Overview

SERG is a non-profit organization under the umbrella of the San Diego State University Research Foundation and is committed to restoring and preserving California’s sensitive vegetation communities for the benefit of the environment and the preservation of the ecosystem services they offer. 

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

Under the direction of the Principal Investigator, incumbents provide considerable independent input into the planning and execution of a program/project objectives. Assignments are of a high level of responsibility and require specialized skills, but the incumbent is not the Program Coordinator.

 

The Program Specialist will plan, implement, and report on projects for habitat restoration, rare plant surveys, and other botany-related projects on San Clemente Island, a Naval installation on the southern-most of California’s Channel Island. The Program Specialist will take general direction from the Senior Director and will communicate directly to US Navy Biologists, as well as coordinate with scientists from other natural resource programs on the island. The Program Specialist will oversee Project Managers, Crew Leads, and Technicians. This position requires arduous manual labor, working outdoors in all weather, heavy lifting and carrying, hiking on rugged terrain, as well as significant time spent on office tasks. This is a full-time, salary position with full benefits. Some weekend work will be required.

 

Housing is provided while working on San Clemente Island. The work schedule will be 10 days working on-island and 4-day weekends off-island. Housing is not provided during the 4-day weekends off-island. Transportation to and from the island is provided from the San Diego area by means of a twin engine 19-seater plane. Relocation benefits will not be offered.

 

All work will be conducted on San Clemente Island, which is owned and operated by the U.S. Navy as an active training site, as part of the Navy’s Natural Resources Program. San Clemente Island has a particularly unique flora, hosting 2 federally listed plants, 15 plants that are known from nowhere else in the world, and an additional 48 plants that are only known from the Channel Islands as a whole. The natural resources program also supports an extensive community of biologists and researchers. The Program Specialist lives as part of a small and remote community, and needs to be able to maintain a professional, positive attitude at all times.

Responsibilities

The Program Specialist is responsible for, but not limited to:

 

Project Research 70%

 

• Use principles of adaptive management to prioritize project tasks appropriately
• Adhere to project schedules utilizing a biologically-relevant timeframe as outlined in annual work plans
• Respond to data requests from various stakeholders in a timely manner
• Develops technical reports, proposals, and research protocols
• Build and manage geodatabases and protocols for data entry, data collection, and other project related tasks
• Coordinate access to locations between SERG and other users, including military, federal, state, and private employees
• Identify future project sites in ongoing agreements
• Coordinate maintenance and acquisition for vehicles, field equipment, greenhouse and nursery areas, as well as computers, GPS units, and other office equipment
• Purchase and coordinate shipment of equipment and supplies
• Manage multiple project budgets and allocate purchases
• Foster healthy team environment
• Ensure safety of all team members, including compliance with OSHA and Navy practices associated with work on an active Naval base
• Updates job knowledge by participating in educational opportunities; reading professional publications; maintaining personal networks; participating in professional organizations.
• Analyze and presents scientific data
• collaborates with team to make recommendations for processing/analysis/interpretation of data based on up-to-date literature
• Participate in new grant acquisition including searching for grants, determining qualifications, meetings with potential partners/stakeholders, communicating with grant administrators, and other processes as required
• New agreement implementation including budgeting, meeting with stakeholders, and developing documents such as the Scope of Work, Work Plan, Safety Plan, protocols, and trainings
• Attend project kickoff meetings, site visits, and other field-related events

 

Field Work 25%

 

• Monitor rare plant populations
• Monitor vegetation cover
• Install, maintain, and monitor native species out-plantings
• Remove/control non-native