Inventory and Monitoring Biological Protocol Support Specialist

Inventory and Monitoring Biological Protocol Support Specialist

Ducks Unlimited / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The Refuge Improvement Act (public law 105-57) mandates that the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) "monitor the status and trends of fish, wildlife, and plants in each refuge." Monitoring is essential for understanding current conditions of natural resources and evaluating the effectiveness of management actions. Since 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Inventory & Monitoring Program for the NWRS (I&M) has advanced science‑based management by documenting survey protocols that guide consistent and scientifically credible monitoring of fish, wildlife and plants.

Protocols describe all aspects of a survey, including objectives the survey informs, sampling design, field methods, analysis, data management, and how the data will be used.

The Biological Protocol Support Specialist will work with Ducks Unlimited (DU) and report to USFWS Inventory and Monitoring staff to assist refuges with documenting survey protocols that meet National Wildlife Refuge System protocol standards. The Specialist will perform the following duties in collaboration with I&M (such as data managers, biometricians, biologists/ecologists), the data support specialist, and refuge staff:

• Travel to refuges to assist refuge staff with field survey and protocol development.
• Use national and regional protocol guidance and tools to assist refuges with developing and documenting protocol elements. This includes objectives, study design, methods, analytical techniques, data management and reporting.
• For currently implemented surveys – gather, evaluate, refine, and document existing survey information.
• For currently implemented surveys – assist with survey implementation (such as data collection, data analysis, data management, reporting) to understand, evaluate, refine, and ultimately document protocol elements.
• Apply national or regional data management standards to new or existing survey data structures.
• Coordinate with internal or external experts to develop protocol elements, including study designs and associated sampling objectives, data management, or analysis. This includes the development of scripts and standard operating procedures.
• Assist refuge staff with documenting survey information and products in centralized data systems (Serv Cat, PRIMR, and FWSpecies).
• Coordinate review of draft survey protocols.
• Assist refuge and regional staff in using data and developing evidence for conservation.

The primary work location is the USFWS Regional Office in Sacramento, CA, but positions may also be remote or at Refuge if office space is available. The Specialist will be involved in short‑term travel (a few days to 1–2 weeks) to Region 8 refuges.

• Master’s degree (preferred) in natural resource management or related discipline.
• Experience in field implementation of detailed protocols for sampling wildlife, vegetation, habitat characteristics, or other environmental features.
• Experience in data collection and management, subjecting data to quality checks, and data compilation, analysis, and interpretation.
• Familiarity with organizing legacy data records and documenting survey protocols.
• Experience following standardized protocol templates and instructions.
• Ability to develop standardized processes/workflows, and keywords/taxonomy to compile and organize legacy data from multiple sources.
• Experience in summarizing and documenting program outcomes.
• Ability to communicate with a diverse audience, both in writing and verbally.
• Strong skills in technical writing to clearly develop, describe, and document survey instructions, standard operating procedures, and survey summaries.
• Familiarity with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service mission, goals and operations, and the Inventory and Monitoring Program of the National Wildlife Refuge System (preferred).
• Familiarity with regional Refuges and associated resource features and issues (preferred).
• Experience with developing R scripts for ecological data analysis and automated reporting, streamlining workflows and improving data transparency.
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