Job Announcements

A new limited term Environmental Program Manager I position in Water Branch is now posted on CalCareers. This position will be actively engaged in conducting and publishing scientific research and support the long-term implementation of the Delta Smelt Supplementation Program and the Longfin Smelt Culture Program established through the 2024 ITP for State Water Project operations. Please share this information with colleagues you think might be interested and encourage them to reach out to Brooke Jacobs (Hiring Unit Contact) with questions.

Beginning in 2021 state and federal agencies initiated an effort in collaboration with UC Davis to begin experimentally releasing cultured Delta Smelt back into their native habitat in the north Delta. Since then, state and federal agencies have continued to collaborate to support releases of cultured Delta Smelt into the wild, expand production as possible within current facilities, and plan for a new facility to increase production and release of Delta Smelt over the long-term. Additionally, in 2025 the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Department of Water Resources are initiating a new Longfin Smelt Culture Program. This position will serve as the Department lead to 1) conduct and publish research to support ongoing Delta Smelt supplementation and the Longfin Smelt Culture Program in collaboration with state and federal agency partners and interested parties, 2) engage in the interagency team responsible for siting, designing and constructing future expanded smelt hatchery facilities, 3) participate in releases of Delta Smelt into the wild, 4) participate in ongoing Delta adaptive management programs focused on Delta Smelt supplementation and the Culture and Supplementation of Smelt interagency team, and 5) engage in the Longfin Smelt Culture Program and Longfin Smelt Science Program teams.

Visit the CalCareers Job Announcement: Environmental Program Manager I, Supervisory for more information about this job and how to apply. The final filing date is 11/13/2025.

Hiring Unit Contact:
Brooke Jacobs
(916) 903-6426
Brooke.Jacobs@wildlife.ca.gov

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has 2 openings for a Nutria Eradication Technician (Fish and Wildlife Technician) in the Region 3 Bay Delta (Stockton) office. The final filing date for this job opportunity closes 11/6/2025.

Job Description and Duties:

Under the supervision of the Nutria Eradication Operations Supervisor, the incumbent will fill a critical role in the Department's Nutria Eradication Program. Nutria are highly invasive and extremely detrimental to the environment, but primarily nocturnal and relatively elusive in low densities. As part of a crew, the incumbent will conduct surveys to detect, locate, and trap nutria, with the ultimate goal of eradicating nutria from the State of California. The incumbent will conduct habitat suitability assessments, visual observation and camera surveys, trapping, nutria dispatch and necropsies, and electronic data collection (i.e., ESRI Collector smartphone application), as well as use baits and lures and communicate with local landowners. The incumbent is responsible for following spatial assignments and completing tasks according to project protocols. The incumbent will work with the Operations Supervisor and field crew leads to design, build, evaluate, and/or help refine detection and trapping methods and tools for the most effective and efficient detection and removal of nutria. Work includes answering routine questions from the public relative to Departmental nutria efforts. This position is physically demanding, but highly rewarding given the ultimate accomplishment of protecting California's wetlands, waterways, infrastructure, and agriculture from the devastation nutria have caused in other regions of North America.

To be eligible for this position, you must either be transfer eligible or take and pass the Fish and Wildlife Technician exam.

This position is posted in the following counties: San Joaquin county and Solano county.

This position is a 12-month Limited Term (LT) and may be extended up to 24 months or become permanent.

If you currently have permanent status in your position and have passed probation, you have mandatory reinstatement rights into your former position at the end of this LT appointment. If you have not had prior permanent or probationary civil service status, you will be separated from state service.

During this 12-month Limited Term assignment, you will receive full health, dental, and vision benefits! You will also earn State Service and accrue monthly leave credits.

You will find additional information about the job in the Duty Statement (PDF).

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has an opening for a Zooplankton Imaging Scientist (Environmental Scientist) at the Region 3 Bay Delta (Stockton) office in the Interagency Ecological Program. The final filing date for this job opportunity closes 11/7/2025.

Job Description and Duties:

The Zooplankton Imaging Scientist is responsible for zooplankton processing including sorting, maintaining cultures, conducting microscope-based taxonomic classification, and sample pre-processing for analyses with a flow-imaging microscope (FlowCam). This position is also responsible for conducting image-sorting using classification modeling software and for providing expert taxonomic verification. The incumbent will serve as an expert on San Francisco Bay-Delta zooplankton taxonomy, ecology, and life histories as part of a multi-disciplinary team focused on methods development.

Essential functions include zooplankton analysis and digital imaging; data management, analysis and reporting; zooplankton culturing and identification; image classification and validation; and lab operations and interagency coordination.

To be eligible for this position, you must either be transfer eligible or take and pass the Environmental Scientist exam.

This position is a 12-month Limited Term (LT) and may be extended up to 24 months or become permanent.

You will find additional information about the job in the Duty Statement (PDF).

If you currently have permanent status in your position and have passed probation, you have mandatory reinstatement rights into your former position at the end of this LT appointment. If you have not had prior permanent or probationary civil service status, you will be separated from state service.

During this 12-month Limited Term assignment, you will receive full health, dental, and vision benefits! You will also earn State Service and accrue monthly leave credits.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife Bay Delta office in Stockton has one permanent, full time Fish and Wildlife Technician position available.

Job Description and Duties:

The Fish and Wildlife Technician works with a group of boat operators, technicians, and scientists who are sampling fish and invertebrates in San Francisco Bay and the Delta as part the Interagency Ecological Program (IEP) for the San Francisco Estuary. The IEP is a large, multi-agency program that studies the bay and delta. Most of the sampling is done with fishing nets that are towed from Department of Fish and Wildlife vessels. These vessels range from 24' to 46' and all use hydraulics to deploy and retrieve fishing nets. The Fish and Wildlife Technician will assist in the sampling by handling fishing nets and other sampling gear (water quality instruments, benthic samplers, etc.), operating smaller power vessels (under 35'), trailering smaller boats, sorting, measuring, and handling fish and invertebrates, and occasionally recording sample information on data sheets.

Additional tasks include repair and maintenance of vessels, trailers, nets, and other sampling equipment and preparing sampling gear for field work. Includes repairing and construction of various fishing nets.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife conducts several large IEP studies in the bay and delta, including work on Striped Bass, White and Green Sturgeon, Delta Smelt, Longfin Smelt and the food web for these and other species of interest.

In order to be eligible for this position, you must either be transfer eligible or take and pass the Fish and Wildlife Technician Exam Bulletin.

You will find additional information about the job in the Duty Statement (PDF).

CalCareers Job Announcement: JC-496071 Fish and Wildlife Technician
Salary Range: $3,999.00 - $5,196.00 per Month
Position #: 565-323-0916-016
Work Location: San Joaquin County (Stockton)
Final Filing Date: 10/31/2025