Expired Announcements and Jobs

Temporary Promotion, NTE 1 Year

This position serves as a Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Monitoring (FTEM) application research liaison for the Wildland Fire Management Research, Development and Application group within Forest Service Research and Development.  The Wildland Fire Management Research, Development, and Application (WFM RD&A) program promotes application of wildland fire scientific knowledge; develops decision support tools; and provides science application services to the interagency wildland fire community. Visit Wildland Fire Management RD&A for more information.

Applications will be accepted only from current permanent Forest Service (FS) employees with competitive status; Land Management eligibles whose last appointment was with the FS; and CTAP/RPL eligible candidates.

USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the Forest Service seek proposals for Joint Chiefs' projects to mitigate wildfire risk, protect water quality, improve wildlife habitat, restore forest ecosystems and contribute to USDA’s efforts to combat climate change.

Proposals must be submitted by Sept. 4 for fiscal year 2024 funding.

The National Forest Foundation (NFF) is pleased to offer a regular, full-time, exempt, term (5 years) position that will play a lead role in the development of a cohesive suite of cross-boundary wildfire resilience activities. The Wildfire Resilience Program Manager will collaborate closely with NFF conservation staff to provide materials, advice, and support for developing a  core portfolio of high-priority, cross-boundary landscape initiatives. The NFF works with communities and organizations to conserve and enhance the watersheds, wildlife habitat, wild places, and recreational opportunities across the 193-million-acre National Forest System. The NFF seeks to engage all Americans in this work.

The Wildfire Resilience Program Manager reports to the Senior Advisor of Wildfire Resilience. The incumbent is a leading member of an internal team responsible for the development, deployment, and continuous improvement of replicable models to scale fire risk reduction efforts across all jurisdictions leading to resilient forest and community conditions in a time bound period. The Manager, in close collaboration with NFF Field Staff, will lead tactical planning and establish tools, tracking systems and feedback loops to ensure model improvement. The Program Manager will engage with NFF staff and partners in this work across no fewer than five focal large landscapes.

Grants will be awarded to implement the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy and assist communities at risk from catastrophic wildland fires by providing assistance in the following areas:

• Implementation of community programs that develop and enhance local capability in the areas of risk assessment and planning, training, mitigation activities, and community and homeowner education and action;
• Planning and implementation of fuels management reduction activities aimed at mitigating the threat of catastrophic wildlife to communities and natural resources in high risk areas, including associated monitoring or maintenance, on federal land and/or on adjacent non-federal land;
• Enhancement of local and small business employment opportunities for rural communities; and providing education and training focused on increasing knowledge and fire protection capability of rural fire districts.

Projects that include a cost-share or in-kind contribution will have priority for selection.

The USDA Forest Service (USFS) is hiring a Postdoctoral Scholar to join a project investigating community-level adaptation to wildfire in the American West. The postdoctoral candidate position will work for the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station with joint supervision from social scientists in the Evanston, IL and New York, NY locations. The position can be located in either duty station or remote/full telework. The postdoctoral scholar will work across several sites in the American West, researching communications about wildfire and associated communication networks for wildfire management in the American West. Focal areas of research include communications among actors about wildlife adaptation and mitigation practices, including examining beliefs and knowledge and how they vary among actors in wildlife communication networks.

The USFS seeks a quantitative social scientist or computer scientist with social science expertise, to lead data collection, analysis, scientific writing, and outreach activities. Working as part of the research team, the postdoc will apply big data, social media, and conventional media to rapidly characterize wildfire risk communications for priority landscapes. The postdoc will analyze wildfire risk communications with datasets acquired via AI, including topics (themes), and sentiments of groups, individuals, and communities. The postdoc will also gather social media datasets (e.g., Twitter, Reddit, etc.). Drawing on these big data and social media datasets, the postdoc will pilot web-crawler analysis to elicit organizational-level communication networks from groups’ websites. Additionally, this work will triangulate these data with conventional media sources. Overall, this work will analyze communications networks, identify key brokers, and characterize messages that are being transmitted about wildfire risk and mitigation. The postdoctoral researcher will also contribute to broader team efforts to integrate these datasets with information on adaptation and governance.

The postdoc will join a larger team of collaborators from the USFS, FilterLabs, Community Wildfire Planning Center, University of Colorado Denver, and Portland State University. Current United States citizenship is required.

Compensation will be between $69,107 and $92,279 annually depending on credentials and location. See GS Locality Pay tables here.

This is a two-year position. The start date is flexible; applicants who can start summer or fall 2023 will be considered.

Qualifications:

Required:

• PhD in relevant field - quantitative social sciences and/or computer science with social science expertise, social-ecological systems scientist, geographer, or social science of natural resource management (by anticipated start date)
• Strong publication record (relative to timing of degree)
• Familiarity with R and/or Python languages
• Experience with natural language processing, text mining, network analysis, social media data analysis
• Experience researching knowledge and communication networks and/or human dimensions of natural resource management

Preferred:

• Interest/knowledge in climate change impacts, fire adaptation fire management, fire ecology, and/or prescribed fire
• Experience with webcrawlers and other AI technology
• Expertise in GIS (e.g., ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, R geospatial packages, python - geopandas, arcpy)
• Familiarity with ShinyApps

If interested, email a CV, cover letter, writing sample, and contact information for 3 references to Dr. Michelle Johnson and Dr. Sonya Sachdeva .

In the cover letter, please detail research experience, fit for the position (including specific methodological skills and experience with each of the other required and preferred qualifications), and career goals following the position.

Review of applications will occur on a rolling basis starting July 1, 2023. The position will remain open until filled. Contact Dr. Michelle Johnson or Dr. Sonya Sachdeva with questions. Members of underrepresented racial or ethnic groups are highly encouraged to apply.

Positions will be filled summer 2023.

Multiple positions will soon be available to work with scientists across USFS research stations and at several universities on a national priority research effort to evaluate outcomes of wildfires interacting with fuel reduction treatments across the western US. The objective of the project is to better understand the conditions under which treatments produce desired outcomes, including reduction in fire severity, successful containment of fire spread by suppression operations, and reduction in wildfire impacts to homes and other infrastructure, to inform future adaptive management in a changing climate. The project involves both methodogical development that will allow for future comparisons across geographic regions, and analysis of case studies. Researchers and Analysts will take on different roles (flexible and to be determined, based on strengths and interests), but each will gain experience with data acquisition and data analysis, as well as collaborating in the writing of manuscripts. The positions are currently funded through Sept 30, 2025, and possibly longer with good performance and if additional funding is identified.

Qualifications that must be met: A recently completed degree in a related field (e.g fire ecology, forestry, forest ecology, fire science) is expected before starting the job - Ph.D. for the researcher, and an M.S. degree for the analyst. Knowledge and experience in the field of fire and/or forest ecology is required. Interest in research addressing applied management questions, a publication record in the field, and quantitative skills in developing workflows in languages such as R, Google Earth Engine or Python, are desirable. Starting salaries will be commensurate with experience.

A total of three researchers and four analysts will be hired. One researcher and analyst will be based in Seattle, WA and associated with the Pacific Northwest Research Station and the University of Washington; one researcher and analyst will be based out of Moscow, ID and associated with the Northern Research Station and the University of Idaho; one researcher and analyst will be based out of Fort Collins, CO and associated with the Rocky Mountain Research Station and Colorado State University, and one analyst will be based out of Redding or Davis, CA and associated with the Pacific Southwest Research Station. Remote duty stations are negotiable in each instance.

For more information about this position, contact Dr. Jens Stevens. Collaborating researchers include Drs. Eric Knapp, Morris Johnson, Mike Battaglia, Matt Thompson, and Matt Dickinson. Positions will be formally advertised in summer of 2023. Responding to the outreach notice will ensure you are contacted. Anticipated start date negotiable but as soon as possible.

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources is requesting funding proposals for prescribed fire projects in three areas—training, planning and operations, and prescribed burn association support.

All solicitations and relevant information for each request can be found on Washington’s Electronic Business Solutions database (WEBS). All future updates and amendments will be shared via WEBS.

Information to find each solicitation in WEBS:

• Prescribed Fire Training Events: Customer Reference # DNR RFQQ 24-03 ; System Assigned Identifier 50646 (deadline August 4, 2023)
• Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Support: Customer Reference # DNR RFQQ 24-02 ; System Assigned Identifier 50645 (deadline August 4, 2023)
• Prescribed Burn Association Support: Customer Reference # RFQQ 23-64 ; System Assigned Identifier 50644 (deadline August 18, 2023)

The Colorado Forest Restoration Institution (CFRI) is involved in multiple initiatives that require the customized development and application of spatial data analysis and modeling methods and tools to support stakeholder decision-making. These include spatial wildfire planning frameworks and processes (i.e., Potential Operational Delineations), quantitative wildfire risk assessments, vegetation condition analysis, watershed assessment and modeling, and spatial valuation, optimization, and prioritization modeling of potential wildfire mitigation and response actions. When developed, customized, and applied in a collaborative setting, stakeholders are often able to identify priority areas for actions. Spatial-analytical methods and tools are also used for tracking, assessing effectiveness, and communicating the outcomes of those treatments. Because of the collaborative nature of these initiatives, the incumbent Assistant Program Manager, Spatial Analyst and Decision Support Specialist also should have a general knowledge of the social and political dynamics surrounding western US forest ecology and forestry issues. The spatial analyst is expected to contribute to collaborative planning efforts and to the publication of peer-reviewed journal papers and non-technical products for diverse audiences.

This position is specifically tasked with contributing geospatial technical and analytical skills towards developing and customizing decision support tools that help advance collaborative forest restoration, integrated natural resource planning, and wildfire risk mitigation, response, and recovery decision-making in Colorado and the Interior West. The incumbent will be responsible for spatial data production using remote sensing and field-based technologies (GPS), spatial data management, spatial analysis to support science and planning initiatives, and written and oral communication of spatial data and results of spatial analyses to diverse audiences.

In May 2023, the Washington Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) filed proposed permanent wildfire smoke rules and launched a formal process for public input. Public hearings are scheduled throughout the state in July.

Rulemaking Purpose: The purpose of this rulemaking is to address the hazards associated with wildfire smoke. This rulemaking proposed to create a new chapter, chapter 296-820 WAC, Wildfire smoke, and to duplicate these new requirements into chapter 296-307 WAC, Safety standards for agriculture, Part G-1. Wildfire smoke presents hazards that employers and workers in affected regions must understand. Smoke from wildfires contains chemicals, gases and fine particles that can harm health. Proper protective equipment, exposure controls, and training are needed for employees working in wildfire regions. L&I issued emergency rules in the summer of 2021 and 2022, and began the permanent rulemaking process. Prior to the issuance of the emergency rule in summer 2021, there were no regulations to address the hazard of wildfire smoke inhalation among outdoor workers in Washington State.

This work is with the US Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center. The student contractor assist in the analysis and publication of studies conducted in the Great Basin related to plant and biocrust community ecology. More specifically, the selected candidate will assist in increasing our understanding of what drives the occurrence of biocrusts and their composition across the Great Basin with a focus on soils, climate, and responses to disturbances. Other topics may include but are not limited to the response of biocrusts and vegetation to common land treatments, including restoration efforts. Projects are funded primarily by state and federal partners (e.g., Nevada Dept. of Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service). Tasks may also include helping with the coordination of field efforts and assisting in the set-up of new studies.

Open: until filled

There are two positions being filled:

• One in Big Thicket Nat'l Preserve; Woodville, TX - point of contact Fulton Jeansonne, fulton_jeansonne@nps.gov
• One in Saguaro Nat'l Park; Tucson, AZ - point of contact John Thornburg, john_w_thornburg@nps.gov

Incumbent serves as program lead/technical advisor in fire ecology for a fire management program applying a systems approach to the study and analysis of ecological systems and the effects of wildland fire management activities.