Conservation Legacy
GIS Assistant - AmeriCorps
This GIS Assistant is an AmeriCorps position. This project promotes automated data compilation, visualization and dissemination, which ultimately provides managers with up-to-date information about status and spread of priority invasive plant species within and around park boundaries. Developing tools that promote invasive plants information synthesis and sharing allows park managers to respond to these threats in their parks in a more timely and strategic active manner, and will assist park managers with prioritizing management actions to promote and conserve forest and plant resources. Invasive plant infestations are a serious problem in many southeast region national park units, and controlling their spread is a high priority for park managers. Strategically managing invasive plant infestations requires knowing what invasive plant species occur where. But getting that information can be cumbersome, requiring staff to compile and evaluate recent invasive plant sightings from sources including park monitoring data, opportunistic sightings by staff, and citizen science platforms (e.g., iNaturalist). Most parks do not have the capacity to annually assemble the necessary information for strategic allocation of invasive plant management efforts. This is the problem we seek to address with the proposed SIP position project. The SIP participant will serve with park scientists, the SE Region Inventory & Monitoring Division (IMD), and regional Invasive Plants Management Teams (IPMTs) to continue development of a web-based dashboard that automatically pulls newly reported invasive plant sightings from agency, park, and citizen science databases. The dashboard will map invasive plant sightings in relation to park cultural resources, recent or planned management actions (e.g., controlled burns, IPMT activities), and other relevant park information. The dashboard will also summarize key trends in invasive plant sightings in each park, so park managers can serve with IPMTs to strategically plan invasive plant control and treatment actions. Specific responsibilities of the SIP participant will include: researching sources of invasive plant sightings data within and around national park units; serving with park and regional (fire, IMD, and IPMT) staff to identify high priority invasive species and park resources/activities to map; serving with regional GIS and data science specialists to build a web-based invasive plants dashboard. The deliverable from this project will be a web-based dashboard that park managers, IPMT, and other NPS resource staff can readily access to understand the current state of priority invasive plant threats within and around SE region park units. The dashboard will summarize park-specific indicators of invasive plant trends, such as new detections of a priority invasive species in areas without prior (known) encroachment, areas of greatest increase in priority invasive plant detections, and species with the greatest number of new detections. United States citizen, United States national, or a lawful permanent resident alien. Has received a high school diploma or equivalency certificate; or has not dropped out of secondary school to enroll as an AmeriCorps participant and agrees to obtain a high school diploma or its equivalent prior to using the education award. Prior to starting the position, agrees to provide information to establish eligibility and to complete a National Service Criminal History Check for the employer of record, Conservation Legacy, and a separate government security background check for the NPS site location. The applicant must be available to participate for 52 Weeks in order to be considered and participate. Candidates must have a strong data science background (e.g., prior experience managing and synthesizing large data sets) and prior GIS experience. Candidates must demonstrate good oral and written communication skills. A background in natural resources--especially in the areas of botany or vegetation monitoring--would be helpful but is not required. Prior experience using R and creating data dashboards is preferred, but not required.
This GIS Assistant is an AmeriCorps position. This project promotes automated data compilation, visualization and dissemination, which ultimately provides managers with up-to-date information about status and spread of priority invasive plant species within and around park boundaries. Developing tools that promote invasive plants information synthesis and sharing allows park managers to respond to these threats in their parks in a more timely and strategic active manner, and will assist park managers with prioritizing management actions to promote and conserve forest and plant resources. Invasive plant infestations are a serious problem in many southeast region national park units, and controlling their spread is a high priority for park managers. Strategically managing invasive plant infestations requires knowing what invasive plant species occur where. But getting that information can be cumbersome, requiring staff to compile and evaluate recent invasive plant sightings from sources including park monitoring data, opportunistic sightings by staff, and citizen science platforms (e.g., iNaturalist). Most parks do not have the capacity to annually assemble the necessary information for strategic allocation of invasive plant management efforts. This is the problem we seek to address with the proposed SIP position project. The SIP participant will serve with park scientists, the SE Region Inventory & Monitoring Division (IMD), and regional Invasive Plants Management Teams (IPMTs) to continue development of a web-based dashboard that automatically pulls newly reported invasive plant sightings from agency, park, and citizen science databases. The dashboard will map invasive plant sightings in relation to park cultural resources, recent or planned management actions (e.g., controlled burns, IPMT activities), and other relevant park information. The dashboard will also summarize key trends in invasive plant sightings in each park, so park managers can serve with IPMTs to strategically plan invasive plant control and treatment actions. Specific responsibilities of the SIP participant will include: researching sources of invasive plant sightings data within and around national park units; serving with park and regional (fire, IMD, and IPMT) staff to identify high priority invasive species and park resources/activities to map; serving with regional GIS and data science specialists to build a web-based invasive plants dashboard. The deliverable from this project will be a web-based dashboard that park managers, IPMT, and other NPS resource staff can readily access to understand the current state of priority invasive plant threats within and around SE region park units. The dashboard will summarize park-specific indicators of invasive plant trends, such as new detections of a priority invasive species in areas without prior (known) encroachment, areas of greatest increase in priority invasive plant detections, and species with the greatest number of new detections. United States citizen, United States national, or a lawful permanent resident alien. Has received a high school diploma or equivalency certificate; or has not dropped out of secondary school to enroll as an AmeriCorps participant and agrees to obtain a high school diploma or its equivalent prior to using the education award. Prior to starting the position, agrees to provide information to establish eligibility and to complete a National Service Criminal History Check for the employer of record, Conservation Legacy, and a separate government security background check for the NPS site location. The applicant must be available to participate for 52 Weeks in order to be considered and participate. Candidates must have a strong data science background (e.g., prior experience managing and synthesizing large data sets) and prior GIS experience. Candidates must demonstrate good oral and written communication skills. A background in natural resources--especially in the areas of botany or vegetation monitoring--would be helpful but is not required. Prior experience using R and creating data dashboards is preferred, but not required.