Biology Assistant AmeriCorps

Biology Assistant (52 Weeks) - Ameri Corps

POSITION DETAILS

Position (s): 4350

Position Title:

Biology Assistant - Ameri Corps
Conservation Legacy Program:
Scientists in Parks, Stewards Individual Placements
Site

Location:

North Cascades National Park, North Coast and Cascades Network, Olympic National Park, Sedro Woolley WA, Washington
Number of positions available: 1

TERMS OF SERVICE
Duration: 52 Weeks (not flexible)
Flexible

Start Date:

Yes

Start Date:

05/11/2026
End Date: 05/10/2027
Ameri Corps Slot Classification: 1700 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: $ 7,395.00 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)
• For 52‑week positions only:
  • Free Healthcare Coverage (opt‑in)
  • Childcare Coverage (opt‑in)

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: data science, long‑term monitoring, subalpine vegetation, trend analysis

PURPOSE
This Biology Assistant is an Ameri Corps position. This service will advance science for management in three large Washington National Parks. The mountain meadows in these parks are intersections of park management and conservation: rare plants and sensitive wildlife encounter many enthusiastic visitors in these areas. The parks involved invest in meadow restoration and management every year to improve disturbed areas.

Understanding meadow communities, how these meadows are responding to environmental change, and how we may better monitor these systems is critical for efficient and informed management. These meadows are an important part of an NPS visit for millions of visitors annually in the parks, and this project will help to inform management and protect these resources for present and future generations.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES
Olympic, Mount Rainier, and North Cascades National Parks are home to vast montane meadows. These meadows are ecological variety high elevation refuges for many species and all are affected by changes in visitation and use, snow melt timing, changes in fire regimes, and tree encroachment. Long‑term monitoring of these communities by the North Coast and Cascades Inventory & Monitoring Network (NCCN) is critical to supporting conservation in the parks with data‑driven actions.
The SIP will collaborate closely with NCCN and park ecologists to support and advance monitoring of critical subalpine ecosystems. The position will involve a combination of data science and data management, data analysis, and fieldwork. The SIP participant will:
1) clean, explore, and summarize vegetation community data using R;
2) analyze trends in subalpine vegetation communities;
3) monitor subalpine plots;
4) pilot modifications to monitoring methods in different national parks; and
5) publish code and data stories.
The SIP will conduct projects with ecologists to explore and analyze 15 years of monitoring data, developing visual and quantitative summaries of meadow vegetation community baselines. The SIP will conduct projects within park and plot trend analyses to detect change or stability in these lush, high elevation communities.
The SIP will also conduct monitoring with skilled staff in the field. Then they will conduct projects with supervisors and NPS staff to pilot adjustments to the protocols: dataset structural changes, modifications to protocols and explore analytical and statistical best practices to support those changes.

DELIVERABLES

• Cleaned data set from existing monitoring projects

• Subalpine baseline data summaries for NCCN and three participating parks

• Subalpine…