2026 NC CASC Rapid Climate Assessment Program (RCAP) Applications are Open!
Date
The North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (NC CASC) at CU Boulder is hiring 4 summer GRAs for our Rapid Climate Assessment Program (RCAP). Broadly, these RCAP projects seek to support state, federal, and Tribal land and natural resource managers to adapt to a changing climate through interdisciplinary research and actionable science. Brief descriptions of the individual projects are below, along with the links for the full job description, instructions for applying, and contacts for additional information. You must be a current University of Colorado Boulder graduate student majoring in Geography, Environmental Studies, Anthropology, Education, or related discipline to apply.
NC CASC RCAP #1 — Land Manager Decision Framework GRA – Applications due by February 25, 2026
Seeking a GRA to help conduct and analyze interviews with natural resource managers and conservation planners (TNC, federal, state, and Tribal land managers) in Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Colorado to better understand how and why they make the decisions about woody invasion treatments. The GRA will work with an interdisciplinary team of scientists at The Nature Conservancy, USGS, and the NC CASC. The GRA will help to identify potential interviewees, help schedule and conduct the interviews, and help analyze the transcripts. Most interviews are expected to take place via Zoom, although some may take place in person if they are in the Denver/Boulder/Ft. Collins area. This project will provide the foundation for improved outreach and impact with land managers as well as potentially inform the workshop where teams will dive into metric development for assessing the efficacy of climate adaptive management approaches, with findings potentially relevant for other public, private, and Tribal lands.
NC CASC RCAP #2 — Wyoming Water and Fire Futures GRA – Applications due by March 2, 2026
To begin the summer, the GRA will be responsible for a small-scale literature review exploring signals framings for hazards assessment and planning. They will work with an interdisciplinary team of scientists to synthesize current literature on the state of signals-related scientific knowledge, research gaps, and key application areas for rural, agricultural watersheds and landscape. They will also help to support preliminary work on scenario planning and signals committee development, including setting expectations and assessing community desires and needs. To this end, we expect to conduct a limited number of interviews and workshops this summer, and the GRA is welcome to participate in those as a training exercise. As these interviews conclude, the GRA will work with the UW team to analyze these qualitative data for key signals emerging from local knowledge. Simultaneously, the GRA will be responsible for identifying available data streams related to fire and water in the river basin and identifying the ways that these data streams can complement locally recognized signals. By the end of the summer, the GRA will have hands-on experience in literature review, qualitative data collection (optional, but encouraged), quantitative and qualitative data analysis, and hazards framings.
NC CASC RCAP #3 — Grassland and Bison Management GRA – applications due by March 15, 2026
Seeking a GRA to support the development of a plant trait database to inform grassland restoration and bison management in Colorado and across the NC CASC region (i.e., Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota). The database will compile traits of grassland plant species native to the Western U.S. related to their resilience to extreme climate events (e.g., drought), their ecosystem services, and the feasibility of planting the species at a scale that would support landscape-level restoration. The curated database will help guide management decisions, including seeding strategies for climate-resilient grasslands and identifying forage species suitable for haying to support bison herds, with an initial focus on Denver Mountain Parks lands. The GRA will work with a team of scientists and practitioners from CU Boulder, USGS, Denver Mountain Parks, Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance, and South Dakota State University. This work directly responds to partner needs and will involve collaboration to ensure the database is management-relevant and actionable.
NC CASC RCAP #4 — Critical Habitat Mapping GRA – Applications due by March 1, 2026
Seeking a GRA to conduct spatial analyses to map critical habitats (e.g., wolverine denning habitat) in collaboration with biologists at the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Region 6. Identification of these areas will aid USFWS biologists in their effort to manage critical habitats to promote species survival and recovery. The GRA will work with scientists at USFWS and the NC CASC. Proficiency with Maxent, Boosted Regression Trees, and other predictive habitat modeling methods is preferred and technical proficiency in ArcPro GIS / AGOL is required.