Assistant Ungulate Specialist - Fish & Wildlife Biologist

Title: Assistant Ungulate Specialist

Classification: Fish & Wildlife Biologist 2

Job Status: Full-Time / Permanent

WDFW Program: Wildlife Program - Game Division - Ungulate Section

Duty Station: Ellensburg, Washington – Kittitas County

Hybrid/Telework: A flexible hybrid schedule may be considered at the discretion of the hiring manager, after six (6) months of employment. However, the successful candidate must be available to report to the duty station as needed.

Please Note: This position is eligible for an additional 15% pay differential when the incumbent is performing flight duties or chemical immobilization as noted in the duties listed below.

Learn more about being a member of Team WDFW!

Are you passionate about advancing bighorn sheep management and contributing to meaningful wildlife research? This hands‑on position is part of the Ungulate Section within the Wildlife Program’s Game Division.

The Assistant Ungulate Specialist works closely with field and program staff to support bighorn sheep management through monitoring, surveys, research, and community outreach, while also contributing to statewide ungulate efforts, including mountain goat and elk projects.

This role involves regular fieldwork and travel throughout the Cascades and Northeast Washington.

Among the varied range of responsibilities held within this role, the Assistant Ungulate Specialist will:

• Assist with the development, implementation, and evaluation of ungulate capture and monitoring methods.
• Conduct ground‑based monitoring activities, including ungulate surveys using binoculars and spotting scopes; deployment of camera monitoring grids; habitat monitoring; mortality investigations (including field necropsies); biological sample collection; carcass recovery; and lethal removal of ungulates when necessary.
• Participate in aerial‑based monitoring techniques, which may include helicopter or fixed‑wing aircraft operations to conduct aerial population surveys; collect demographic and abundance data; and use aerial very high frequency (VHF) telemetry to determine ungulate locations and assess productivity status.
• Support ground‑based capture techniques, which may include chemical immobilization using various delivery systems (e.g., dart projectors and jab poles), corral traps, drop‑nets, drive‑nets, net‑gunning, and Clover trapping.
• Participate in aerial‑based capture techniques as a member of an aerial capture team, fulfilling roles such as gunner, mugger, or processing crew member (wildlife capture/handling support roles).

• Identify private domestic sheep and/or goat producers located within or near bighorn sheep herd areas.
• Prioritize producers based on relative risk potential and conduct field visits to provide information and educational materials on bighorn sheep pneumonia.
• Communicate effectively and respectfully with domestic sheep and/or goat producers to obtain permission for diagnostic screening of pneumonia‑causing pathogens.
• Coordinate communication and logistics between producers and diagnostic testing teams.
• Identify and coordinate mitigation strategies to reduce pathogen transmission risk between domestic sheep or goats and bighorn sheep.
• Attend community events to provide information and distribute educational materials related to bighorn sheep pneumonia.
• Develop and deliver presentations on bighorn sheep pneumonia and management practices for both professional and general audiences.
• Assist in the development of WDFW “test and remove” disease management protocols.

• Use ArcGIS, Program R, Microsoft Office (e.g., Excel and Access), and other relevant software to manage, manipulate, and analyze data to inform management activities and decisions. This includes analyzing relationships between population size and density, home range size, dispersal, survival, disease infection and management actions.
• Author or co‑author agency reports or manuscripts.

Work Setting, including hazards:

• Combination of office and fieldwork, with frequent travel to field sites and outdoor work in…