Position Type: Volunteer
Duration: January through April 2018
Location: Denali National Park and Preserve
Closing Date: Until filled
Online Announcement
Summary
Denali National Park and Preserve is almost entirely comprised of eligible and designated wilderness (5.9 million acres of 6 million total). Temporary and permanent physical installations in wilderness, as well as research uses and management activities impact the underlying character of the wild places in the park; these installations and proposed activities need to be presenting in a holistic, spatial, quantitative analysis to better assist park managers in objectively making management decisions related to uses in wilderness.
Currently, a Geographic Information System (GIS) dataset tracks all of the existing physical installations within and around parks in the Alaska Region, but there is no mechanism to spatially assess the cumulative impacts to an area for proposed administrative and research projects in park wilderness. This project will create a way for park project leaders and research liaisons to submit spatial data for proposed projects, as well as create geodatabases and online products for housing this data. The final product will include an NPS-internal online map application driven by GIS data to assist managers in assessing how proposed uses will cumulatively impact the wilderness character.
Tasks/Duties
The GIS Data Manager Volunteer (Wilderness) will work under the direction of the park GIS Specialist to:
- Work with regional and park Wilderness Coordinators and the park Research Permit Coordinator to establish project data and product needs;
- Design a sustainable workflow for housing cumulative effects of the four main use groups (i.e. administrative, commercial, scientific, and vistors);
- Create a mechanism for park researchers, or park liaisons for research permit applicants, to submit geospatial data regarding the location and time of their proposed study areas (e.g., ArcGIS Online Geoform);
- Create geodatabase, with appropriate relationship classes, attachments, and datasets;
- Create a desktop map for GIS users to assess the cumulative impacts of the temporary and permanent installations on the landscape, including time enabled data at appropriate spatial extent;
- Create non-GIS user-friendly map with interactive interface (e.g., ability of user to turn on/off layers, change basemaps, zoom in/out, time animation) through the NPS ArcGIS Online Portal;
- Attend Wilderness Working Group meetings each month
- Assisting with Winterfest in February, which is a weekend-long event celebrating Alaska's longest season (see link);
- Assisting with wildlife/visitor monitoring/road ecology projects along the park road during day trips;
- Assisting other work groups with cartographic support.
Duty Station / Living Accommodation Information
- The primary work place would be in the Resources building at park headquarters (mile three on the Denali Park Road). The office has full office facilities (phones, electricity, heat, Internet access, bathroom, break/lunch area, etc.)
- Housing is located in C-Camp, the seasonal housing area. C-Camp cabins generally have two bedrooms, a shared living area, and a cold water kitchen (however, water to the cabins is turned off in the winter)
- C-Camp residents share a cabin with one other person. All efforts are made to place same gender residents in each cabin, but it is not always feasible
- Restrooms, showers, laundry and dish washing facilities are located in the common shower house.
- C-Camp is located at approximately mile three on the Denali Park Road, near park headquarters. The closest urban area is Fairbanks, AK, approximately 120 miles north.
- This is primarily an office position; however, the candidate may have the opportunity to conduct field work if interested and properly trained;
- Accommodations for those with physical limitations are available;
- Work schedule is a minimum of 32 hours/week;
- Tour of duty is generally January 2018 through April 2018; however, start and end dates are negotiable.
Skills and Requirements:
- Intermediate to advanced GIS skills are required, whether acquired through experience or education.
- Intermediate skills are defined as: understanding projections and datums; editing vector feature class geometry and attributes; building query expressions; symbolizing and labeling features; and the ability to run spatial analysis density tools to create raster datasets.
- Advanced skills are defined as: the ability to manipulate time/date data as string or date fields in attribute tables, feature class properties, with map toolbars and geoprocessing tools as intervals and durations; experience with publishing feature and map services to an online Arc Server; XSL, KML, or other language experience for customizing HTML pop-up windows; knowledge of relationship classes, domains, and database attachments; understanding of 3D data analysis with geoprocessing tools and visualization through ArcScene/ArcGlobe; or experience publishing map and feature services to a server.
- Ability to communicate orally and in writing.
- Volunteer in this position must be age 18 or older.
- Volunteer for this position is subject to a background investigation in order to have access to federal computer networks.
- Volunteer must possess a valid state driver's license, s/he will be required to drive a government vehicle.
Benefits:
- Gain GIS skills in data management, database design, web mapping;
- Access to online trainings and webinars through Esri provided to NPS employees free of cost;
- Gain experience with a new method of analysis with room to apply these methods as the analysis expands to other parks;
- Free in-park NPS housing;
- Reimbursement for some travel expenses may be available;
- The opportunity to experience the wilderness and backcountry of Denali National Park and Preserve as few others do.
To apply for this position, please complete and submit an application from the Online Job Announcement link above. For more information, contact Britta Schroeder at 907-683-6243 or via email at britta_schroeder@nps.gov or Dave Schirokauer at 907-683-9605 or via email at dave_schirokauer@nps.gov with questions about the position.
For more information about the park itself, please visit nps.gov/dena.
