Northwest Fire Portal

With multiple agencies/entities, groups and task forces all working to find solutions for operational concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, the need for a space to share information is apparent. This forum serves as a platform to ask questions, as well as to share ideas, information, and solutions.

Please refer to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group's website regarding infectious disease guidance for wildland fire incidents, Emergency Medical Committee.

Responsibilities:

• Coordination with fire management and outreach programs to design a National Outreach Strategy.
• Coordination with Service visitor services and other fire outreach staffs, conduct a national media relations campaign to profile fire management "success stories." Conceives, develops, implements and evaluates public affairs and outreach strategies designed to meet internal and external needs for information on the Service Fire Management Program.
• Establish a public affairs program to educate the public about the Service fire management program.
• Develop and distribute strategic briefing packages for Congress, Department, and the Office of Wildland Fire on key fire management action areas.
• Raise visibility of the program within the Service by increasing internal communications about fire management activities.
• Gather information and produce information materials concerning policies, programs and activities for dissemination.

In order to achieve a variety of agency objectives, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) uses active management of timbered uplands primarily through silvicultural treatments. By promoting forest health and productivity, sustaining wildlife habitat, and maximizing revenue, this style of management plays a key role in keeping Washington's forested state trust lands vibrant and healthy. Treatments in eastern Washington are wide ranging from harvesting timber to planting trees, thinning young stands, and reducing fuels to minimize fire risk and promote sustainability of resources.  The public timber sales from these lands are designed to meet the goals of the Habitat Conservation Plan for Forested State Trust Lands and the requirements of the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). And, the volume of timber the DNR seeks to sell is guided by a Sustainable Harvest Calculation, authorized by the state Board of Natural Resources. Following harvests, the DNR continuously maintains the health and vigor of our stands by inviting bids on silviculture contracts to replant state trust forests with tree seedlings from the DNR's own Webster Forest Nursery and thin young stands for long-term health and sustainability.
 
In the Klickitat Region, the forests are diverse and productive, from Douglas-fir to ponderosa pine. This position provides professional level forestry expertise on DNR uplands managed for current and future citizens for the state to 1) sustain long-term ecosystem and economic viability; and 2) ensure long-term access to the forest lands and the benefits derived from them.

Job Responsibilities:

• Ensuring both operability and feasibility of harvest units by developing a logging plan.
• Creating silvicultural prescriptions by reviewing and analyzing similar stand prescriptions while consulting with silviculture specialists to devise a plan to successfully manage stands for long-term sustainability.
• Producing professional documentation that complies with all state and federal regulations, as well as all necessary project permitting.
• Recommending treatment options tailored to site conditions that ensure forest resiliency to fire and insects.
• Conducting critical analysis and consulting with specialists for pre-commercial thinning to provide time sensitive treatments for maintaining tree growth and development.
• Ensuring environmental, social, political and department objectives are met.
• Creating high quality standardized GIS map products.
• Designing silviculture contracts.
• Collecting, processing, and analyzing data that will assist in the development of landscape management plans.
• Ensuring a safe work environment and good working relationships with neighbors and stakeholders.
• Providing trust beneficiaries with maximum sale valuation.

The College of Forestry at Oregon State University actively develops new techniques for interpreting remotely sensed data from a variety of space-based platform, and applies those techniques to better understand forest ecosystems. Particular areas of interest include: forest structure mapping; forest carbon estimation; species distribution modeling; quantifying forest fragmentation; lidar; mapping historical fires and harvests; deforestation hotspot warning systems; and forest albedo. This position will provide a range of geographic programming services supporting the above research interests. The Faculty Research Assistant will develop automated workflows with remotely sensed imagery to track the condition and trends of forests around the world. The position involves statistical analysis, contributing to and writing manuscripts, and collaboration with a variety of partners.

The Program Manager is responsible for providing strategic planning and oversight for the Tribal Forestry Program with up to 6 professional and technical staff members and a minimum annual budget of $500,000 dollars.  This position is responsible for developing, directing, evaluating and managing Reservation and off-Reservation forests including NEPA compliance, Cultural clearance, Timber Sale set up, Advertisement and Execution of Contract, Pre-commercial thinning, Planting operations, fuels reduction treatments, and monitoring and evaluation activities.  The Program Manager develops and implements multi-year project plans in support of Tribal goals to provide forestry services for Tribal members and allottees.  This position requires frequent contact and interaction with multiple regional and national level managers in federal, state, county, tribal and other agencies and organizations.  This position provides recommendations to the Director of Wildlife and Terrestrial Resources and Natural Resources Executive Director on negotiations and agreements with external agencies including costs, rates, deliverables, compliance issues and any other contract terms or conditions.  As a key liaison with outside agencies, the Program Manager provides technical analysis and advice to the Director of Wildlife and Terrestrial Resources, the Natural Resources Executive Director, and represents the Tribe in negotiations of complex interagency agreements, cooperative agreements, memorandums of agreements/understanding (MOA/MOU), grants, procurement contracts and various other types of contracted obligations.

This Research Social Scientist in the Pacific Northwest Research Station's Good, Services and Values Research Program. The Program mission is to conduct and communicate research to advance understanding of relationships among people and forest and rangeland ecosystems.

Responsibilities:

• Conduct and communicate research to advance understanding of relationships among people and forest and rangeland ecosystems.
• Improve knowledge of fundamental social and economic processes and their interactions with the natural environment.
• Examine the roles of policies, programs, and other institutions in interactions between people and natural resources.
• Describe and analyze the implications of changing demographics, socioeconomics, and technology on natural resources and their management.
• Conduct and use integrated multidisciplinary research to support development of management approaches accounting for socioeconomic, ecological, and biophysical interaction.
• Design a coordinated research effort that is responsive to the complexities of natural resource use and management in the Pacific Northwest.
• Describe the capacity of dynamic landscapes to provide for evolving human wants and needs.
• Research topics include: forest and rangeland restoration, wildland fire, community resilience, water and resource management, and collaboration and public engagement.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are now calling for research proposals in support of improved disaster resilience.

Natural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and fires cause tremendous damage to communities across the U.S. every year. While these events cannot be prevented completely, their impacts can be dampened by disaster resilience measures such as policies, designs, codes and standards.

NIST and NSF plan to award a total of $3.1 million for scientific and engineering research into disaster-related phenomena that can significantly improve our nation’s defenses against natural hazards. The agencies will co-manage the Disaster Resilience Research Grants (DRRG) program and intend to make 8-12 awards of up to $400,000 each.

To apply, submit your letter of intent by Aug. 14, 2020. The deadline for full proposals is Sept. 15, 2020. NSF and NIST will host an informational webcast on Aug. 3, 2020.

The Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia (UBC), invites applications for a tenure-track academic position in Indigenous Natural Sciences at the Assistant or Associate Professor level, to commence on July 1, 2021 or when a suitable candidate is found. The UBC Vancouver campus is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the xwmǝθkwǝýǝm (Musqueam).

Depending on the background of the successful candidate, this position will be housed in either the Department of Forest Resources Management, the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, the Department of Wood Science, or jointly between two of these.

Questions should be directed to Professor John Innes, Dean of Forestry at john.innes@ubc.ca or Professor Chris Gaston, Chair of Search Committee at chris.gaston@ubc.ca.