Biology Assistant AmeriCorps

Biology Assistant (26 Weeks) - Ameri Corps

POSITION DETAILS

Position (s): 4346
Position Title: Biology Assistant - Ameri Corps
Conservation Legacy Program: Scientists in Parks, Stewards Individual Placements
Site

Location:

Northern Great Plains Network, Rapid City, South Dakota
Number of positions available: 1

TERMS OF SERVICE

Duration: 26 Weeks (not flexible)
Flexible

Start Date:

Yes
Start Date: 05/04/2026
End Date: 11/02/2026
Ameri Corps Slot Classification: 900 hours - this is the minimum number of hours the selected candidate must serve throughout the duration of their position.

BENEFITS

• Segal Ameri Corps Education Award
  : $3,697.50 upon successful completion of position
• Weekly Living Allowance: $700.00 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)

APPLICATION TIMELINE

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.

KEYWORDS

Field-botany, plant-, grasslands, woodlands, data collection

PURPOSE

This Biology Assistant is an Ameri Corps position. The I&M program, and NGPN, document status and trends of resource conditions in NPS units—the targets were selected by superintendents and resource managers as important for decisions in their respective units. Vegetation monitoring is a keystone of NGPN monitoring because the prominent role vegetation plays in creating wildlife habitat, visitor experiences, and fuels for wildfire.

Our data and summaries directly inform resource managers about habitat conditions (e.g., herbaceous forage, standing dead trees), fuel accumulations, non‑native species infestations, and changes in these conditions due to fire, management or other environmental factors. Our interns become part of our resource monitoring team and directly contribute in this program to support NPS habitat management and conservation.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

Participants will become part of our vegetation monitoring team with duties split between our office in Rapid City, and field trips to sample vegetation and fuels at 11 NPS units. Travel will be a mixture of day‑trips and overnights depending on distance to different park‑units. Core activities will include: learning local plant species by name and code, learning and using specific sampling protocols, traveling to field locations and supporting the collection of data, transferring data from paper forms into a shared database with quality control and oversight.

Opportunity for an expanded role in plant identification, survey and measurements, GPS navigation, spatial and tabular data management exist depending on individual interests and network needs. A day in the field might include navigating with GPS, walking to sites, finding buried nails, stretching tapes, counting plants along tape, naming plants in quadrats, counting sticks and logs along a line, measuring litter, finding invasives, recognizing disturbances, taking good notes, rolling up and moving on.

DELIVERABLES

The key products of your participation will be creation, entry and maintenance of data for NGPN – these activities will occur throughout the duration of the position. In addition, we expect position participants to develop an individual product or presentation focused on application and/or value of vegetation data for parks, management and/or society. Some examples of “applied” topics include: fuel monitoring for fire behavior modeling and mitigation, invasive plant mapping for treatment and control, association of vegetation composition with wildlife habitats, trends in common or rare native species, response of ecosystem after fire or management action, and communication of these topics to park staff and the general public.

In support of the SIP role, we support and encourage a personal project that relates to our…