This position REQUIRES extensive motorized boat-driving experience. Please do not apply unless you have driven a motorized boat MORE than once per week for several months. This position will drive a boat at night in remote coastal in-shore waters with another technician that may not have boat experience. This is a temporary 11-month recurring position with the option to return for subsequent years.
The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work on conservation of the federally listed Eastern Black Rail using a variety of field equipment and techniques in coastal North Carolina and to lead a small crew. The position will assist the Wildlife Diversity Biologist (coastal waterbirds) with surveys and data processing primarily for Black Rail. The technician may have occasional opportunities to assist with work on other marsh and wading birds. The technician will lead one, two-person crew who will survey together for Black Rail at night in coastal marshes of the Pamlico Peninsula and Cedar Island area. Overall, twenty-six marsh sites will be repeatedly surveyed by two teams of two surveyors at night. Most marsh sites will be accessed by boat in the evening. Surveys will take place on foot in marshes at night and return by boat will be at night. Candidates must be comfortable walking long distances through remote marshes at night and be very safety conscious and capable. Field work will begin by February 15th and will consist of breaking trails through marsh and deploying water level meters. Autonomous Recording Units (ARUs) will also be deployed. The technician may assist the Waterbird Biologist with 10 aerial surveys to estimate wading bird nest abundance in April. Black Rail call-response surveys will begin May 1st and continue almost nightly until July 31st. Game cameras will be deployed at some sites to capture photos of Black Rail breeding and flight feather phenology. Marsh vegetation and elevation surveys will take place in hot weather during August and September. The technician is expected to conduct field work at least four days per week walking approximately 3 miles in brackish marsh each field day, sometimes carrying many metal stakes. The two-person team will always work together and will not split up during any field work. Outside of the field season, work will mostly consist of processing sound files from Autonomous Recording Units (ARUs) and recording water level data.
Compensation and housing: Dependent on final budget approval and upon education and experience. May be around $18.10 per hour, perhaps more. Position is temporary and will be 40 hours per week for 48 weeks, with the chance for renewal in subsequent years. The technician must live at the Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge field housing in Hyde County, which will cost the technician $370 per month, or must live nearby. Every other week the technician must travel to the Cedar Island area for surveys. Housing will be provided at no cost for those weeks and approximately $49 per diem will be paid per day while not staying at Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge. A truck is provided for field work. Health insurance is available through the state’s High-Deductible Health Plan.
