Lead Forestry Technician - Tahoe National Forest, Yuba River Ranger District

Lead Forestry Technician - Tahoe National Forest, Yuba River Ranger District Summary

American Conservation Experience, a nonprofit Conservation Corps, in partnership with the US Forest Service, is seeking 1 lead forestry technician to contribute to the forestry department alongside Tahoe National Forest Staff.

For more information about ACE, please visit our website.

Start Date: May 11th, 2026 (05/11/2026)

Estimated End Date: Fall 2026

* a 16-week minimum commitment is required *

Location Details/

Description:

Yuba River Ranger District (Nevada City, California)

The Tahoe National Forest is located in the northern Sierra Nevada (east of Sacramento) and extends from the foothills across the Sierra crest to the California state line. It includes over 850,000 acres of public land interspersed with 350,000 acres of private land in a checkerboard ownership pattern. Rivers, snow‑capped peaks and dense forests offer outstanding recreation year‑round. A complex set of ecosystems are found as the terrain ascends from 1,500 feet along the western boundary to over 9,000 feet along the crest.

The forest provides a variety of resources and opportunities and is managed by the Forest Service.

The Yuba River Ranger District offices are located in Camptonville, CA and Nevada City, CA. Many employees live in the Nevada City/Grass Valley area (population 20,000) located 25 miles south of Camptonville. Nevada City is a vibrant town alongside Grass Valley, CA with excellent access to trails, ski resorts, and world class rafting and swimming holes. The Sacramento metro area is within an hour's drive for urban amenities.

For more information about the Yuba River Ranger District, please visit the Tahoe National Forest website.

The ACE Lead Forestry Technician will lead a small marking crew performing a variety of timber sale preparation (TSP) duties that include - but are not limited to - timber marking (45%), timber cruising (20%), and sale layout (25%) of both ground and aerial systems as part of the forest health partnership. Office work, meetings, and training (10%).

This individual placement is meant to facilitate professional development and promotes exposure to land management agencies and networking with professionals. This could include gaining experience in different conservation fields and shadowing different work groups.

• Monitors and leads prep crew in performing unit layout and marking and cruising of timber.
• Independently applies silvicultural prescriptions and marking guides to designate timber.
• Brings to the attention of responsible individuals, situations on the ground that are inconsistent with guidelines. Acts as a certified timber cruiser and applies the instructions issued in cruise plans.
• Takes and records tree measurements, and determines defects.
• Observes and reports areas of possible archeological significance, and sightings of sensitive, threatened or endangered wildlife species
• Determines and delineates harvest unit boundaries, proper location of roads, and maps units.
• Planning, decisions, and judgments made in this position affect long term timber management activities, other resources, and forest health.
• Accuracy of the work affects the quality of residual resource values such as timber stands, visual quality, water quality, and all resources related to timber harvest.

Monday - Thursday, ~7:00am-5:30pm. Occasional Fridays, if necessary.

May include staying at barracks (during the work week) near Emigrant Gap, due to the distance needed to travel to some work sites.

Living Allowance: The ACE Member is expected to contribute ~40 hours/week and will receive a living allowance of $1,010/week to offset the costs of food and incidental expenses, dispersed bi-weekly.

Public Land Corps Hiring Authority: Members serving under this agreement may be eligible for a federal hiring authority upon completion of their term of service and 640 hours of service. If the duration of a PLC-eligible term is not long enough for Members to accrue 640 hours of service (~16 weeks), the total hours served at the completion of the term may be eligible to be combined with…