The Watershed Research and Training Center

We have just flown a Request for Proposals! Help increase diversity in the wildfire resilience workforce as either an instructor and/or a curriculum contributor for our courses designed for priority populations.  Opportunity 1: We are seeking additional instructors to join our cadre to instruct two of our proprietary courses: “Career Pathways in Wildfire Resilience” (AKA Module 1) and “Navigating Barriers to Employment” (AKA Module 2). Opportunity 2: Most of the curriculum is finalized, but Module 1 and 2 each have a few outstanding units for which we are also seeking technical assistance in drafting. See the RFP, specifically Outstanding Curriculum Units section, for details.  Proposals can be to provide services for both or either opportunity. This effort is part of the Watershed Center's Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program’s Equitable Workforce Development Initiative. The work upon which this publication is based was funded in whole or in part through a Regional Forest and Fire Capacity grant awarded by the California Department of Conservation, and by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Business and Workforce Development Grants. California Natural Resources Agency View our Contracting Page to read the full request: https://lnkd.in/ghT3W6Ef

We are have four active Requests for Proposals or Bids on our Contracting page! We are seeking contractors to assist with grant application and management support, heavy site preparation, fuels reduction (via piling and thinning) and manual release/grubbing of conifer seedlings. Please visit https://lnkd.in/ghT3W6Ef to view the full RFPs/RFBs and share within your networks!

Attention fisheries biologists! We are hiring a Fisheries Field Technician for the 2024 season, which will run from June 1st to October 30th. Employees will conduct surveys in aquatic habitats, monitoring streamflow and fish populations while implementation restoration tools. Employees will also be inventorying wet meadows for potential restoration efforts. You can read the full job description by visiting our Careers page: https://lnkd.in/gZTsAyaT Happy field season!

Our website has some new features--one of which is a contracting page where we occasionally post requests for proposals from specialized contractors. We are currently seeking a GIS service or specialist to help us with our data server, map making, and general organizational IT needs. If you might know of a qualified candidate, be sure to point them to our Contracting page: https://lnkd.in/gbZbbwEc! #gisspecialist #mapmaking #ContractingServices #newwebpages

Happy #FireFriday, everyone! Today we are sharing a blog post written by our own Fire Operations Specialist and violinist, Ellen McGehee, and published by the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network. Here, Ellen describes the transformative work of the Fire and Music Project. “The Fire and Music Project is a group of artists immersing ourselves in the fire world and transforming ourselves into fire practitioners. By sharing our own learning journey in a concert experience that includes music, poetry, and video art, we’ll invite audiences to examine and shift their own relationship with fire. ... Wherever we find ourselves, we continue to center our practice around building capacity for awareness. By beginning to study practices like tracking and bird language, we not only become more aware of who lives with us in our surroundings, but also our own ripple of impact as we move through the landscape – who we are in our communities. … Just as fire is an important disturbance for biodiversity and resilience, art is a disturbance that can shift culture. Art creates a liminal space that audiences enter in a state of openness and receiving – a space where challenging things can be said in a way they are truly heard and received." Click the link to read the full blog post: https://lnkd.in/eEAiyTDY And, importantly for Trinity County: The Fire and Music Project will be performing at the Trinity Alps Performing Arts Center on Sunday April 14th, at 4:00pm. They will also perform at the Hyampom Community Center on Monday April 15th at 7:00pm. Mark your calendars! You won't want to miss this transformative musical experience. Admission is free. All are welcome.

Trails and outdoor recreation are a huge part of what draws people together in Trinity County. When the highly anticipated Sweepstakes Trail was completed last summer, the next logical step was to construct a connecting trail that could return downhill traffic to the rest of the Weaver Basin Trail System. With funding from the National Forest Foundation, planning and additional labor from Shasta Trinity National Forest, a fruitful partnership with the SMART Workforce Center, many days of work performed by the Watershed Center Trail Crew, and helping hands from local volunteers, the Seavy Ditch Trail is nearly complete and will be 100% finished once the tread dries out. "The Boulder"–an infamous feature many said could not be built around–presented our greatest challenge, but we demolished a large portion of it and built right through it! This highly complex construction project required our crew to rappel down and over the edge with masonry tools, rock bars, and roto hammers. The area now sports roughly 35' of retaining wall up to 6' tall and a durable surface for all non-motorized users. This was a tremendous accomplishment that will bolster and enliven recreation throughout the entire Weaver Basin. #NFFGranteesAreGreat

We sure are lucky to live and recreate in Shasta Trinity National Forest! The Weaver Basin Trail System is a shining jewel in the community of Weaverville, and with funding from the National Forest Foundation, we were able to host a particularly effective and productive volunteer day on Seavy Ditch Trail with the Weaverville Composite Mountain Bike Team and Trinity Trail Alliance! Seavy Ditch Trail, as the name suggests, follows an old gold rush era water ditch line and now serves as a strategic connecting trail between Sweepstakes Trail and Jackass Ridge Trail. This connection now allows trail users to avoid crossing over East Weaver Creek, which can be tricky to cross due to high flows in the spring. The mountain bike team was incredibly helpful in polishing up this trail for recreation enthusiasts of all varieties! #NFFGranteesAreGreat

We just keep growing our team! Please visit our Careers page to view our active job posts, specifically our Operations Forester position and our Safety and Fleet Officer position. https://lnkd.in/gZTsAyaT The Operations Forester will primarily be responsible for providing support, administration, and monitoring of the implementation of hazardous fuels reduction and forestry projects in and around Trinity County as part of the Watershed Center’s diverse and growing portfolio of projects spanning public and private lands. The Safety and Fleet Officer will primarily be responsible for bolstering and streamlining safety practices across all local programs while administering our growing fleet of vehicles and equipment. If you've got the skills, we want to interview you! Send your resume, cover letter, and references to info@thewatershedcenter.com.

We here at the Watershed Center are hiring multiple positions! Are you a field tech crew member ready to get outside in the beautiful forests of Trinity County? We are searching for Botany, Wildlife, and Forestry technicians. Below is the announcement for our Wildlife tech position. You may also navigate directly to our website to apply to all available positions: https://lnkd.in/dHfjiftf Happy hiring season! Spring and summer are almost upon us! https://lnkd.in/d95CvfDU

We have another listing on our Careers page! We are seeking instructors for one or more training modules to be delivered to our local conservation corps partners. These Modules are 1.) Careers in Wildfire Resilience; 2.) Navigating Barriers to Employment; 3.) Firefighter Type 2; and 4.) Chainsaw Operations. Trainings may occur between February 2024-December 2025. Training locations vary and include Oakland, Marin County, the greater Los Angeles area, and San Bernardino. Visit https://lnkd.in/gZTsAyaT and click the Request for Proposals link to view all of the application instructions and required document list. Responses are needed by midnight January 29, 2023 to be considered for our upcoming spring-fall 2024 trainings. Proposals will be reviewed upon receipt, on a rolling basis.