Job Description

Position Summary

Crew leaders oversee crews of 2-4 technicians to ensure safe, efficient, and high-quality data collection while operating in backcountry forest landscapes. These are full-time positions from June through October 2026, with potential for extension dependent upon funding. 

Crews work 10-hour field days, frequently traveling overnight for 4-day or 8-day trips and camping near field sites.  Driving short and long distances on improved and unimproved roads to collect ecological data at remote field sites is part of the required work. Benefits include per diem when traveling.

Full Consideration Date

6/8/26

Essential Job Duties

• Field Data Collection: Supervise hourly technicians and conduct field data collection while applying of field safety principles, team skills, orienteering skills, sampling tools, monitoring protocols, and quality assurance techniques to ensure monitoring data is collected safely while maintaining a high standard for quality, productivity, and morale. Locate long term monitoring plots by safely navigating over arduous terrain using maps, compass, GPS, and photographs, often in adverse weather conditions. Collect tree, fuels, and understory vegetation data in southern Rocky Mountain conifer forests using standard protocols. Sampling tools include loggers tapes, prisms, clinometers, hypsometers, densitometers, digital cameras, sampling frames, photoload templates, calipers, and tablets. Occasionally communicate with members of partnering agencies and the public to exchange knowledge on topics relating to fire ecology, forest restoration practices, outcomes, and monitoring.

• Logistical Planning: Develop daily and weekly data collection plans by studying project maps and documents. Communicate with project managers and hourly technicians to safely and efficiently meet project goals.

• Data Management: Support quality assurance, organization, and storage of field data in field and lab settings by using digital data collection devices, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Word, ArcPro, R, and effectively communicating with project managers.

• Laboratory Work: Supervise hourly technicians in a laboratory setting, and conduct biomass processing, plant identification, and maintenance and organization of field gear with effective communication and organization skills to ensure efficiency and data quality.

• Other related duties

Conditions of Employment:

• Pre-employment Criminal Background Check (required for new hires)

• Must have a valid driver’s license or the ability to obtain a driver’s license by the employment start date.

• Ability to transport a 30+ pound pack while hiking off-trail up to 5 miles on rough terrain at 5,000-12,000 feet in elevation.

Supervision

This position does not have formal supervisory responsibilities.

Minimum Qualifications:

• B.S. in Ecology, Forestry, Natural Resource Management, or a related field of study and demonstration of 2 or more seasons of related field experience, or M.S. degree in a related field of study and demonstration of 1 or more seasons of related field experience.

• Coursework and/or experience measuring trees and forest characteristics, fuels, herbaceous vegetation, and working outdoors.

• Coursework and/or experience identifying vascular plants

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience planning for and safely managing field crews and the logistics of field work.

• Ability to respond to injuries or potentially hazardous situations in the backcountry.

• Experience implementing diverse ecological sampling methods and adjust complex scientific study designs as research and monitoring goals are developed.

• Experience working with spatial and non-spatial database management systems.

• Ability to support secondary science activities including searches and extraction of data from published literature.

Salary Range

Required Application Documents

To apply, please upload the following applicant documents. Ensure your materials fully address the required and preferred job qualifications of the position. Please note, applicants may redact information from their application materials that identifies their age, date of birth, or dates of attendance at or graduation from an educational institution.

Employee Benefits

Colorado State University is not just a workplace; it’s a thriving community that’s transforming lives and improving the human condition through world-class teaching, research, and service. With a robust benefits package, collaborative atmosphere, and focus on work-life balance, CSU is where you can thrive, grow, and make a lasting impact.

• Review our detailed benefits information here.

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Background Check Policy Statement

Colorado State University strives to provide a safe study, work, and living environment for its faculty, staff, volunteers and students. To support this environment and comply with applicable laws and regulations, CSU conducts background checks for the finalist before a final offer. The type of background check conducted varies by position and can include, but is not limited to, criminal history, sex offender registry, motor vehicle history, financial history, and/or education verification. Background checks will also be conducted when required by law or contract and when, in the discretion of the University, it is reasonable and prudent to do so.

EEO

Colorado State University (CSU) provides equal employment opportunities to all applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.