[ES_JOBS_NET] USFS Professional Development Assistantship for Native American Students

Tue Aug 26 09:56:55 MDT 2014

Date:    Mon, 25 Aug 2014 10:05:52 -0600
From:    Michel Kohl <michel.kohl at AGGIEMAIL.USU.EDU>
Subject: USFS Professional Development Assistantship for Native American
Students

*U. S. Forest Service Native American Professional Development Research
Assistantship*

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS), through partnership with The Wildlife
Society, is sponsoring a professional development program for Native
American students. The program will facilitate mentoring opportunities for
USFS Research & Development (R&D) scientists with the students and promote
student advancement and training for careers in natural resource and
conservation-related fields. The USFS uses a science-based approach to make
informed decisions on the multiple-use management of the National Forests
and Grasslands.

A short-term assistantship is available for Native American students
interested in wildlife and forest resources and excited to learn and work
with an interdisciplinary team of researchers. Applicants must be members
of a Native American, First Nations, or Indigenous Tribe. Applicants should
be either currently enrolled as an upper-level undergraduate
(junior/senior) or graduate (M.S. or Ph.D.) student at an accredited
academic institution, be taking classes in non-degree status, or a recent
graduate with intent to pursue graduate school. A bachelor=E2=80=99s or mas=
ter=E2=80=99s
degree in wildlife biology, ecology, forestry or other closely related
natural resource discipline is preferred.

Potential project topics include:

*1.      **Restoring California black oak to support tribal values and
wildlife habitat in the Sierra Nevada*

*Project Objectives*: To gather and systematically organize information
regarding traditional management of California black oak in mixed conifer
forests of the Sierra Nevada that can inform ecological restoration
treatments. Black oak acorns are a traditional food source for California
Native people and provide habitat to a variety of wildlife species. The
project would develop an ethnoecological database, maps of historical oak
areas managed by tribes, and a scientific manuscript for publication.

*2.      **Tracking post-emergence movements of Myotis spp. to uncover
habitat preferences and potential migratory routes*

*Project Objectives*: To better understand seasonal habitat use of
*Myotis* spp.
on the Ottawa National Forest (NF), student will: (1) record and analyze
acoustic activity of *Myotis* spp. from spring emergence to mid-summer at
and surrounding multiple hibernacula; (2) analyze acoustic data to
determine differences in activity level among timber stand types; (3)
identify areas for summer mist netting; and (4) use radio telemetry to
locate summer maternity roosts of northern long-eared bats.

*3.      **Examining long-term changes in stream habitats on Dzil Ligai
Sian (Mt. Baldy)*

*Project Objectives*: To evaluate changes in aquatic habitat over a twelve
year period in streams on Dzil Ligai Sian (Mt. Baldy), the ecologically and
culturally preeminent peak of the White Mountain Apache Tribe. These
streams are the ancestral habitat of the Apache trout, a threatened species
and important resource for the Tribe, as well as many other animals
(including amphibians such as leopard frogs) and plants of cultural
significance and rarity. Working with Tribal staff, we will collect
physical habitat data at a series of streams that were previously surveyed
in 2003 to examine how they have changed and to relate their conditions to
wildlife populations. The mid-term objective is to build tribal capacity to
evaluate changes in these critical habitats owing to climate change,
wildfires, and other stressors. This information will help to understand
how stressors including fires and climate change are affecting different
streams and their riparian habitats, which can help to guide restoration
and conservation efforts by determining which streams are most degraded or
at-risk and which ones should be most resilient. The mid-term objective is
to build tribal capacity to evaluate changes in these critical habitats
owing to climate change, wildfires, and other stressors.

*4.      **Kings River Fisher Project - Ecology and Habitat Requirements*

*Project Objectives*: To fill gaps in our current understanding of
fisher (*Pekania
pennanti*) ecology and habitat requirements and address the uncertainty
surrounding the effects of timber harvest and fuel reduction on fishers and
their habitat. Specific objectives include: (1) document population
demographic parameters and identify potential limiting factors; (2) overlap
multiple research techniques to improve parameter estimates and identify
habitat requirements for foraging, resting or denning habitat; and (3)
document the responses of fishers to changes in forest structure and
composition, both natural and management-related to better understand the
long-term viability of fishers in a heterogeneous, managed landscape.

Projects are anticipated to begin March =E2=80=93 August 2015 and last
approximately 4 months in duration depending on the project. For more
information and instructions on how to apply, please visit
*http://www.wildlife.org/Native-American-Program-Assistantship
<http://www.wildlife.org/Native-American-Program-Assistantship>*. The
deadline for applications is *October 20, 2014*.

Katherine Edwards, Ph.D., Certified Wildlife Biologist =C2=AE

The Wildlife Society

Professional Development Coordinator

5410  Grosvenor Lane, Suite 200

Bethesda, MD 20814

(301) 897-9770 ext. 303
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