Burns District Upland and Riparian Monitoring_Closes April 11 2022.doc

Office: Burns District Office Notice of Funding Opportunity Number: L22AS00209 Project Submission Dates and Times: April 11, 2022 5pm EST

Project Title: Burns District Upland and Riparian Monitoring Maximum Available Funding in FY23: $100,000 max ($50,000 for 2 upland interns, $50,000 for 2 riparian interns) BLM has determined $600 weekly stipend equal to $15.00 per hour is reasonable. Stipends above this amount must justify in budget narrative increase needed.

Project Background Information: The Burns District is in southeastern Oregon, the District Office is in rural Hines between the cities of Bend, Oregon and Boise, Idaho. The Burns District administers over 3.36 million acres that are mostly in Harney County and is divided into two Field Offices. Three Rivers Field Office is the north half, Andrews / Steens Field Office is the south half. As part of the Northern Great Basin, sagebrush steppe is the dominant plant community across the entirety of Burns District. However, included in the area is a diverse mix of topography and vegetation too long to list. Some highlights include the Ponderosa pine forest fringe of the Southern Blue Mountains, wetlands on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, salt desert shrub east the Alvord Desert, and the alpine meadows and aspen stands of the Steens Mountain. Ultimately this means that there is much to see and explore. Harney County is the tenth largest county by land mass in the continental United States. Areas of camping, hiking, biking, fishing, hunting, horseback riding, botanizing, bird watching, and many other outdoor activities are abundant and the main source of recreation and entertainment for the people who live and visit Harney County.

Harney County has a rich natural resource-based history. The Northern Paiutes and their ancestors have lived in the region for thousands of years. Since the arrival of Euro-Americans in the 19th century, cattle ranching, hay farming, and in the past timber, contribute to the economic base in the area. The cities of Burns and Hines have a current combined population of just over 4,000 people. Which is about 60% of the total population that call Harney County home; the remaining people live in scattered unincorporated communities. Burns and Hines have basic services, hospital, banks, multiple grocery stores and restaurants, movie theater, repair shops, and many other local businesses which support the community. Additional amenities including commercial airports, can be found in Bend/Redmond 2.5 hours to the west, and Boise 3 hours to the east. Check out; https://www.blm.gov/office/burns-district-office, https://harneycounty.com/, and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrSwmWXBVJ8 for more information about the area.

Project Objective: The Burns District BLM would like to introduce up to four Youth (two upland and two riparian) to careers in natural resource management. The Burns BLM staff would like to provide work experience to help Youth gain overall experience with data collection and working on projects as individuals and on teams, learn about multiple uses and resources, and get exposure to natural resource management on public lands with a focus on upland and riparian rangelands.

The bulk of the project objective and associated outcomes would be oriented towards building solid data collection and stewardship habits (monitoring and inventory) in upland and riparian studies. However, there would be other opportunities to cross-pollinate with other resource specialties such as the invasive weed, wildlife, and recreation programs amongst the others that make up Interdisciplinary Teams. Such experience mirrors the real life and work of journey level resource specialists and highlights the value in being able to do both independent work and as part of a team. This type of on-the-job training should also foster a greater appreciation and understanding of BLM’s Multiple-use and Sustained Yield mission on the management of public lands.

This opportunity will be focused on short- and long-term monitoring and inventory of upland and riparian resources. Such information helps to work towards the development of site-specific management plans for the Three Rivers and Andrews/Steens Field Offices. This project would be especially appropriate for a student studying rangeland ecology and management, riparian resource management, and natural resource management and will provide opportunities to enhance basic career skills such as organization, writing, detail, and communication, as well as field skills including the finding and documenting of study sites, use of GPS equipment and maps, field note and methods. Previous experience with any or all of these skills would enhance the student experience.

Work Schedule: 40-hour work weeks, during field season typically four 10-hour days, and five 8-hour days before and after field season for 22 weeks, with flexible start/end dates in April/May/June to September/October/November.

Qualification Requirements: This opportunity is suitable for Youth working towards an undergraduate or graduate degree in rangeland or riparian management, or natural resource-related discipline. As stated in the duties this opportunity will require time outdoors and field work that is often under somewhat rigorous physical conditions. Applicants must meet the following criteria: 1). Pass a DOI security background check.

Housing: Agency cannot provide housing but may be able to assist in locating appropriate housing.

Vehicle Needs: For participants a personal vehicle is NOT required for the position but is strongly encouraged as it makes the applicant's days off much more enjoyable. The closest regional airport is in Redmond, Oregon (RDM), which is currently easier to access without a personal vehicle from Burns/Hines than the nearest large airport in Boise, Idaho. RDM is a smaller airport with more limited direct flight options. You may get lower fares in/out of Boise Airport (BOI) but the airport can be more difficult to access using bus lines and shuttles. There are shuttles available from Harney County Dial-A-Ride once a week to Redmond which can include an airport stop as arranged in advance. Bus service via Eastern Point (tickets purchased through Greyhound Bus Lines) runs between Bend and Ontario, Oregon daily and is a connector to other more populated areas.

The Project Partner is responsible for providing work vehicles, 1 vehicle for upland and 1 vehicle for riparian Youth participants for completing the work throughout the season. This should be a 4-wheel drive capable vehicle with adequate ply tires that can stand up to backcountry roads in varied conditions (dust, mud, large gravel and rocks). Insurance, fuel and repairs are also the responsibility of the Partner. The local dealership in Burns is a Ford dealership. Other maker dealerships are in Lakeview, Ontario, and Bend.

Other Project Considerations:

Food: Youth must supply their own food (generally would be lunches) and water, considering field conditions when preparing for the day. Some days are hot and require more water. Grocery stores in Burns and Hines are full service and stores vary in open hours between 6 am and 11 pm.

All Supplies: BLM will provide material and supplies to complete the work (writing materials, clipboards, measuring equipment, tablets, cameras, GPS, etc.) Computer access to BLM computers is granted based on completing required Department of Interior training. Youth will be expected to provide their own field appropriate clothing, hats, sunglasses, and field-ready boots (ankle support, rugged soles). Additional Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) depending on the task would be supplied by the BLM, (for example ear plugs, eye protection, hardhat, helmet, gloves). Handheld radios for field work would be provided and communications go through a centralized dispatch communication center (Burns Interagency Dispatch).

Some Youth and/or Project Partners may feel more comfortable about working remotely with the addition of a satellite communicator or messenger (some examples are SPOT and Garmin InReach) to check in or be able to send an emergency message. Such equipment would be the responsibility of the Youth or Partner to provide, subscribe to services, and set up. It is recommended that Youth have access to a personal or Partner-provided laptop computer with internet capabilities for the first month of the project, as background checks can take longer than planned for or expected to process and influences building access.

Training Requirements: BLM will provide basic training such as First AID/CPR, safety, and radio training before completing tasks, and training to complete tasks as assigned (ie. monitoring techniques, plant id, navigation). Training may be virtual, self-paced online training, or in-person depending on availability. The Partner would need to provide advanced trainings such as Wilderness First AID/CPR.

Travel: Depending on availability, there may be travel to agency sponsored trainings. An example would be vegetation monitoring and/or assessment training for agency accepted protocols (for example Terrestrial AIM training which is for upland vegetation monitoring).

Duties:

This project will support the Burns District's Field Offices, specifically the range upland and riparian programs. Youth would be routinely assigned duties/or tasks that integrate with or coordinate with the invasive weed, botany, and wildlife programs. These cross-training opportunities reflect the real-life interdisciplinary work of a BLM journey level specialist. Duties would be a combination of individual and team assignments. There is considerable overlap in the duties between the upland and riparian interns which utilize a common skill set, however the differences are noted below. Position responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Both

Upland

· Photo monitoring

· Assisting with resource assessments

· Project inspection

· Project repair

· Data entry / basic mapping and GIS

· Use supervision

· Livestock counts

· Wildlife habitat monitoring

· Weed monitoring/documentation

· Specials status species inventory / monitoring

· WSA monitoring

· Inventory of structures, ex. GPS fencelines

· Step transects

· Line-point intersect transects

· Observed apparent trend

· Soil surface factor determination

· Utilization monitoring

· Browse monitoring

· Describing Indicators of Rangeland Health Riparian

· Water temperature monitoring

· Greenline monitoring

· Annual use monitoring

· Multiple Indicator Monitoring (MIM) of stream channels

· Proper Functioning Condition (PFC) of lotic and lentic systems

Field work will be conducted districtwide. Field work includes data collection, monitoring, and inventory of resources both for management and future planning purposes. Monitoring would require knowledge or quick study of the applicable plants pertaining to the work duties. Work would occur in remote areas, often independently. Must be able to navigate using maps and drive a 4x4 pickup truck, pulling a trailer and a UTV, and hike multiple miles in varied conditions (hot, intense sun, rain, cold, snow) and terrain (steep, rocky, uneven, through dense vegetation at times).

Office duties will largely consist of data entry and stewardship, and data summarization. Using primarily Microsoft Office software, such as Excel and Word programs. Global information systems (GIS) through ArcMap Online or other programs may also be used. A high level of attention to detail and organization is critical.

Project expected outcomes include an estimated 40 monitoring plots visited, data collected, and data entered per Youth participant and an equal number of use photo sites / supervision/ utilization or field notes collected and summarized.

BLM’s Involvement: There will be substantive BLM programmatic involvement by BLM professional that will work daily side by side with recipient on all projects and also be providing project orientation and hands-on training. BLM will have the right to intervene by modifying the project management plan, if project is not staying on schedule, technical issues arise, etc. In addition, BLM and recipient will meet weekly to discuss progress and track project outcomes; review any training needs; and then make a decision what direction to take in finalizing project or move to the next phase.

BLM Program Contact:

Field PO Name: Autumn Toelle-Jackson

Field PO Phone Number: 541-573-4461

Field PO Email: atoelle@blm.gov

Applicants are encouraged to refer to the full program announcement number L22AS00209 posted on Grants.gov for all program requirements and applicable terms and conditions. Recipients selected for awards will be required to adhere to those requirements should an award be made.

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