Fish Biologist / Natural Resource Specialist

Saltwater is currently recruiting for a Fish Biologist / Natural Resource Specialist to provide expert support to federal agencies. The Interior Columbia Basin Office, Southern Snake Basin Branch Office provides interagency consultation to other federal agencies pursuant to the authorities of Endangered Species Act (ESA), Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (FWCA), and Federal Power Act (FPA). Federal “action agencies” bring their proposed future actions which may affect marine migratory species (principally salmon and steelhead) to NMFS for scientific assistance in predicting likely future effects, minimizing adverse impacts, and maximizing positive effects. The office also implements ESA recovery plans through technical support in evaluating nonfederal proposals to various grant programs.

If you have general knowledge of salmonid life cycles and habitats, expert knowledge of the Snake River Basin salmonid life histories and geographic distributions, and experience in aquatic habitat conservation, we would love to hear from you. This position will be ready to fill at the end of January, 2025 and is part of an ongoing contract in its fourth option year that extends through October, 2025. It will likely be recompeted following that end date. The location for this position is based out of Boise, ID, but remote work is permitted.

Duties:

Complete the consultation projects for Snake River Basin Chinook salmon, steelhead and sockeye salmon including:

• Reviewing applications from action agencies to enroll in existing programmatic consultations and drafting letters or emails to enroll applicants into the programmatic consultations.
• Reviewing biological assessments from action agencies for listed salmon and steelhead.
• Writing Letters of Concurrence to action agencies related to their Biological Assessments for listed salmon and steelhead.
• Writing Biological Opinions to action agencies related to their Biological Assessments for listed salmon and steelhead.
• Reviewing proposed habitat restoration projects to implement Recovery Plans and the FCRPS habitat program. * For listed Salmon and Steelhead in the Snake River Basin, participate in the review and preparation of final actions under the Endangered Species Act for Section 7 consultations as follows:
• Documentation of enrolled applicants into programmatic consultations as necessary.
• Comments on biological assessments from action agencies as necessary.
• Written letters of concurrence to action agencies as necessary.
• Written biological opinions to action agencies as necessary.
• Comments on proposed habitat restoration projects.