Job Description

Title: Field Technicians Position type: Full-time Number of positions: 2-3 Project Supervisor: Dr. Hilary Cooke Duration: 16 weeks, starting early May Compensation: $28 - $32/hr. based on experience Location: Whitehorse, Yukon Deadline for application: March 2, 2023
Position Summary: WCS Canada is seeking up to three (3) field technicians to assist with a study of the relationship between fire severity and bird communities in boreal forests of Yukon, and a related study on climate-change refugia across boreal mountain landscapes of Yukon. The field team will be responsible for avian surveys and collection of site and habitat data at study sites located in recently burned forests and collection of site data and deployment of micro-climate sensors at sites across central and southern Yukon. The team will work under the supervision of project lead, Dr. Hilary Cooke.
Key qualifications include at least 1 year of an undergraduate degree or or diploma in biology, environmental sciences, natural resource management, or a related field, and experience conducting fieldwork, particularly avian surveys, in relatively remote locations. Full qualifications listed below.
Technicians will be engaged in the following field activities: searching for and identifying nest cavities and foraging trees for woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, and other cavity-nesting birds; deploying acoustic recorders at remote locations; collecting site and habitat data related to fire severity and characteristics of cavity and foraging trees; deploying temperature sensors and collecting site data. In addition, each technician will be responsible for: field preparation; maintaining and organizing field equipment; and data entry and management. One individual will be hired to take a supervisory role in the field (lead field technician) and be responsible for: management of daily schedule; management of spatial data; supervision of field activities; ensuring high quality data collection; adherence to safety protocol; and ongoing communication with project lead.
These positions will involve 1-2 weeks of field preparation at the WCS Canada office in Whitehorse and 1-2 weeks of data entry and equipment organization at the Whitehorse office at the end of the field season. The remainder of the time will be spent conducting field work. Due to the remote locations and distances between field sites, these positions require extended periods of camping and long driving distances. WCS Canada will provide all necessary field and safety equipment and non-personal camping equipment (e.g. tent, shelter, stove, etc.) and cover the cost of campground fees. Expenses incurred travelling to Yukon will not be covered. A modest budget is available for accommodations and food while in the field.
Field Technicians will be paid hourly; overtime will be at the discretion of the project supervisor and will be calculated based on time averaging. Field Technicians will have the option of taking overtime as paid time in lieu at the end of the contract as per a time averaging agreement. Successful applicants will need to be flexible with work hours and changing work schedules.
Primary Responsibilities of Field Technician Lead:

• Daily field schedule and field planning.
• Coordination of travel, accommodation, and other logistics related to fieldwork.
• Supervision of field technician and all field activities.
• Organization and maintenance of field and field safety equipment
• Conducting systematic nest and foraging tree searches.
• Deployment and retrieval of acoustic recording units.
• Deployment of temperature sensors.
• Collection of site and habitat data.
• Data entry, download, and management.
• Organization and management of spatial data in ArcGIS.
• Administering time management and submitting timesheets.
• Management of field expenses and expense reporting.
• Ongoing communications with project lead.
• Knowledge of and adherence to all field safety protocols.

Primary Responsibilities of Field Technician:

• Organization and maintenance of field and field safety equipment
• Conducting systematic nest and foraging tree searches.
• Deployment and retrieval of acoustic recording units.
• Deployment of temperature sensors.
• Collection of site and habitat data.
• Data entry, download, and management.
• Knowledge of and adherence to all field safety protocols.

Qualifications of Field Technician Lead:

• At least 1 year of an undergraduate degree or diploma in biology, environmental sciences, natural resource management, or a related field (required).
• Experience conducting fieldwork in relatively remote locations (at least 1 year required, multiple years preferred).
• Experience working, camping, and/or navigating in remote conditions (including off-road by foot) using a compass, map, and GPS (required).
• Experience conducting field-based avian surveys (required).
• Experience identifying boreal cavity-nesting birds by sight and sound (preferred).
• Experience identifying boreal shrubs to genus and trees to species (preferred).
• Remote or wilderness first aid and bear safety training (required, but may be acquired prior to start date or within first week).
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and GIS (required).
• Strong communication, organization, and time-management skills (required).
• Independent with strong problem solving skills and attention to detail (required).
• Experience operating 4x4 trucks on rough access roads (preferred).
• Experience with programming, deploying, and downloading data from acoustic recorders (preferred).
• Supervisory experience is an asset (preferred).

Qualifications of Field Technician:

• At least 1 year of an undergraduate degree or diploma in biology, environmental sciences, natural resource management, or a related field (required).
• Experience conducting field work in relatively remote locations (at least 1 year required).
• Experience working, camping, and/or navigating in remote conditions (including off-road by foot) using a compass, map, and GPS (required).
• Experience conducting field-based avian surveys (required).
• Experience identifying boreal cavity-nesting birds by sight and sound (preferred).
• Experience identifying boreal shrubs to genus and trees to species (preferred).
• Remote or wilderness first aid and bear safety training (required, but may be acquired prior to start date or within first week).
• Experience with Microsoft Excel (required).
• Experience operating 4x4 trucks on rough access roads (preferred).

How to apply: Please submit your CV with cover letter explaining your qualifications related to the responsibilities listed above and your motivation to work on this project.
For questions regarding the position, please contact Hilary Cooke at hcooke@wcs.org. For questions regarding the application process, please contact Okechukwu Ezibe at oezibe@wcs.org.
WCS Canada is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive organization. We are committed to providing barrier-free and accessible employment practices. Applicants with a disability or any special needs may make a request for accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process, and we will work with you to meet your needs. Such requests should be communicated to Okechukwu Ezibe (oezibe@wcs.org) or by phone 437-770-2776.
Office Safety Plan Compliance: WCS Canada is committed to providing and maintaining a safe environment for our employees, contractors, and partners. As part of this unwavering commitment to safety, it is a condition of employment that Office-based WCS Canada employees be compliant with the respective Office Safety Plan, which includes being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with a COVID-19 vaccine series approved by Health Canada or the World Health Organization. This condition is subject to the requirements of applicable human rights legislation.
About WCS Canada WCS Canada (www.wcscanada.org) was established as a Canadian conservation organization in July 2004. We are committed to championing accessibility, diversity, and equal opportunity. Our mission is to save wildlife and wild places by improving our understanding of and seeking solutions to critical problems that threaten key species and large wild ecosystems throughout Canada. We implement and support comprehensive field studies that gather information on wildlife needs and then seek to resolve key conservation problems by working with a broad array of actors. WCS Canada has a track record of our science being recognized as relevant, credible and legitimate by researchers, NGOs and agencies. WCS Canada is independently registered and managed, while retaining a strong collaborative working relationship with sister Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) programs in more than 60 countries.
Diversity and inclusion are core WCS Canada values. We value the diversity of the people we employ and work with and we strive to provide an inclusive and equitable workplace in which we recognize the unique characteristics, skills and experiences of all employees. We are committed to engaging our employees in our diversity, equity and inclusion work and together we aim to create a workplace where all staff feel they belong and can grow.
WCS Canada\xe2\x80\x99s programs occur on the homelands of Indigenous Peoples whose relationships various governments are described in historic (numbered) Treaties, modern land claim agreements, and negotiations around unceded lands. We recognize and support the international ecological and social commitments and responsibilities to Indigenous Peoples that Canada has signed, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Our commitment to engagement with Indigenous Peoples ranges from notification of research to the provision of scientific advice, to co-creation of research. We respect Indigenous knowledge systems and include this knowledge in our research and conservation programs where possible. We engage in land use planning and impact assessment processes that affect Indigenous Peoples, seeking ways to advance conservation as well as opportunities to sustain the livelihoods and cultures of Indigenous communities. We seek to motivate positive conservation outcomes by supporting effective governance and decision-making processes by Indigenous communities, particularly by supporting Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas.