Overview:
These two Lead Botanist roles are contract-funded positions for five months, each leading a Seeds of Success (SOS) collection crew in one of three areas managed by BLM Field Offices: - Owhyee Field Office in Marsing, Idaho; Boise District Office in Boise, Idaho - District Office in Battle Mountain or Ely, Nevada. Due to the remoteness of these areas, short-term rental housing is usually difficult to secure in some of the towns listed above. The team is therefore encouraged to find and share housing in larger towns and cities such as Bend, Oregon; Boise, Idaho, and its suburbs; and Battle Mountain or Ely, Nevada, and its suburbs. Living out of personal vehicles is not encouraged due to safety concerns. As BLM office space will not be provided, the Lead Botanist will be provided a Verizon MiFi hotspot, laptop, and tablet (w/ cellular) for conducting scouting research, participating in calls, writing reports, and using/updating the Great Basin Ecoregional Reporting Tool through ArcGIS Online Field Maps and Survey123, as well as updating data on Google Drive spreadsheets. Due to the remoteness and large size of the area each crew is responsible for, frequent camping will be required to make the best use of travel time. Storage units will be rented to provide space for processing seeds, temporarily storing seeds, and staging equipment. The crew will also be provided a 4x4 work truck. Each Lead Botanist will be responsible for supervising one Field Technician, coordinating with BLM and Chicago Botanic Garden staff, planning scouting and collecting trips, and conducting large native seed collections as part of the SOS program. This team will likely spend 90 percent of their time in the field. These roles will provide daily team leadership and oversight. The Lead Botanists will ensure quality control for all collections (correct species identification, proper phenology assessments and seed collecting techniques, documentation and processing, including data entry and depositing herbarium specimens in designated local and national institutions). The start date of these positions is May 16, 2022, with a term of 22 weeks, and an end date of October 14, 2022.