Habitat Enhancement Crew Member - Laborer, Trades & Equipment

Habitat Enhancement Crew Member

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is currently seeking multiple permanent, full-time Laborer Trades & Equipment positions located in Mentor, MN. This position exists as an integral part of the DNR Wildlife's Habitat Enhancement Crew to provide the specialized equipment operation and labor skills necessary to assist with construction, restoration, and enhancement projects on public lands. This position specializes in natural resource habitat management on prairie, wetland, and forest habitat. Activities include but are not limited to prescribed burning; fire break construction; prairie restoration, enhancement, and management; wetland development and construction, enhancement, and management; woody vegetation removal utilizing chainsaws, brush saws, or heavy equipment; forest stand management; conservation grazing infrastructure construction; and the operation and maintenance of specialized equipment used to accomplish these activities. This is a great opportunity to carry out habitat enhancement and development projects on wildlife management area, aquatic management areas, scientific natural areas, state forest, waterfowl production areas, national wildlife refuges, and other natural resource lands open to public use.

Responsibilities include :

• Operation and maintenance of equipment : Operate and maintain a variety of power equipment, power tools, and hand tools such as chainsaws, weed whips, pole saws, ATV's, UTVs, airboats, snowmobiles, and boats; heavy equipment such as tandem truck, skid steer, dozer, tractors, amphibious tracked equipment, terrestrial tracked equipment, and other specialized equipment used for habitat enhancement and development projects. Performs necessary inspections and most maintenance on all pieces of equipment. Performs minor repairs to equipment when necessary.
• Technical support : Apply technical knowledge of landscape development and habitat management techniques. Utilize maps, GPS, native prairie and tree planting plans, prescribed burn plans, wetland enhancement plans, general habitat management plans, and other resources to evaluate, improve, or maintain native habitats and prepare for upcoming projects. Ensure maintenance and development ideas are well developed and carried out appropriately.
• Other responsibilities and duties : Maintain accurate operational records, provide professional service, and complete other duties as assigned by the lead worker or supervisor. The nature of the work may require a high degree of flexibility in hours and days worked on a seasonal basis. Extensive day and occasional overnight may be required. During the prescribed burn season, crew members will be conducting burns on a weather dependent basis, which means possible weekends and extended / long hours.

This job requires transporting items of up to 100-pounds maximum with frequent transporting of up to 50-pounds (e.g., bags of seed), and regularly moving objects such as heavy tools, backpacks, field equipment, and file boxes. This job also requires walking to a significant degree on rough terrain or may involve maintaining a stationary position most of the time with pushing and pulling of arm and / or leg controls. This job will require strenuous manual labor including but not limited to digging, shoveling, hauling, moving, pushing, pulling, and ascending / descending, often in adverse weather and environmental conditions, including heat, cold, rain, snow, sun, wind and occasionally smoke. This job requires the ability to pass a moderate fitness test based on the National Wildfire Coordinating Group Work Capacity within 6 months of your start date and then on an annual basis. The test consists of walking 2 miles with a 25-pound pack within 30 minutes.

Minimum qualifications :

Preferred qualifications :

Additional requirements :

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities is an Equal Opportunity employer / educator committed to the principles of diversity. We prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their race, sex, color, creed, religion, age, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or membership in a local commission as defined by law. As an affirmative action employer, we actively seek and encourage applications from women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and individuals with protected veteran status. Reasonable accommodations will be made to all qualified applicants with disabilities. If you are an individual with a disability who needs assistance or cannot access the online job application system, please contact the job information line at 651-259-3637 or email careers@state.mn.us. Please indicate what assistance is needed.