The Inyo County Water Department’s SNAP (Sierra Nevada Americorps Program) member will be primarily responsible for field vegetation sampling across the Owens Valley, CA, which spans from just north of Bishop to just south of Lone Pine. Owing to the various types of environmental monitoring data which ICWD collects, the SNAP member will be exposed to various vegetation, soil, or hydrologic sampling techniques. Primary activities will involve vegetation sampling as part of novel riparian studies or within groundwater dependent vegetation communities.

Riparian studies will involve working in a crew of 2 or 3 with a team leader, locating new transect startpoints, setting up transects, marking start and end locations, recording vegetation along the centerline, recording canopy cover, and identifying and recording riparian tree positions within a 10-m wide belt transect.  At these riparian transects, members may also collect soil samples, record fluvial geomorphic surfaces, or assist in collecting tree core samples. Ongoing long-term vegetation monitoring includes revisiting permanent vegetation transects within groundwater dependent vegetation using a combination of GPS and printed maps and identifying and recording plant species present.

SNAP members will also be involved in assessments of riparian tree recruitment sites on the lower Owens River to help identify locations for future restoration work, such as recording riparian sapling size and height measurements, and possible vegetation removals to assess the role of competition in successful tree recruitment. Finally, SNAP members may assist in condition assessment at mitigation sites identified in the Long Term Water Agreement to help determine if goals are being met.

This is a reduced half term position: mid-May through September