Fire Ecology Portal

Responsibilities:

• Administers or supervises the administration of timber stand improvement, fuels reduction, reforestation, cone collection, and other vegetation management contracts.
• Serves as a COR for administering contracts.
• Prepares project plans and contracts for silvicultural methods and techniques in planting, seeding, site preparation, cone collections, timber stand improvement, fuels reduction, and tree and shrub improvement projects.
• Inspects all phases of reforestation and stand improvement projects; appraises the degree of conformance with policies, procedures, and silvicultural plans; and recommends corrective action as required.
• Coordinates silvicultural needs with other resource specialists.
• Serves as a full member of an IDT on reforestation, timber stand improvement, fuels reduction, range, and landscape restoration projects.
• Plans, coordinates, and evaluates the timber stand improvement program; prescribes cutting practices based on an examination of stand conditions and esthetic or other resource requirements.
• Participates in preparation and review of reforestation and timber stand improvement environmental documents.
• Duties listed above are at the full performance level.

Teaching loads are the equivalent of four courses per semester. Although the area of expertise is open, we are seeking an individual with a strong background in general forestry, who can teach courses with both lecture and field components and at all levels in our undergraduate forestry program.  Preference will be given to candidates who can teach or co-teach, at a minimum, the following courses: Introduction to Forestry, Forest Measurements, Watershed & Recreation Management, Forest Planning, and Forest Management. Depending on qualifications, teaching one or more courses in the area of wildland fire ecology and management is a possibility. Teaching responsibilities may also include online or hybrid (online and in-person) courses.

Research and other forms of scholarly activity are not an expectation for this position, and release time will not be allocated for them.

Minimum Qualifications: Ph.D. degree in forestry, natural resources, or related field.

Preferred Qualifications:

• A record of college- or university-level teaching, or teaching assistant experience.
• Expertise in both quantitative and ecological applications of forestry.
• Practical field experience in forestry or natural resource management.
• A demonstrated commitment to student success and to working successfully with students from under-represented groups.

The Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Forest Health Division is looking to add to its growing team of natural resource professionals committed to restoring and managing the health of Washington's forests. This position will play a critical role analyzing and monitoring forest health conditions that will inform large forest landscape restoration efforts such as the 20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan. In this role you will interact with a wide variety of scientists, land managers and stakeholders to help them understand complex scientific concepts and apply them in landscape restoration efforts.

If you are a scientist that has proven experience managing natural resources, analyzing landscape level forest health conditions and risk using remotely sensed datasets, developing forest health treatment plans and prescriptions, communicating complex scientific topics to technical and non-technical audiences, publishing research findings in refereed publications, and a passion and commitment to working collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders to create healthy, resilient forested landscapes, the DNR wants to hear from you!

Job duties include:

• Develop cutting-edge tools to analyze forest conditions and accelerate pace and scale of treatments
• Partner with DNR scientists and other researchers to analyze and monitor forest health conditions
• Perform landscape evaluations to develop forest health treatment prescriptions for priority watersheds
• Working with land managers to translate science into practical applications
• Build and maintain statewide forest health datasets
• Develop and implement monitoring and research projects  
• Conduct fieldwork to inform landscape evaluations and monitoring studies.

Little is known about the carbon fluxes (CO2 and CH4) during and after tundra fires. The PhD candidate will visit burned tundra sites to estimate direct carbon losses due to fire and the longer-term impact of fire on the carbon balance of tundra ecosystems, including post-fire degradation and recovery of underlying permafrost. Field measurements will be combined with satellite imagery for up-scaling, and with predictions of future climate and lightning to better understand the vulnerability of high latitude carbon stocks to fire.  

Proposals for special sessions, workshops and trainings, oral and poster presentations, fire circles, and attached meetings are now being accepted.

Call for Special Sessions ~ Deadline April 1, 2019
Call for Workshops, Trainings, and Courses ~ Deadline April 1, 2019
Call for Oral and Poster Presentations ~ Deadline August 1, 2019 for Oral Presentations and August 30, 2019 for Poster Presentations
Call for Fire Circles ~ Deadline August 1, 2019
Call for Attached Meetings ~ Deadline August 30, 2019