Biology Assistant AmeriCorps

Biology Assistant (12 Weeks) – Ameri Corps

POSITION DETAILS

• Position (s): 4362
• Position Title:
  
  Biology Assistant – Ameri Corps
• Conservation Legacy Program:
  Scientists in Parks, Stewards Individual Placements
• Site
  
  Location:
  
  Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland
• Number of positions available: 1

• Duration: 12 Weeks (not flexible)
• Flexible
  
  Start Date:
  
  Yes
• Start Date:
  
  06/01/2026
• End Date: 08/24/2026
• Ameri Corps Slot Classification: 450 hours – this is the minimum number of hours the selected candidate must serve throughout the duration of their position.

• Segal Ameri Corps Education Award: $1,956.35 upon successful completion of position
• Weekly Living Allowance: $600.00 per week, fixed rate
• Relocation Allowance: $450.00 (distributed as a one‑time lump sum with first paycheck)
• Student Loan Forbearance if applicable (administered by My Ameri Corps , directly)
• Student Loan Interest Payments if applicable (administered through My Ameri Corps , directly)

Preference given to applicants who submit applications before Sunday, February 15, 2026. Applications will be reviewed after the Final date to receive applications passes. Positions will close after receiving 60 complete applications, or at 11:59 p.m. EST on February 15, 2026, whichever occurs first.

reforestation, understory, regeneration, forestry, plant surveys

This Biology Assistant is an Ameri Corps position. Producing woodlot management plans for the East, North, and West Woods is a priority stewardship activity identified in the 2023 ANTI Resource Stewardship Strategy (RSS). Woodlot management plans would provide the park with technical guidance on implementing woodlot management actions such as selective thinning, pruning, dead/diseased tree removal, and understory stocking. Fine‑scale forest inventory data is needed to produce woodlot management plans that are adaptive to changes in resource conditions and support strategic implementation of management actions.

The risks of implementing woodlot management actions without guidance from understory conditions are increasing invasive species prevalence, negatively affecting native species occurrences, and backsliding forest stand establishment in areas with low regeneration and low seedling recruitment. Adaptive management strategies require monitoring data. Methods from this project will provide the blueprint for continued monitoring within the woodlots and support the implementation of adaptive and strategic management.

The selected individual will collect baseline data needed to assess current conditions of the understory vegetation communities of three reforested stands located at Antietam National Battlefield (ANTI). Duties will include completing understory vegetation survey transects within the North Woods (15 acres), East Woods (17.5 acres), and West Woods (36.5 acres) and executing basic data analyses necessary to determine species richness, distribution, and native to non‑native percent cover.

The park will document the effects of land use history on the understory vegetation within the East and West Woods, comparing reforested blocks to mature forest blocks known to have been forested since the Battle of Antietam.

Highest priority deliverables include
1) a list of plant species detected through understory surveys including each species’ abundance values within each woodlot; and
2) an average value of species richness, an average value of species distribution, and native to non‑native species percent cover value of each woodlot’s understory. The selected individual will also produce a brief project report describing sampling methods, results, project conclusions, and recurring monitoring recommendations, and will collate years of ANTI reforestation notes, reports, presentations, and other documents to produce a broad chronology of management actions for each woodlot.

• 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 Ameri Corps participant and…