The US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) unit in the Rocky Mountain region is hiring * Up to 11 forestry technicians in support of the field inventory !
These are career, permanent-seasonal (PSE) positions consisting of 13 pay periods of full time work and 13 pay periods in nonpay status per year; OR 18 pay periods of full time work, and 8 pay periods in nonpay status per year; depending on the location. Appointees may be offered the opportunity to work longer depending on workload and funding.
All of the positions serve as members of the Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, headquartered in Ogden, Utah, which conducts forest resource inventories and forest health monitoring activities throughout the interior west states including Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. For more information about the Program, please visit our internet site at https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fs.fed.us%2Frm%2Fogden%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cpat.anderson%40uconn.edu%7Cc596a9e4ce8d408aef5308d866b3df3c%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637372270060900879&sdata=G8LO2Z%2F8HDmkMUslvjKQjY1VI%2FZkgxNUP1n0gKK%2B4wc%3D&reserved=0.
Each position will serve as part of a two person forest resource inventory crew. The forestry technician crew members work under the direction of a local crew leader. The work involves contacting land owners for access; locating study plots using aerial photo baseline and GPS techniques; conducting extensive resource and health inventories including tree measurements and foliage evaluations, understory vegetation composition and structure estimates, site characteristics and soils evaluations, etc; using various measurement instruments and electronic data recorders.
The area sampled by the RMRS Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program covers a diversity of ecological communities. Terrain varies from dry ponderosa pine, oak woodland and juniper forests at lower elevations in the southern portion of the 8-state territory; to the high alpine forests of Colorado, Wyoming, and the Rocky Mountains; to the temperate rain forests of northern Idaho and northwestern Montana – and everything in between! Each crew covers a large area, and all staff will experience a wide variety of country.
Fieldwork is arduous, and regularly includes extensive hiking and backpacking in remote and rugged areas, on and off-trail, in all weather conditions, and carrying heavy daypacks (~45 lb.) or backpacks (60+ lb.). Depending on location, a variety of other methods are used to access plots including ATV’s, horses, aircraft, and boats; please contact us for specifics of each location.
The field season typically runs from April through November. For the 2021 field season, start dates for these positions could be mid to late May of 2021 because of the current pandemic situation and anticipation of a medical resolution to allow work to commence in the field without restrictions. In all locations, overnight travel away from the duty station is frequent, and may include periods of extended and continuous travel. Work schedules can be quite varied (Maxi-flex, 8/6, 10/4, etc), and weekend work may be required. The ability to work productively as part of a team, meet the physical demands of this challenging outdoor work, and to quickly learn a complex set of field protocols are all very important in this position!
The positions are based at a number of different locations, which are indicated in the table below
The purpose of this Outreach Notice is to determine the potential applicant pool for these positions. The vacancy announcement for these positions, when open, will be posted at the USA Jobs website, the U.S. Government’s official site for jobs and employment information: https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usajobs.gov%2F&data=02%7C01%7Cpat.anderson%40uconn.edu%7Cc596a9e4ce8d408aef5308d866b3df3c%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C637372270060910874&sdata=QYLWUcyMzaTb8hb4IVYQ53gsuKuVSKOiqZLVcM%2FYv%2BI%3D&reserved=0
If you would enjoy working as part of the Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, we encourage you to express your interest in the position(s) as soon as possible. If you reply to this outreach notice, we will notify you when the positions are announced (anticipated to be mid-October 2020). For additional information, please contact any of the supervisors listed above, or Maryfaith Snyder at (801) 725-0134 or maryfaith.snyder@usda.gov
This outreach is for your information. If you are an education institution please post the Outreach to your Jobs Board.
Thank you for your interest in these positions!