Restoration Associate
As a member of the Greenway Trust Stewardship Program, you’ll have the opportunity to work with a highly successful team in an energetic, productive, and fast-paced environment. Through extensive hands-on involvement in a wide variety of projects and agency partnerships, you will learn about ecological issues on public natural lands and build skills in public land management.
To support many of our environmental stewardship efforts, the Greenway Trust recruits and engages more than 4,000 community volunteers each year. These volunteers provide support for trail maintenance, invasive weed removal, and native tree and shrub planting efforts. Our interactions with community volunteers provide a unique opportunity to discuss the Greenway, the landscape, the challenges faced in stewarding and caring for public land and gives volunteers a chance to “give back” to the lands where they live, work and play.
Serving as a Restoration Team and occasionally individually, the Restoration Associates will be responsible for assisting with community engagement efforts (recruiting and managing volunteers, tracking volunteer information, tracking volunteer accomplishments and recognizing achievements, and helping to broaden the reach and depth of the program), and will also assist Greenway Trust staff with other core projects, including invasive plant removal, native plant installation, trail maintenance scouting, operations at our Native Plant Nursery at Lake Sammamish State Park and logistics at our field office.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Teamwork: Serve as a member of our Restoration Team alongside Greenway Trust staff, agency and nonprofit partners, and volunteers.
- Ecological Restoration: Perform native habitat restoration tasks including tree planting, manual and chemical weed control, and general ecological maintenance
- Event Leadership: Lead volunteer land stewardship events within the Greenway on weekdays and Saturdays. This includes developing educating volunteers about the Greenway, site history, restoration ecology, trail maintenance, and other relevant information while building a sense of community within the group.
- Project Ownership: Assist Restoration Project Manager and Restoration Project Coordinator with oversight and management of restoration projects; including restoration project planning, data collection at restoration sites, and other similar tasks.
- Nursery Maintenance: Maintain the Greenway Trust’s Native Plant Nursery, including monitoring inventory, running nursery volunteer, overseeing irrigation systems, and other tasks.
- Field Base Support: Assist with the Greenway Trust’s field base maintenance, which includes hand and power tool repair and maintenance, vehicle inspections, tool inventory management, and other items related to tools used for volunteer projects.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Proven personal initiative and ability to handle multiple tasks and projects in a fast-paced environment, to prioritize, use good judgment, and problem solve.
- A general interest in ecological restoration and volunteer engagement.
- Ability to serve as a part of a team in an outdoor field setting that can include inclement weather. This position requires tolerance of long days.
- Willingness to work outside in all weather conditions doing physically demanding work (must have the ability to hike to semi-remote worksites, carry heavy loads, and move rocks, plant material, tools and other equipment).
- Proven communication skills and ability to represent the Greenway Trust in a professional manner.
- Ability to acquire, upon sponsorship, a Wilderness First Aid certification (will be provided as part of Greenway Trust training during the service term).
- Ability to apply pesticides to non-native plants, and, upon sponsorship, ability to test for and receive a Washington State Pesticide Applicator’s License (part of Greenway Trust training and will be provided during the service term).
- Provide daily, personal transportation to Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah, WA.
- A valid driver’s license, clean driving record and the ability to drive agency vehicles.
- Must be a U.S. citizen, national or lawful permanent resident alien.
- Must successfully pass a criminal history background check.
- Members must be 18 years old on first day of service.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Strong Pacific Northwest plant identification skills.
- Experience using herbicides to control invasive weeds.
- Interest or experience in surveying vegetation, using GPS, ArcGIS 10.3, or ArcCollector.
- Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree.
- Three to six months or more conservation corps or other related outdoor work experience.
- A valid driver’s license, clean driving record and the ability to drive agency vehicles.
REPORTS TO | Restoration Projects Coordinator
COMPENSATION
WSC provides a living stipend of $1,450 (before taxes). The Greenway Trust provides mileage reimbursement at the current state rate for approved personal vehicle use and an ORCA bus card.
BENEFITS
washingtonservicecorps.org/become-a-member
- An Education Award of $6,095 (after successful completion of AmeriCorps term)
- Basic health insurance (does not include vision coverage)
- Workers compensation coverage
- Assistance with childcare costs
- Forbearance of qualified student loans during the service term
- Payment of interest on student loans that accrued during the service term
- Serving in an AmeriCorps program qualifies as “employment” towards the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program
LOCATION and SCHEDULE
The Restoration Associates are based out of the Greenway Trust’s Field Office, located at Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah, WA. Transportation from the Field Office to project sites on surrounding public land and other project locations will be provided. The position operates on a four ten-hour days schedule, Wednesday through Saturday service week. The position is scheduled to run from October 1, 2019 to August 15, 2020.
TO APPLY
Complete application on the Washington Service Corps listing at:
https://my.americorps.gov/mp/listing/viewListing.do?id=62203&fromSearch=true
AND attach cover letter and resume to your application or email directly to:
Katy Yeh, Restoration Projects Coordinator
These positions are contingent on successful funding from the Washington Service Corps program.
ABOUT THE GREENWAY TRUST STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM
The Greenway Trust Stewardship Program provides long-term stewardship of the 1.5-million-acre Mountains to Sound Greenway, which includes over 900,000 acres of public lands stretching from Seattle to Central Washington. This program works on federal, state, county and city lands completing tree plantings, invasive plant removal, riparian restoration, forest road removal, trail maintenance and construction, and a host of other stewardship activities. The involvement and education of thousands of volunteers yearly is a major component of the program.
ABOUT THE MOUNTAINS TO SOUND GREENWAY TRUST
The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust leads and inspires action to conserve and enhance the landscape from Seattle across the Cascade Mountains to Central Washington, ensuring a long-term balance between people and nature. Our coalition of community members, businesses, government agencies, and donors is joined together by the ethos that when we have meaningful connections with our natural surroundings, we are healthier and happier, our communities are stronger and more equitable; our lives are better.
Nearly thirty years of collaboration and hard work have tested and strengthened the vision of the Mountains to Sound Greenway. We have proven to this region and the rest of the nation that collaborative conservation, pursued by a broad-based and inclusive coalition of partners, can effect positive change.
Learn more at www.mtsgreenway.org