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Aquatic Ecologist

Employer
RES
Location
Sacramento County, California, US
Salary
Competitive
Closing date
Aug 28, 2021

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Sector
Academic / Research
Field
Informatics / GIS
Discipline
Restoration
Salary Type
Salary
Employment Type
Full time
RES is the nation's largest and most experienced provider of ecological restoration and water resource solutions. To date, we have restored over 328 stream miles, 58,024 wetland acres, and rehabilitated, preserved, and/or managed over 15,000 acres of special-status species habitats. RES operations include planting over 17,400,000 restorative trees and reducing over 267 tons of polluting nutrients. RES navigates and streamlines the environmental permitting process with solutions that balance economic development and ecological sustainability through the establishment of mitigation/conservation banks, permittee responsible turnkey mitigation, and corporate social responsibility projects.

RES is accepting applications for an Aquatic Ecologist to work collaboratively with a team of fisheries biologists, field ecologists, restoration designers, environmental land operators, and mitigation professionals in our Sacramento or San Francisco, CA office. Project sites are located throughout California, Oregon, and Washington. The majority of the sites and projects are within California and require a thorough knowledge of the ecology of California estuaries, rivers, and lakes. This role requires ecological understanding of diverse aquatic systems and the ability to write and verbally communicate technical information with a variety of stakeholders including clients, regulatory agencies, internal team members, and other RES technical staff and project managers throughout the country. This position will report directly to the Senior Fisheries Biologist and assist with projects across the entire region as needed.

The role of the Aquatic Ecologist requires technical skills, strong organizational and communication skills, the ability to work independently, collaboratively, and confidently to achieve task goals. This is a junior level role, with the ability to advance within RES, and the expectation that the successful candidate will work collaboratively with our growing aquatics group. Successful candidates must be flexible and responsive to a challenging work environment where schedules, site locations, and tasks fluctuate according to the needs of the project.

  • Participate in interdisciplinary teams to design and implement large-scale restoration projects;
  • Support the development of restoration and monitoring plans for tidal, lentic, and lotic habitats;
  • Collect, manage, analyze, and report on water quality and sediment data parameters typical of federal Clean Water Act 404/401 compliance requirements in freshwater rivers and lakes;
  • Support survey planning and implement aquatic field studies (e.g. fisheries, aquatic habitat, water quality, hydrographic) as well as assist with terrestrial studies (e.g. wetland assessment terrestrial habitat, wildlife) in accordance with state and federal guidelines;
  • Provide technical and analytical summaries to support habitat management recommendations based upon collected field data;
  • Write annual monitoring reports, biological resource assessments, and other technical documents;
  • Support restoration implementation and maintenance crews to achieve performance standards and habitat restoration goals; and
  • Performing literature and database searches.


Minimum:
  • Bachelor's degree in ecology, biology, environmental science or other related discipline; master's degree is a plus.
  • A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience with mitigation, habitat restoration, aquatic research, and/or environmental permitting.
  • General knowledge of Northern California watersheds and the California Bay-Delta.
  • Demonstrated experience using handheld and continuous sampling techniques to collect and analyze water quality parameters; including: temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, conductivity, pH, and chlorophyll-a.
  • Knowledge of aquatic food web processes.
  • Field survey experience including fish (native and non-native), aquatics (mesohabitat mapping, temperature and water quality monitoring), aquatic plants (native and non-native), and/or wetlands (assessments).
  • Willingness to assist multidisciplinary teams with related fieldwork such as wetland surveys and delineations, bird/bat surveys, endangered species habitat surveys, etc.
  • Strong writing ability; must be able to prepare technical documents with limited instruction, seeking input from senior staff for key items.
  • The ability to engage in self-directed learning. This position necessitates the ability to quickly learn and synthesize information through self-directed learning such as reading scientific papers, attending webinars and conferences, and reviewing past work products.
  • Effective problem solving ability, organized, and detail oriented.
  • The ability to take direction and instruction from team leaders and colleagues.
  • Be a flexible team player. This position requires an individual who is willing to work on multiple projects at any given time and assist other team members as needed and the ability and comfort to work independently on a variety of tasks.
  • Comfortable working in physically challenging outdoor situations in all types of weather and traveling on a regular basis to project sites which may require overnight stays.
  • Ability to lift up to 25 pounds.
  • Must have a valid driver's license, Clean DMV record, and compliance with company safety policies are required.
  • Experience with MS Office, Apple iPads, ARCGIS online, and GPS technology.


Desired Additional Qualifications:
  • Understanding of and experience with a variety of federal and California environmental regulations (federal Clean Water Act 404/401, California Fish and Game Code 1600, federal and California Endangered Species Acts).
  • Familiarity with sediment sample constituents including metals and organic and inorganic forms of nitrogen, phosphorous, and carbon.
  • Stream invertebrate taxonomy.
  • CRAM training.
  • Familiarity with invasive aquatic plants and management techniques.
  • Demonstrated field survey experience with amphibians (California red-legged frog, foothill yellow-legged frogs) and reptiles (giant garter snake, western pond turtle).
  • Certified to operate and trailer motorboats
  • Experience presenting at technical conferences, workshops, and/or seminars.
  • Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate and/or experience collecting data with drones.

VEVRAA Federal Contractor

RES is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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