Forester - State Lands Specialist

Georgia Department of Revenue•Athens, GA

8d•Onsite

About The Position

This position administers the Georgia Forestry Commission's (GFC) State Lands Program with limited supervision. The role is responsible for ensuring Georgia’s public forests are well-managed, healthy, and growing sustainable forest products. The work involves collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service and other state and federal partners, including the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, GA-DNR, UGA, GA-DOC, and GDOT, to achieve forest management objectives on public lands. Additionally, the position assists the GFC’s Law Enforcement Department with timber theft investigations through data collection.

Requirements

Forest Tech requirements – Associates Degree in forestry, forest resources, or other forestry major and three years’ experience in the forestry field.
Forester requirements – Bachelor's degree in forestry, forest resources, or other forestry major from a SAF accredited college or university.
Working knowledge of timber markets, forest management, and forest ecology including conservation values such as water, wildlife management, endangered species, forest pests and other important natural resources.
Knowledgeable of Best Management Practices, especially pertaining to road construction, stream crossings, and all phases of timber harvesting.
Experience developing, writing, and implementing forestry management plans.
Some in-state, overnight travel will be required as well as occasional out-of-state travel.

Nice To Haves

A working knowledge of timber sale transactions, logger supervision, conducting timber inventories, and accounting procedures for common methods of timber sales.
Proficiency in Word, Excel, standard forester field tools and use of GPS/ArcGIS for basic map creation.

Responsibilities

Produce timber harvest plans.
Assist with performing Georgia Environmental Policy Act (GEPA) reviews related to timber sales.
Conduct timber cruising, timber sale area and SMZ line marking and timber marking and GPS field work & produce maps.
Workup timber cruises and establish minimum acceptable bids.
Assist with conducting of timber sale bid openings.
Conduct timber harvest inspections and coordinate with timber buyers and loggers to ensure contractual compliance.
Conduct reconciliation of timber sale settlements and load card security related to timber sales.
Update and maintain timber sale records on the GFC Timber Sale System.
Write and/or update forest management plans for public properties.
Assist with maintaining/updating shape files for public properties.
Coordinate/supervise forest management activities on state and federal lands, to include but not limited to herbicide treatments, road construction and fire line construction.
Coordinate/supervise reforestation efforts and conduct seedling survival surveys.
Develop prescribed burning plans and coordinate, supervise and conduct prescribed burning.
Diagnose insect/disease/invasive plant infestations and make recommendations.
Operate Unmanned Aerial Systems to collect information and photographs related to properties under management.
Supervise and conduct Common Stand Exam inventories on federal lands.
Operate farm tractor and cutter/bush hog in maintaining State properties.
Supervise and conduct stump cruise field work.
Workup stump cruises.
Produce timber volumes and values related to stump cruises, produce maps of complaint areas and put in format for use by Law Enforcement Department.