Archaeology Crew Lead; NPS, Death Valley National Park

Job Details:

Job Location:

Death Valley, CA, Position Type:
Seasonal, Salary Range: $27.50 - $27.50 Hourly, Job Category:
Cultural Resource Services, The Cultural Resource Services Program (CRS) at the Great Basin Institute (GBI), in cooperation with the National Park Service at Death Valley National Park, is recruiting one Archaeology Crew Lead to become part of the Flood Response Team.

This position will be a part of a unique group, the DEVA Flood Archaeology Team with a unique mission. In 2022 and 2023 DEVA experienced two 1000-year level floods. This led to impacts ranging from mild to profound in all corners of the park. Roads are still being repaired from these floods. In response, the Park brought in over 80 archaeologists of all skill levels to survey along roadsides as a part of their cleanup.

This has resulted in a massive amount of data that still needs to be verified, cleaned up and written into reports. Additionally, the emergency actions taken were only to open roads, so sites and structures across the park away from roads still need to be visited and documented. This position will be a part of the larger DEVA cultural resource team which consists of historians, archaeologists, physical scientists and historic preservationists.

This work will help document flood impacts to sites throughout the park, stabilize or create plans to stabilize affected sites, and prepare inventories that will help with future flooding events.

The Cultural Resource Program at Death Valley National Park works closely with the local tribe and there will be opportunities for the selected candidate to participate in tribal consultation meetings and potentially field visits with tribal elders and heritage preservationists.

The Flood Archaeology Crew Lead will perform a variety of activities to support all stages of project implementation. Crew size will range between 2-3 people.

• Collaborating with Archaeologist and agency staff to support field safety, communication, planning, logistics, quality assurance, field implementation and reporting efforts;
• With your team, or alone, complete field surveys, condition assessments, site recordation, or monitoring as well as working to document, assess, and characterize the status of new and known cultural resources;
• Conducting pre-field searches to learn what resources may be present and what was previously recorded;
• Monitoring existing sites and complete site updates and condition assessments;
• Assessing sites for stabilization needs and stabilizing sites with waddles, mats and other means;
• Preparing California DPR site records, GIS maps, and photographic records in addition to adding data to the NPS heritage database and assisting your crew in doing the same;
• Utilizing GPS tablets in the field to collect data and use that data to make maps and update geodatabases.
• Preparing portions of reports, or assessments of effect documentation for archaeological compliance.

• Desired start date in November 2026;
• Full time (40 hours/week);
• This project is expected to last for approximately 51 weeks, with the potential to extend, pending the successful completion of a Department of Interior (DOI) Background Investigation (BI).

Death Valley National Park is located in Nevada and California and boasts some of the hottest and driest climates, and lowest elevation in North America. The park includes a superlative desert of streaming sand dunes, snow-capped mountains, multicolored rock layers, water-fluted canyons and three million acres of wilderness. Death Valley is home to the Timbisha Shoshone people and to plants and animals unique to the harshest desert environment.

The closest cities are Pahrump and Beatty, Nevada (both approximately 1 hour away).

Field conditions include hot, arid days with high exposure to the sun, as well as cold, winter weather. Resources of the region include threatened and/or endangered species habitat, big game habitats, abandoned mine lands, and historic and prehistoric cultural sites.

Wage: $27.50/hour (overtime is infrequent, paid at 1.5 times wage rate);

• Company-paid comprehensive medical, dental (with option to upgrade in coverage), and vision insurance;
• $25,000 Basic Life & AD&D insurance at no cost;
• Competitive PTO accrual and paid federal holidays;
• Eligible for 401(k) retirement savings with up to 4% GBI match;
• Access to Pro Deals;
• Shared vehicle for commuting to Park from Pahrump, Nevada;
• Shared housing will be provided to the…