Wilderness Monitoring Technician Member

Wilderness Monitoring Technician Member Summary

American Conservation Experience, a nonprofit Conservation Corps, in partnership with the US Forest Service Pacfish Infish Biological Opinion (PIBO) Monitoring Program, is seeking a Wilderness Monitoring Technician Member (11 positions available).

For more information about ACE, please visit our website.

Start Date: May 4, 2026

Estimated End Date: October 13, 2026

Location Details/

Description:

Selected applicants will be placed in one of the following locations:

• Logan, UT
• St. Regis, MT

Members will initially report to Logan, UT for training and subsequently work out of remote duty stations in UT or MT. Field projects will take place in various locations on Forest Service (USFS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and National Park Service (NPS) lands in OR and WA (east of the Cascade Mountains), , MT, and northern NV.

For more information about the Pac Fish Infish Biology Opinion (PIBO) monitoring program, please .

The PIBO Monitoring Program is seeking to fill multiple positions to conduct one of two monitoring tasks on remote sites throughout the interior Pacific Northwest. Members will conduct either stream assessments or riparian vegetation monitoring on streams and adjacent floodplains located in the Columbia and Missouri river basins. Members are selected, and trained, to perform a single assessment role for the full length of the position.

Members are selected for either stream assessment or vegetation monitoring based on interest and prior experience. These monitoring efforts are used to help guide management on federal lands to conserve bull trout and anadromous fishes. The PIBO program collects data on approximately 450 streams each year.

This is a field-based job. Members will spend 95% of their time living, hiking, and working in remote areas with uneven terrain and inclement weather conditions. Members will work with Forest Service Fish Biologists and Biological Technicians to monitor watershed conditions on USFS, BLM, and NPS lands.

Members will conduct riparian vegetation surveys including green-line and riparian sampling transects, species-specific ground cover estimation, and native and invasive plant species identification. Members will make extensive use of regional dichotomous keys for plant identification.

Members will conduct stream habitat surveys including channel morphology, habitat typing, substrate measurements, large wood surveys, and potentially collecting benthic macroinvertebrates or identifying aquatic invasive species.

All members will also conduct long-term photographic monitoring throughout sites, measure stream gradient, collect environmental DNA (eDNA), deploy/retrieve in-stream temperature sensors in watersheds, and assist with extensive planning and logistics which involves mapping routes, finding campsites, and navigating to remote sites.

Highly qualified applicants will have course work or experience in natural resource management, especially fisheries, water resources, and stream morphology (stream assessment positions) and using dichotomous keys for plant identification and coursework in botany (vegetation monitoring positions).

While working, members will be provided with camping gear including food storage, coolers, water purification, and cooking gear. Members will be responsible for providing their own tent, sleeping bag, rain gear, and other personal gear. Wading boots, waders, and personal protective equipment will be provided. Members will be responsible for buying their own food prior to leaving for field stints.

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.

For further information on the position, please review this Power point. It provides an in depth look into the day to day of the position.

The member should anticipate serving eight 10-hr days for each work hitch (6 subsequent days off), with…