Geohazards Assistant - AmeriCorps

• Job Category Individual Placement, Ameri Corps
• Employee Type Ameri Corps

• Email (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below).

Preference given to applicants that submit application by 7/13/2026

• Start Date:
  
  8/24/2026
• End Date: 7/23/2027
• Ameri Corps Slot Classification: 1700 Hours, 48 weeks

Stewards Individual Placements (Stewards), a program of Conservation Legacy, provides individuals with Ameri Corps service and career opportunities to strengthen communities and preserve our natural resources. Participants serve with federal agencies, tribal governments, and , develop community relationships, and support ecosystem health. Stewards in partnership with the Mount Rainier National Park Imminent Threats Program will host two Geohazards Assistants.

The Geohazards Assistant is an Ameri Corps position that will support ongoing efforts by the Mount Rainier Imminent Threats Program to assess geomorphic processes across multiple physical and temporal scales. Under the supervision of the Imminent Threats Lead, the Geohazards Assistant will examine changing trends in river and glacier resources, and their responses for the advancement of geologic hazard and resource monitoring at Mount Rainier National Park.

Their presence supports the professional wellbeing of their colleagues through the completion of critical milestones, and the communal support both felt by the Geohazards Assistants and provided back to the workplace of Mount Rainier. New eyes and fresh enthusiasm are the bedrock of the resources division of Mount Rainier National Park, consistently bringing in new ideas and ensuring specialists maintain our love of the work.

The Geohazards Assistants will contribute to high-priority projects that deliver long-term improvements to park infrastructure, resource management, and visitor access. Projects in process by the Imminent Threats Program often contribute directly to generational restoration of critical infrastructure, ensuring physical access to remarkable public land experiences while restoring historic character cherished by the American public. Continued improvements to scientific methods and our understanding of Park resources leads to compounding improvements to the health and character of managed resources, ease of Park operations, and quality of visitor experiences.

• Instrumenting rivers to measure processes and assess risk – The Nisqually River Seismic Array:
  • Essential functions and responsibilities:
    • Collaborate with supervisor and other division staff on field schedules on a regular basis
    • Support deployment, maintenance, and removals of modular seismic sensors on the Nisqually River within Mount Rainier
    • Conduct periodic data downloads and sensor calibrations
    • Store, manage, and prepare seismic data for use
    • Assess, interpret, and carry out further analysis of seismic data in the context of river monitoring (fluvial seismology)
    • Documentation of work and communication of results to support publications and conference attendance
• RFID/BLE tracer study to quantify sediment flux, particle size distribution, and transport paths:
  • Essential functions and responsibilities:
    • Collaborate with supervisor on timelines of projects and deployment of sensors
    • Support the creation of active-RFID embedded “smart rocks”
    • Assist in the deployment and data collection of the “smart rocks” in the Nisqually River
    • Manage datasets, prepare data for use, and assess analysis potential of data collected
    • Analyze data for bedload sediment transport parameters (rate of travel, path of travel, advection/dispersion, total flux estimates)
• Geospatial inventory of Mount Rainier river and glacier resources:
  • Essential functions and responsibilities:
    • Sourcing, downloading, and preparing GIS data relevant to mapping Mount Rainier glacier or river resources (LiDAR, NAIP, Structure-from-Motion, Sentinel)
    • Interpretation and mapping of river or glacier resources to produce polygons in ArcGIS Pro or QGIS
    • Field validation of difficult to interpret sites
    • Continuous collaboration with supervisor to determine appropriate interpretations and maintain mapping standards
    • Opportunities for…