Position Title: Ecological Assistant - AmeriCorps

Conservation Legacy Program: Stewards Individual Placements

Site Location: 103 Headquarters

Application Timeline: Preference given to applicants that submit application by 9/26/25

Terms of Service:

• Start Date: 11/17/2025

• End Date: 5/15/2026

• AmeriCorps Slot Classification: 900 Hour

Purpose:

Stewards Individual Placements (Stewards), a program of Conservation Legacy, provides individuals with AmeriCorps service and career opportunities to strengthen communities and preserve our natural resources. Participants serve with federal agencies, tribal governments, and nonprofits to provide institutional capacity, develop community relationships, and support ecosystem health. Stewards in partnership with Grand Teton National Park will host an Ecological Assistant.

This Ecological Assistant is an AmeriCorps position that will apply and expand upon current data analysis and visualization techniques using R for both long-term ecosystem health monitoring and habitat restoration monitoring in sagebrush ecosystems in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

This individual placement provides an opportunity to engage in a breadth of survey, monitoring, and mapping techniques for a range of management needs across a range of ecosystems. The individual placement will perform ecological monitoring, surveying and mapping for various programs and projects in the branch of Vegetation Ecology and Management at Grand Teton National Park. Monitoring ranges from qualitative (e.g. site observation and photo points) to quantitative data collection (e.g., recording plant species abundance in plots) and long-term trend monitoring to short-term efficacy monitoring. Examples include long-term sagebrush and high elevation plant communities; sagebrush restoration; grazing utilization; whitebark pine direct seeding germination and survivorship; sagebrush restoration planting success; revegetation success, invasive plant management outcomes, rare plant surveys, invasive plant surveys, and disturbance mapping. The duties will be a combination of field data collection and office-based field prep, data management, data summary, and analysis.?

Description of Duties:

· Data science duties for vegetation monitoring and invasive plant control conducted within Grand Teton National Park:

• · Preparing, summarizing, and analyzing vegetation datasets with a focus on assessing plant community status and trends
• · Documenting data science steps and procedures via R programming language including promotion of reproducible results by storing, testing, and executing all procedures from within an R package environment
• · Opportunistically assisting with vegetation monitoring field projects, data entry, and data quality control when appropriate.

Qualifications:

• United States citizen, United States national, or a lawful permanent resident alien
• Applicants must be between ages of 18-30 years old, or up to 35 for veteran, based on Public Land Corps Act of 1993 authorizing this AmeriCorps opportunity.
• 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.
• Agrees to provide information to establish eligibility and to complete a National Service Criminal History Check.

Preferred Qualifications:

• · Preferably a graduate (MA or PhD level) in statistical and natural resource sciences.
• · Strong analytical skills are a requirement and has the ability to program in ‘R’.
• · Individual may have experience in using other statistical packages such as Python.
• · Coursework in statistical modeling techniques and general programming.
• · The individual will have some experience in writing scientific reports and science outreach products.
• · Strengths should also include the ability to work independently, and problem solve.
• · Then incumbent should be self-motivated and curious about plant community ecology, sagebrush ecosystems and ecological restoration and factors that drive plant community dynamics.

Additional Position and Community Information

Grand Teton National Park covers 310,000 acres in western Wyoming. The park showcases iconic peaks, but also protects high quality sagebrush steppe valley, high alpine wildflower meadows, and riparian corridors which support some of the most fantastic wildlife habitat in North America. You will live at approximately 6,500 feet elevation, with the Grand Teton reaching 13,000 ft. The town of Jackson is about 20 minutes away, and while busy, hosts a great deal of services. We have an airport, hardware stores, 3 grocery stores, banks, a Target, and auto body shops. Some people drive 2 hours to the larger Idaho Falls for errands on the weekends. The recreational opportunities are boundless, as the crew can often be found camping, floating the river, hiking, fishing, mountain biking, backpacking, and enjoying live music in town.

It is important to have a personal vehicle. Town and grocery stores are 20+ minute drive from housing, along a highway with temperatures and wind discouraging biking.

Housing is likely a private bedroom with shared kitchen and bathroom. Beds and basic furniture are provided. Individual Placement must bring all bedding and kitchenware.

Benefits:

• Segal AmeriCorps Education Award of $3,697.50
• Living Allowance of $700.00 per week.
• Additional Benefit of $260.00 per week.
• Student Loan forbearance if Eligible (administered by MyAmeriCorps, directly)
• Interest Payments if Eligible (administered through MyAmeriCorps, directly)

How to Apply
Apply on-line at: https://stewardslegacy.org/open-positions. In addition to your resume, please submit a one page cover letter highlighting why you are interested in this position and how your background and experience will help you succeed in this position.

Application Timeline: Preference given to applicants who submit applications by September 26, 2025. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Position will close on October 31, 2025.

Supervisor Name and Contact Information:

· Program Contact information: Sam Rush at srush@conservationlegacy.org

· Service Site Contact information: Molly Murphy at Molly_Murphy@nps.gov

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

We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or reasonable accommodations due to a disability during the application or recruiting process, please send a request to the hiring manager.

Additional Details

Physical Requirements:

Conservation Legacy is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals and will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to perform essential functions. Some positions may require periodic overnight travel, non-traditional hours, ability to move across varied terrain, use program-specific tools and a range of technology on an infrequent or frequent basis. Exerting up to 25 pounds of force occasionally to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects. Ability to safely drive an organizational vehicle may also be required for some positions. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during application or recruiting process, please send a request to the hiring manager.

Time Requirements:

• This position is expected to serve 40 hours each week, but exact service schedules may vary.
• Lunch breaks will not be counted towards AmeriCorps service.
• Member may be required to participate in national, state, or local service projects or events as part of their service term.

Orientation and Training:

• Member will receive an orientation that includes training on AmeriCorps prohibited and unallowable activities.
• $600.00 Professional Development Fund for travel and training.

Evaluation and Reporting:

As an AmeriCorps member, performance will be evaluated on whether the member has completed the required number of hours, the member has satisfactorily completed assignments, and if the member has met other performance criteria that were clearly communicated at the beginning of the term of service.

Reporting requirements include, but are not limited to, bi-weekly timesheets and accomplishment tracking.