 2018.

Apply to the Evolutionary Biology Ph.D. Program:
https://sols.asu.edu/degrees/grad/evolutionary-biology-phd
Apply to the M.Sc. in Biology Program:
https://sols.asu.edu/degrees/grad/biology-ms

The Franz Lab of Insect Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity
Informatics at Arizona State University is seeking a highly motivated M.Sc.
or Ph.D. (preferred) candidate for the U.S. National Science
Foundation-funded project: “Weevils of Sonora: Discovering species
distributions and historical patterns of symbiont associations”. We are
looking in particular for candidates interested in addressing molecular
phylogenetic and -genomic research tasks and questions related to the
evolution of weevil gut symbionts. At least two years of Research
Assistantship funding are available; with additional years to be supported
through a variety of sources.

Public abstract (see https://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1754731):
“This project addresses a gap in our understanding of insect biodiversity
within and adjacent to the southwestern United States. The Mexican State of
Sonora shares a 375 miles-long border with Arizona, and has a large
biodiversity of insect fauna that remains very poorly known. In the case of
beetles in the weevil superfamily, less than 100 species have been
documented, yet nearly 1,000 species – many of them new to science – are
expected to occur in Sonora. Weevils are economically important; thousands
of species have either detrimental (crop pest) or beneficial (biocontrol)
ecosystem impacts. This project will create a new collaboration between
researchers and students at Arizona State University and two Mexican
universities, with the goal of thoroughly sampling the weevil diversity of
Sonora and publishing the results in a dynamic and openly accessible
on-line checklist. Longstanding questions about the evolution of weevil
diversity, and its relationship to their gut-inhabiting bacteria and host
plant diets, will also be addressed. The project will mentor two doctoral
students and undergraduate students in the concepts and methods of modern
systematics and biodiversity data science. A multi-faceted education and
outreach program will include the creation of a flashcard-based K-3
textbook on regional insect diversity and functional natural history.

The project includes an extensive field work and collection curation
component, expected to yield at least 5,000 unique species/locality
instances of research-ready specimens in the weevils (Coleoptera:
Curculionoidea). Field-to-data dissemination workflows will benefit from
further improving the Symbiota software platform, with new options to
publish data packages to external journals. The checklist will include
updated taxonomic names, all specimens, species distribution maps, host
plant records, images, species profile pages, and an interactive
identification key to the Sonoran weevil genera as currently recognized. A
well-structured metagenomics sequencing study of the gut content of more
than 100 species in eight targeted weevil lineages will identify both their
plant hosts and bacterial symbiont profiles. This dataset will facilitate
the discovery of numerous symbiont clades, and test novel hypotheses
regarding the relative impact of weevil phylogeny, biogeography, host
associations, and other environmental gradients on the weevils’ observed
symbiont profiles”.

Research in our lab is well balanced between collections-based and
genetic/genomic approaches; with particular strengths in biodiversity
informatics and data science. The lab is closely integrated with the
Hasbrouck Insect Collection and Biodiversity Knowledge Integration Center.
We are committed to open science and an inclusive, equitable, and
team-oriented work environment that promotes the candidate’s career and
personal advancement.

The Bilyk Lab at Western Kentucky University is recruiting MS students to
start in the Fall 2019 semester.  We work at the interface of physiology
and evolutionary biology to understand how the biology of animals has
been reshaped by extreme environments. We address this question using a
combination of organismal physiology, functional biochemistry, genomics,
and bioinformatics. Our current work focuses on a variety of animals that
have been “stuck in the cold,” investigating the biological challenges of
living at freezing temperatures, the mechanisms through which these are
surmounted, and the physiological impacts of evolving in constant cold.

If you are interested, please contact Dr. Kevin Bilyk
(Kevin.Bilyk@wku.edu). Formal application and acceptance to the MS program
at Western Kentucky University is required and qualified candidates can
receive two years of TA stipend, a tuition waiver, and contributions
towards health insurance benefits.

Dr. Kevin Bilyk
Western Kentucky University
Kevin.Bilyk@wku.edu