Agricultural Inspector I

Forest Pest Mgmt•Allegany, MD

7d•Onsite

About The Position

The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) is seeking an Agricultural Inspector I to join its Forest Pest Management Program. This program is dedicated to protecting Maryland's forest tree resources from insects, diseases, and other pests through environmentally sound management practices. The position is assigned to the Western Region, covering Allegany, Garrett, and Washington counties, and plays a crucial role in enhancing the quality of life for citizens by safeguarding forest resources. The role involves conducting surveys, assisting with pest suppression activities, performing forest health surveys and trapping, and engaging in educational outreach.

Requirements

Graduation from an accredited high school or possession of a high school equivalency certificate.
One year of experience in one of the following: production, processing, marketing, grading or inspection of agricultural products or chemicals; assisting veterinarians in the care and management of animals; animal disease control; care or management of livestock or inspecting veterinary hospitals, riding stables or livestock dealers; installation, inspection, repair, or testing of weighting, volumetric measuring or counting devices; inspecting labeling and packaging; pesticide sales, use, regulation, or application; production, maintenance or inspection of a tree plantation or nursery stock; pest or weed control; wildlife population censuring; or the production, sales, inspection or testing of seed or turf products.
Possession of a motor vehicle operator license’s valid in the State of Maryland.

Nice To Haves

Experience in dendrology, i.e., the study of trees and tree identification
Experience in speaking with the public
Experience in insect pest surveying, and insect identification and inspection
Experience in insect pest control

Responsibilities

Learns and performs spongy moth egg mass surveys to determine population density following FPM and Regional survey protocols.
Maintains and updates records in regional database to accurately reflect site locations and survey area boundaries and population densities.
Evaluates wooded areas to determine their status for survey based on FPM site criteria and suggests alternative survey locations.
Participates in general spongy moth surveys to monitor population trends.
Assists regional entomologist and higher-level inspectors in preparing for Spongy Moth Suppression programs, including delineating block boundaries, identifying landowners via GIS, and preparing notification mailings.
Assists with all aspects of the Spongy Moth Suppression program, including gathering pretreatment information, preparing suppression notebooks, assisting with calibrations, performing block monitor duties, and completing post-suppression efficacy evaluations.
Works as part of a team on suppression activities for hemlock woolly adelgid, including mixing and applying pesticides, tree selection, and record-keeping.
Learns and performs hemlock woolly adelgid pre and post-treatment efficacy evaluations.
Learns to select appropriate treatment sites, release parasitoids, treat trees, and implement the EAB IPM program.
Works with Regional Entomologist and higher-level Agricultural Inspectors to determine the location and extent of insect damage to wooded areas by visual inspection and mapping damage on the ground and entering it into GIS.
Works as part of a team on tree mortality surveys needed to evaluate economic loss related to spongy moth defoliation.
Learns to evaluate the level and extent of hemlock woolly adelgid populations in priority stands and conducts sampling surveys.
Inspects/establishes survey/sampling locations for forest health monitoring projects.
Responsible for coordinating with the Western region entomologist to complete yearly red bay ambrosia beetle trapping and laurel wilt permanent plots.
Assists other Unit 14 sections in survey or control programs as needed.
Provides information to the regional entomologist on locations suitable for conducting various forest pest surveys/projects.
Answers questions on spongy moth, MDA spongy moth program, and other forest insects and diseases to help the public understand pest life cycles and control methods.
Attends appropriate training events and/or webinars to gain knowledge of forest pests.