FORESTER - 42003362

State of Florida • Gainesville, FL

24d • $51,000 - $60,000

About The Position

This work is in forest management and inventory of forestlands in Florida as prescribed under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service (FS) Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program.

Requirements

• A bachelor’s and/or master’s degree in Forestry or a related field from a Society of American Foresters accredited college or university; or
• Anticipated receipt of a bachelor’s and/or master’s degree in Forestry or a related field from a Society of American Foresters accredited college or university within six (6) months of the closing date of this advertisement.
• A bachelor’s and/or master’s degrees in Forestry or a related field obtained outside the United States must either: 1) be obtained from a Society of American Foresters accredited college or university; or 2) curriculum must include at least two (2) of the following four (4) courses: Silviculture, Dendrology, Forest Mensuration or Forest Management.
• Applicants will provide an academic equivalency evaluation obtained in the United States showing the required courses.
• ALL POSITIONS WITHIN THIS CLASS REQUIRE POSSESSION OF A VALID DRIVER LICENSE.
• Must obtain Forest Inventory and Analysis certification from the US Forest Service with an 80% test score within 12 months of appointment and maintain at least an 87% check score average as determined by the US Forest Service through check plots.
• Moderate to frequent travel required.
• Position may respond to emergencies, including natural disasters or other type incidents requiring travel, as needed.

Responsibilities

• Locates and/or relocates and re-establishes permanent forest plots using specialized forestry tools and equipment.
• Gathers, encodes, summarizes and downloads/uploads forest resource data in digital form and/or hard copy, as needed, using computerized field data recorders and computers.
• Specific coding of land uses, stand history, forest classification, vegetative type, ecosystems and other must be determined and encoded.
• Identifies forest land ownership in each county through various map features, plats, aerial photography, courthouse visits and site visits.
• Operates motor vehicles including, but not limited to, cars and trucks necessary to transport personnel to forest and non-forest plot locations.
• Responsible for fully conducting Forest Inventory and Forest Health Monitoring, Forest Utilization studies, and Timber Product Output surveys in the state of Florida, as assigned.
• Produces, develops and incorporates weekly and/or monthly reports, correspondence, verbal communications, records, etc., to the State FIA Coordinator and/or US Forest Service personnel conveying information on the progress, problems, changes and/or other factors affecting the collection of forest resource data.
• Provides on-the-job training for field personnel temporarily assigned to forest resource data collection.
• Meets periodically with others of this job description (in state and out of state) to convey and resolve problems in local, county, state and regional forest resource data collection processes, and shares updated techniques and information critical to data collection.
• Conducts various studies to supplement and improve forest data collection, statistical modeling and forest inventory processes.
• Attends periodic training sessions through state, federal and private sources, as determined, to improve and update forest resource data collection techniques and to improve job productivity.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Annual and Sick Leave benefits;
• Nine paid holidays and one Personal holiday each year;
• State Group Insurance coverage options, including health, life, dental, vision and other supplemental insurance options;
• Retirement plan options, including employer contributions
• Flexible Spending Accounts;
• Tuition waivers;

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees