GIS Assistant AmeriCorps

POSITION DETAILS

Position (s): 4415

Position Title:

GIS Assistant – Ameri Corps
Conservation Legacy Program:
Scientists in Parks, Stewards Individual Placements
Site

Location:

Buffalo National River, Harrison, Arkansas
Number of positions available: 1

Duration: 36 Weeks (not flexible)
Flexible

Start Date:

Yes

Start Date:

5/4/2026
End Date: 1/11/2027
Ameri Corps Slot Classification: 1200 hours – this is the minimum number of hours the selected candidate must serve throughout the duration of their position.

• Segal Ameri Corps Education Award
  : $5,176.50 upon successful completion of position
• Weekly Living Allowance
  : $600.00 per week, fixed rate
• Relocation Allowance
  : $450.00 (distributed as a one-time lump sum with first paycheck)
• Student Loan Forbearance if applicable (administered by My Ameri Corps , directly)
• Student Loan Interest Payments if applicable (administered through My Ameri Corps , directly)

Preference given to applicants who submit applications before Sunday, February 15, 2026. Applications will be reviewed after the Final date to receive applications passes. Positions will close after receiving 60 complete applications
, or at 11:59 p.m. EST on February 15, 2026, whichever occurs first.

GIS, Cartography, Data Management, Surveying, Resource Management

This GIS Assistant is an Ameri Corps position. The National Park Service is ultimately a land management agency, and a critical component of land management is creating and maintaining high quality and well-organized spatial data resources. At the Buffalo National River, GIS data are collected/used for natural and cultural resource protection on a regular basis. Over 50 years of inconsistent file organization has made the park’s GIS resources cumbersome and difficult to use.

This creates significant hurdles for both resource protection but also communication of information to the public and partners. The GIS closely with resource staff to better structure our GIS data resources to a more standardized organizational format. This will enable more efficient use of GIS resources by park staff to aid in the park’s natural resources management. Map resources created by the GIS Assistant will be used primarily by park staff, but also by park visitors, aiding with communication and interpretation of park resources.

Any new spatial data collected in the field or new GIS resources created in the office by the GIS Assistant, will further aid park staff with management of the terrestrial, hydrological, and cultural resources of the park. Maps created by the GIS Assistant will also be used to maintain compliance with Federal Laws and communicate plans to Tribal, Cultural, and Biological Resource Partners and Stakeholders.

Under the supervision of the Biologist (who also acts as the primary GIS manager at the park), this GIS Assistant position will help park staff with GIS data management, spatial data collection for field projects, cartography, and support documentation to aid park staff in fully utilizing available GIS resources.

Duties include:

• Data Management:
  The primary task will be GIS data management and organization for both local and cloud storage. Data management improvements are already underway, so an existing framework will be available. Data storage resources are transitioning to cloud servers, and this has had major impacts on GIS data storage protocols.
• Datum Transition:
  In the near future, the federal government will transition to a new datum standard, NATRF
  2022, from the existing datum standard, NAD
  83 (2011). The new datum standard will come with many improvements to geospatial resources but will also require considerable time and effort adjusting GIS resources and data collection workflows. The GIS Assistant will aid the Biologist with the various aspects concerning this transition, including changes to data management and field data collection workflows.
• Field Data Collection:
  Use high accuracy GNSS equipment and workflows to collect spatial data for various park projects. Data collection workflows will use ESRI and QGIS resources. Field data collection projects include…