Wenatchee Botany 9mo Mini Announcement for Youth Projects.doc

Office: Spokane District, Wenatchee Field Office Notice of Funding Opportunity Number: L24AS00057 Project Submission Dates and Times: January 19, 2024, 5pm EST

Project Title: Wenatchee Field Office Botany Youth Opportunity

Maximum Available Funding in FY24: $80,000 BLM has determined $800 weekly stipend equal to $20.00 per hour is reasonable. Stipends above this amount must be justified in budget narrative. Youth Corps applicants should provide a budget for five seasons of this botanical work, including cost increases.

Project Background Information: Central Washington state is the home of the Wenatchee Field Office, part of the Spokane District. The office is responsible for BLM lands ranging from the Canadian border to the north, to the Oregon state line to the South. Some work, no more than 10%, may occur out of the Border Field Office in Spokane, WA. The Spokane District manages nearly 450,000 acres of public lands across the state of Washington. Botanically, plant communities range from extensive shrub-steppe habitats to dry forests and even coastal headlands in the San Juan Islands National Monument. Much of the work will be accomplished in remote locations on rugged terrain that require a 4x4 truck to access, it may take 1-4 hours of driving to reach a work site. The Spokane District has over 70 sensitive plant species that are associated with numerous vegetation communities throughout the district. Rare plant monitoring and ACEC visits will include full counts of individuals making up populations, recording this information digitally in GPS software, and may also include surveying and mapping noxious weeds. Herbarium work includes pressing and drying plants, gluing them to herbarium sheets, creating labels, databasing the specimen, and filing it in the herbarium cabinet. Additional herbarium work would be auditing current specimens and updating the database. Seed collection would involve following the BLM Seeds of Success protocol.

Project Objective: BLM, Spokane District/Wenatchee Field Office, Washington has an opportunity to introduce youth to Natural Resource careers in the BLM, specifically botany. The Field Office has a Botanist on staff and would like to a provide work experience to youth for their career and educational benefit. This will be accomplished by providing them opportunities to gain experience, learn about public lands, further their understanding and appreciation of natural resources, and pique their interest in Natural Resource Management careers. From this they will gain an increased appreciation and understanding of our public lands and of the value of public service and are likely to become life-long advocates for those values. This opportunity will be focused on monitoring of botanical resources and include working within multiple project fields including grazing, forestry, ecological restoration, weed management, and recreation. This project would be especially appropriate for college graduates with a degree in biology, environmental sciences, botany, or ecology. It will provide opportunities to enhance basic career skills such as organization, writing, detail, and communication, as well as field skills including the data collection, plant identification, use of GPS equipment and maps, and driving on rough rugged roads. Previous experience with any of these skills would significantly enhance the experience.

Work Schedule: Generally, Monday – Thursday, 7:00 AM to 5:30PM, for spring/summer/fall months, and Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 for winter months. This would be a 39 week placement.

Qualification Requirements: This opportunity is suitable for youth with an undergraduate or graduate degree in biology, ecology, environmental science, botany, or similar studies. Some coursework or experience with plant identification is preferred. As stated in the duties this opportunity will require time outdoors and field work that is often under rigorous physical conditions. Applicants must also 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 clean housing. A maximum weekly housing stipend of $175 is allowable. A one-time relocation allowance of $500 is available.

Vehicle Needs: A personal vehicle is NOT required for the position but may make the applicant's days off more enjoyable. Wenatchee has a fare-free bus system through Link Transit with ample routes throughout Wenatchee and surrounding towns. The closest regional airport is in East Wenatchee, WA, but the nearest large airport is in Seattle, WA (150 miles away) or Spokane, WA (168 miles away), where you can get lower fares. There are bus shuttles available through the Wenatchee Valley Shuttle to the Seattle airport. The greater Wenatchee area has a population of about 50,000 and most big city amenities are available.

The Project Partner is responsible for providing 1 work vehicle for completing the work for approximately 26 weeks of the field season (April – September). 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.

Other Project Considerations:

Food: Food will be at the applicant’s expense.

All Supplies: The Project Partner is responsible for providing one GPS enabled WIFI device for field navigation and data collection, at a cost of approximately $600. An approved device list will be provided to the Project Partner at the time of award.

BLM will provide a computer, supplies, and equipment necessary for monitoring and data collection. BLM will also provide an allowance of $500 for the purchase of personal field gear such as boots, backpack, or camping gear.

Training Requirements: Applicant will be provided access to free basic workplace trainings including Defensive Driving, First Aid, and Equal Employment Opportunity training. Additionally, program specific training such as GIS, herbarium management, seed collection, and quantitative plant monitoring may be provided at no cost. Up to $500 should be provided by Youth Corps for additional training opportunities.

Travel: Field camping may be necessary to complete some monitoring due to remoteness of some locations. Also, due to the scattered nature of some of the BLM lands, hotel stays may also be periodically necessary. Travel may average 1-2 nights per week. Up to $5000 will be available to reimburse travel costs.

Duties:

The successful youth applicant(s) will assist the resource specialists with field work that includes monitoring sensitive plant populations and native seed collection, as well as winter office work that includes botanical herbarium organization and biological data entry. The majority of the work in the field includes data collection utilizing multiple monitoring methods. Field work will be conducted largely in Okanogan, Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Kittitas, Yakima, and Klickitat Counties, WA in rough and rugged terrain.

Project expected outcomes include monitoring 5 sensitive plant populations, visiting 3 Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs) to document habitat conditions, collecting or mounting or databasing 50 herbarium specimens, and completing 1 BLM Seeds of Success native seed collection.

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 the project is not staying on schedule, or 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:

Molly Boyter

509-665-2137 mboyter@blm.gov Applicants are encouraged to refer to the full program announcement number L24AS00057 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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