Habitat Restoration Technician – SANTA BARBARA, CA

The Restoration Technician supports the Garden’s Conservation and Research department through a range of field and office work. Typical job duties will include the implementation and maintenance of restoration projects, including site preparation, seed collection, planting, weeding, and data collection; the coordination, leading, and management of volunteers, interns, and others in these activities; canvassing and working with local landowners and landscapers to remove invasive horticultural species and replace them with native plants; and the collection, entry, maintenance, and analysis of data.  This full time (40 hours per week), non-exempt position reports to the Applied Ecologist.

Work performed in a typical week may include:

Installing native plants through containers, cuttings, and seed
Maintaining and watering installed native plants or cuttings
Performing vegetation and brush management by hand pulling or safely operating hand tools, weed whackers, weed wrenches, and herbicides
Safely applying pesticides using a backpack or handheld sprayer
Cleaning and maintaining herbicide application equipment
Leading volunteer groups (2 to 20 people) in seed collection, weeding, and seed cleaning activities
Canvassing homeowners to discuss native plant gardening and the potential removal of invasive landscaping plants
Collecting, entering, and/or analyzing data
Clerical work: maintaining communication with partners, reading and writing reports

Responsibilities:

Field based work –

Conduct installation and maintenance of ecological restoration projects, including planting, weeding, and watering;
Conduct monitoring for native plant restoration projects, including identifying native and non-native plant species that occur in the vegetative communities of California;
Conduct plant mapping and monitoring;
Treat invasive plants using both manual methods (digging, pulling by hand or with tools, cutting, etc.) or herbicides (hand and/or backpack sprayers)
Safely store, mix, and transport herbicides. Will be trained to safely handle herbicides;
Collect unknown plant specimens using accepted protocols and techniques;
Identify unknown plant specimens using dichotomous keys or herbarium collections;

Nursery and office-based work –

Maintain legible and accurate work notes and records for use by supervisor or third party;
Work with the Applied Ecologist, interns, and volunteers to coordinate and lead restoration stewardship events;
Assisting with group facilitation and leading volunteers;
Advertising and coordinating restoration volunteer events;
Talking with landowners and landscapers respectfully and listening actively about landscaping, removing invasive species, and native gardening;
Using a variety of computer programs including Geographic Information System (GIS) software to compile, and report data and other resource management information

Compensation: $19-23/hour, depending on experience

For more information, and to apply, please visit  https://recruiting.paylocity.com/recruiting/jobs/All/4f43a30f-d670-4637-b940-196312db5039/SANTA-BARBARA-BOTANIC-GARDEN-INC