Position Title: Water Resources Data Management AmeriCorps Member
Position Location: Hamilton County Conservation District, 1325 E Kemper Road, Suite 115, Cincinnati, Ohio 45246
Reports To: HCCD Stream Specialist
Position Duration: Begins November 6, 2023, and ends October 2, 2024. Requires a minimum of 1,700 hours of service over the service period.
Benefits:
The member will receive a stipend of up to $20,400, and the stipend will be paid biweekly. If the term of service is completed successfully, the member may be eligible for a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award of $6,895. Full-time members have access to healthcare and childcare. The member will not be an employee of Hamilton County Conservation District (HCCD) and is not entitled to any of the benefits or compensation Hamilton County Conservation District provides to its employees. Housing is not available.
About ORBCorps:
The Ohio River Basin AmeriCorps (ORBCorps) program has been formed to address the issue of poor water quality in Southwest Ohio. Residents are often unaware of our poor water quality and once informed are not really sure how they themselves can have any effect on the problem and the potential solutions. Introducing AmeriCorps members to this area will help expand the education, outreach and data collection efforts to continue to push for cleaner water and better educated residents. At the same time, it will help AmeriCorps members develop skills that will prepare them for employment as a natural resource or water quality professional.
Overview:
The Hamilton County Conservation District is a political subdivision of the State of Ohio, established in 1945 to work with landowners to help address soil and water conservation issues. The District’s purpose is to improve and sustain soil and water quality in Hamilton County, and our mission is to provide resources to meet the conservation needs of Hamilton County land users. Hamilton County Conservation District provides technical assistance, educational programming and other resources to landowners to help them address a diverse range of local conservation issues.
AmeriCorps, a federal agency, brings people together to tackle the country's most pressing challenges, through national service and volunteering. AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers serve with organizations dedicated to the improvement of communities. AmeriCorps helps make service to others a cornerstone of our national culture. Learn more at AmeriCorps.gov.
Position Description:
The Water Resources Data Management AmeriCorps Member will be responsible for managing various projects in support of stream impact investigations and associated collection/management of a range of data relevant to water resources management (e.g. water quality/chemistry, hydrologic, fish/salamanders/macroinvertebrates, geomorphic and geospatial). This member will be responsible for keeping-up with equipment maintenance, data collection, and data management on a consistent basis to ensure minimal data loss. Persistent coordination with landowners and partner organizations will be critical for advancing project objectives.
The Water Resources Data Management AmeriCorps Member will spearhead efforts such as: 1) planning, deploying, and managing a network of hydrologic monitoring equipment as an effort to assess the role of “underlying sanitary infrastructure” in unnatural stream drying, 2) working with regional volunteer stream monitoring groups to get their data upload into a common open-access database to facilitate accessing, mapping and analyzing the data on a common platform (this is a pilot project for a state-wide initiative) and 3) mapping sources of impacts to instream biology. This member, under the advisement on our Stream Specialist, will be given the opportunity to take ownership of such projects and work independently on methods development and project implementation. Detailed documentation of work completed and well-organized data management are critical expectations associated with all aspects of this position.
Essential Position Responsibilities:
- Identifying potential stream monitoring sites and coordinating with landowners to gain site access and associated permissions
- Procuring, deploying, and maintaining hydrologic monitoring devices within many headwater streams throughout the County. This will include some physically challenging work to be conduced independently (e.g. pounding rebar into cobble/fractured bedrock streambeds)
- Conducting stream assessments (e.g. geomorphic, physical habitat, biological)
- Conducting field assessments of road crossings as potential fish migration barriers
- Conducting mapping and geospatial analyses, using ArcGIS products, in support of field work, hydrologic modeling, watershed management planning/prioritization, and creation of public facing mapping, dashboards, and/or analytical tools
- Practicing consistent and thoughtful data management to protect, and maximize the utility of, the fruits of your labor
- Providing leadership and work collaboratively with partner organizations solve data management problems associated with various types of data on stream condition to facilitate uploading of data to open-access databases (e.g. EPA’s Water Quality Exchange or WQX)
- Additional activities that fall within the goals of the program may be assigned with approval of the member, site supervisor and ORBCorps staff.
AmeriCorps Responsibilities:
- Mid-term and final performance evaluations conducted by supervisor
- Weekly timesheets
- Member Service Plan for tracking achieved goals
- Member surveys and exit survey.
Training: Hamilton County Conservation District will provide the necessary training and oversight to allow the AmeriCorps member to successfully perform all aspects of this position. Additionally, the AmeriCorps member will receive monthly programmatic training on a variety of conservation topics. Training content may include, but is not limited to first aid, CPR, volunteer engagement, native species planting techniques, facilitating public involvement, environmental education, minimum control measures and land management.
Qualifying Skills and Abilities:
- Must possess a high school diploma or GED
- Ability to efficiently manipulate and format data, and conduct basic calculations, in Microsoft Excel (this is a must)
- Past experience with ArcGIS
- Ability to independently learn new tasks/workflows in Excel/ArcGIS as needed
- Ability to independently conduct field work including carrying equipment (up to 50-pounds) over uneven (and periodically steep/slippery) terrain; and pounding rebar into cobble/fractured bedrock streambeds.
- Must successfully pass a comprehensive background and criminal investigation check.
- A valid driver’s license, insurance and a good driving record is required.
Preferred Qualifications: (any one of these experiences would be looked upon favorably)
- Bachelor’s degree in a related environmental field
- Educational and/or professional experience in hydrology
- Educational and/or professional experience in aquatic ecology
- Educational and/or professional experience in fluvial geomorphology
- Educational and/or professional experience in water quality
Service Schedule:
Daily hours for the Water Resources Data Management AmeriCorps member will be 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon and 12:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday for a total of 40 hours a week. Some weeknight and weekend hours may be required.
To Apply: go to http://www.hcswcd.org/orbcorps-info.html. There you can upload a cover letter, resume/CV and 3 references.
The Hamilton County Conservation District is an equal opportunity employer.
