Restoration and Rehabilitation Portal

The Diversity Burn Crew Team Leader directs a 4-person crew with 1 mentor and 3 interns to help build their stewardship and prescribed fire skills.  This person advances conservation programs in the Okefenokee and Osceola Landscape in support of the multi-state Stewardship Training for Environmental Progress (STEP) program as part of a team of GA-TNC staff.

The Director of Forest Management establishes the Conservancy as a major leader in forest restoration efforts in Alabama, defines conservation priorities and long-term conservation strategies, builds strategic, scientific, and technical capacity in the field and develops key partnerships with public and private organizations to identify and resolve technical issues and to widely communicate solutions and best practices. S/he develops innovative scientific methods, analyses, tools and frameworks to address the natural system needs, engages local community support for local conservation efforts, and negotiates complex and innovative solutions with government agencies and landowners to conserve, restore and protect natural communities.

The Great Basin Institute (GBI), in cooperation with the US Forest Service (USFS), is recruiting a Forester to work cooperatively with USFS and GBI staff to determine, plan and arrange the resources necessary to complete the Eshom Ecological Restoration Project, Phase 1. The project seeks to improve forest health and wildlife habitat by reducing fuels from drought- and beetle-impacted trees on the Hume Lake Ranger District. Approximately 1,000 acres of forest will be treated over the next two years.

The project is funded by the California legislature through Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funds.  The program seeks to minimize the loss of forest carbon from large, intense wildfires while promoting carbon sequestration efforts through biomass utilization. The Mule Deer Foundation and the National Wild Turkey Federation will partner to convert tree material to mulch for use in the agricultural industry.  As part of a larger silvicultural study, the forester will also assist with data collection that will provide the US Forest Service with baseline information to assess ecological restoration measures and changes in forest health over time.

Timeline:

• Anticipated start date: Fall 2019
• 12-month appointment with additional 12 months available pending performance

Compensation:

• Salary: $65,000-$75,000 DOE
• Housing provided at Hume Ranger District at $8.70 daily (for no less than one month at a time), depending on availability
• Fully paid health insurance premiums (medical, dental, vision, prescription); dependent coverage available out-of-pocket
• Paid holidays and personal leave
• Professional training and certifications may be provided as needed

The primary responsibilities of the Allegheny Highlands Burn Crew are to prepare and implement prescribed burns in the Central Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia with key partners such as the USDA Forest Service (George Washington & Jefferson National Forest), VA Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, VA Department of Conservation & Recreation and the VA Department of Forestry. The BCM will participate in prescribed burn implementation, preparing fire lines, maintaining equipment, post-burn monitoring and other tasks. As part of the BCM’s ongoing professional development, they will be responsible for keeping abreast of new burn techniques and equipment to enhance skills and maintain/grow professional fire certification credentials.  In addition, they shall work to build and maintain relationships in the professional fire community and in the local community where the Conservancy works. This may include participation in wild land fire suppression activities in partnership with other local, state and federal agencies, either as a TNC employee, or as a short-term employee of the partner entity (such as an administratively determined, short term federal employee).

The Allegheny Highlands Burn Crew Manager oversees 4 crew members. They supervise the seasonal burn crew daily. The primary responsibilities of the crew are to prepare and implement prescribed burns in the Central Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia with key partners such as the USDA Forest Service (George Washington & Jefferson National Forest), VA Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, VA Department of Conservation & Recreation and the VA Department of Forestry. The Burn Crew Manager (BCM) participates in preparing fire lines, maintaining equipment, post-burn monitoring and other tasks. They may also perform other preserve management duties when conditions are not conducive to prescribed fire including, but not limited to trail maintenance, forest thinning and fire cache organization.

As part of the BCM’s ongoing professional development, they will be responsible for keeping abreast of new burn techniques and equipment to enhance skills and maintain/grow professional fire certification credentials.  In addition, they shall work to build and maintain relationships in the professional fire community and in the local community where the Conservancy works. This may include participation in wild land fire suppression activities in partnership with state and federal agencies, either as a TNC employee, or short-term employee of the partner entity (such as an Administratively Determined, short term federal employee).

The Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) are open through 5 pm MST, December 5, 2019.

The Graduate Research Innovation (GRIN) announcement FA-FOA0020-001 has one task statement. Proposals must address one or more of the following topic areas:

• Fuels management and fire behavior
• Changing fire environment
• Emissions and air quality
• Fire effects and post-fire recovery
• Relative impacts of prescribed fire versus wildfire
• Human dimensions of fire

The primary announcement FA-FOA0020-002 has one task statement:

1. Performance of fuel breaks and fuel break systems  

The Regional Fire Science Exchange announcement FA-FOA0020-003 has one task statement focused on leading and executing a regional fire science exchange in the following four regions (see map and supporting information in the FOA):

1. Alaska
2. California
3. Great Basin
4. Pacific Islands

Text of the International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF) statement:

Climate change has already had significant consequences in the global wildfire reality, affecting citizens as well as the global wildland fire community. Many key issues of importance to the IAWF - including firefighter and civilian safety, fire management expenses, changing weather patterns, natural role of fire, fire regimes and ecosystem succession, as well as the wildland urban interface - all require recognition of the role of climate change.

Globally, we regularly see new reports about the “worst”, “largest”, “most expensive”, and “deadliest” fires and fire seasons. In 2019 and 2018, striking headlines read “Arctic on Fire” (Sweden, Russia, Greenland, Canada and Alaska), and the most expensive and largest fire years were recorded in 2018 in California and British Columbia, respectively, breaking the previous records set in 2017. The Camp Fire (CA, 2018), Attica Greece (2018), Black Saturday Australia (2009), and Portugal (2017) fires were all ranked amongst the top 11 deadliest fires in the last 100 years.

Under current climate change scenarios, fire regimes will change in terms of increases in burned area, severity, fire season length, frequency, and ignitions from lightning. Many parts of the world have already experienced an increase in record breaking temperatures and recurring droughts that have led to shifts in wildland fire. There is already evidence of climate-driven fire regime change in the Northern Hemisphere upper latitudes with fire risk increasing in non-traditional fire-prone countries. The consequences of human actions are here today, not in some distant future, and these are alarming and, most important, escalating.

The IAWF encourages all countries to emphasize increased international fire training and to implement easier cross-border sharing of professional fire management resources for suppression and prescribed fire opportunities. These will lessen the irrationally heavy burden any single country will have to carry to manage extreme fire seasons. Homes and communities must be better planned and built, so they are increasingly fire resistant and more adapted to natural disasters of all types. Health impacts of fires have long-term consequences, not only those that are immediate from the flames but also those from smoke and toxins, and these must be considered when planning and managing for future wildland fires. Wildfires and smoke do not recognize borders. As the global community tries to manage the new wildfire challenges, it is incumbent on everyone to prepare to support international neighbours in protecting lives and communities from fires and their impacts.

IAWF Vice-President Toddi Steelman recently said in Wildfire magazine (August 2019) that “Recent extreme weather events have catalysed public belief in, and concern about, climate change, and boosted public support for government actions to reduce its harmful impacts. This gives us a window of opportunity when conditions are right to make great strides on climate if we are strategic about it.” This window of opportunity requires people having the knowledge and political will to act now. Our global scientific community needs to publicly share knowledge learned about patterns of extreme wildland fire and weather, as well as how climate change is associated with these patterns. Our global fire management community needs to leverage its credibility to share its experiences about how climate change and its role in extreme weather is playing out in their day to day work environments. Connecting extreme weather events to real on-the-ground consequences can help more people understand how climate impacts are affecting us all.

The Lake States Fire Science Consortium (LSFSC) is committed to ensuring that the ‘best available science’ is available for planning and managing northern fire-dependent ecosystems of the Lake States. Where there are current gaps in the science, the goal of the LSFSC is to assist in filling those gaps so that science informs practice and vice-versa. Unfortunately, for many local fire management issues, there are few resources available to bring managers and scientists together to solve these important issues.

In an effort to enhance the opportunities for managers and scientists to work together, and to expose future professionals to opportunities of management and research collaborations, the LSFSC requests proposals to fund research internships that address relevant fire science and management issues associated with northern fire-dependent ecosystems of the Lake States region (See our Ecosystems page for a description of fire-dependent ecosystems that are the focus of the Lake States Fire Science Consortium). Proposals must be developed by joint manager-scientist teams (i.e. both must be listed as co-PIs and equally contribute to proposal development) and outline how the research internship will address a critical need that will help improve management of fire-dependent ecosystems locally. Preference will be given to partnerships that have not yet received funding from the program.

The LSFSC anticipates awarding several $4,000 research internship awards. It is expected that 100% of the funds should go to support the undergraduate internship experience (preferably for salary, though a limited amount of funds may be used to purchase materials and supplies needed to complete the project - funds should not be used as a supplement or summer salary for graduate students). All proposals must be submitted by 5:00 PM Eastern / 4:00 PM Central on Monday, December 9, 2019 by email to Jack McGowan-Stinski. There will be no exceptions to this closing date and time.

Project: The University of Vermont, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources is seeking a PhD-level graduate student to participate in research examining the effectiveness of restoration, adaptation, and transition management techniques at fostering forest health and productivity in the face of novel climate, insect, and disease threats. This research will assess silvicultural experiments co-developed with stakeholder input with application to both urban and rural forest settings. The student will join a team of collaborators from the University of Vermont, U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station, and Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center in developing management options to promote diverse and productive rural and urban forests despite the stress of climate change and other disturbance agents. The position is available for Summer/Fall 2020 and includes four guaranteed years of funding (stipend, tuition waiver, and health insurance).

Qualifications: M.S. in forest ecology, forestry, silviculture, biology or a closely related field.  Applicants should be able to work independently, but also cooperatively with other researchers and managers on the larger project. Applicants should also have a strong work ethic, demonstrated writing and quantitative capabilities, and a record of leadership.

Application: Interested applicants should supply all application materials to the UVM Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources (RSENR) Program (PhD in Natural Resources) by February 1, 2020 – when applying, please state your interest in this position in the “Statement of Purpose.”