USDA FOREST SERVICE UMass November 17, 2015 Nicholas DiGiacco Good afternoon How many of you have spent time or gone hiking or camped on a National Forest? Amey and I are here today to talk about career opportunities with the Forest Service here in New Hampshire. We are a federal agency under the Department of Agriculture We are not connected to the State Division of Forestry and we are not the Park Service

Agenda Overview of the Forest Service Organization Career Opportunities Explain Federal Hiring (Forest Service Style) Share Career Story

Who we are The USDA Forest Service is a Federal Land Management Agency located within the US Department of Agriculture The Forest Service is charged with: Managing 195 Million Acres of National Forest and Grasslands Research in Forest and grassland ecosystems Support to State and Private Forestry

State & Private Forestry Established 1905 MISSION Sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. Chief National Forest System Research State & Private Forestry ORGANIZATION FS was established in 1905 and the first Chief was Gifford Pinchot He promoted the “Greatest good for the greatest amount of people in the long run” His vision of sustainability is reflected in our mission statement “….meet the needs of the present and future generations.” Most of the early National Forests were established in the west In 1911 the Weeks Act was signed and it created National Forests in the east Next year is the centennial of the Week Act and there will be events happening this year (Lecture series – Char Miller) and next year to celebrate Currently an art history exhibit in the Silver Center Organization Chief is in Washington DC, current Chief is Tom Tidwell there are 3 branches of the Forest Service National Forest System Research - The Forest Service is also the largest forestry research organization in the world State & Private – no rep today, but they provide funds and technical assistance to state forestry departments, they have an office in Durham approximately 30,000 employees

National Forests and Grasslands - The National Forest System is composed of: 155 National Forests 20 National Grasslands Puerto Rico to Alaska and covers 195 million acres

White Mountain National Forest 796,000 acres established 1918 110 employees offices in: Campton Conway Gorham officially established in 1918 with the support of the Appalachian Mountain Club and Society for the Protection of NH Forests currently have about 110 permanent employees the number of seasonal employees varies year-to-year, typically hire 20-30 seasonals in the summer months We recently moved 3 offices into a our new office in Campton We have other offices in Conway & Gorham

Deputy Forest Supervisor White Mountain National Forest Organization Forest Supervisor Ecosystem Services Technical Services Public Services Administration Fire Pemi District Saco District Andro District Deputy Forest Supervisor when you are applying for jobs with the Forest Service, it is helpful to understand how the forest is organized The forest supervisor has overall responsibility for everything that occurs on the Forest The deputy forest supervisor has similar responsibilities but it is considered more of training position the sup and deputy work out of the Supervisor’s office The forest is divided into Ranger Districts There are 3 districts on the White, Androscoggin in Gorham, Pemigewassat in Campton, and Saco in Conway Each district is managed by the District Ranger and they have employees who work in recreation, forestry, wildlife, environmental planning, administration, and fire management Back at the supervisor’s office we have 3 staff groups: ecosystem services, public services, and technical services in each of those groups there are specialists who coordinate issues across the forest and with high management levels (they do a fair amount of budget administration) We have 2 smaller staff areas Administration – they handle all our purchasing, contracting, pay our bills, maintain records Fire staff – coordinate our response to wildland fires and they do a small amount of prescribed fire here on the Forest

Permanent Positions Archeologist – 2 Biological Tech – 3 Budget Analyst – 1 Business Mgt Assistant – 7 District Ranger – 3 Education Specialist – 1 Equipment Operator – 3 Environmental Coordinator – 6 Engineer Tech – 3 Engineer – 4 Fire Management - 5 Fisheries Biologist – 1 Fleet Manager - 1 Foresters – 13 Forestry Tech - 9 Hydrologist – 1 GIS - 2 Landscape Architect - 1 Land Surveyor – 1 Procurement - 2 Public Affairs - 3 Realty Specialist - 2 Recreation – 25 Snow Ranger – 4 Staff Officer – 3 Surveying Tech - 1 Visitor Information – 10 Wildlife Biologist - 1 We employee a wide range of disciplines This is a list of position title and the number indicates how many of those positions we have on the White Mountain Positions in orange are one that we typically hire seasonals

2016 Temporary Jobs Outreach Recreation Resources Trail Crew Backcountry Ranger Developed Recreation Staff Visitor Information Services Timber Stand Improvement Construction and Maintenance Crew Archeologist Biological Technician Fire Technician

Research and Development USDA Forest Service Department of Agriculture Tom Tidwell, Chief National Forest System State and Private Forestry Research and Development

USFS Research and Development Works at the forefront of science to improve the health and use of our Nation's forests and grasslands 2,300 Employees nationwide 7 Research Stations throughout United States and in the tropics 80 Experimental Forests Major areas of Research: Resource Use Sciences Quantitative Sciences Forest Management Sciences Environmental Sciences

Most Employees in Research have advanced degrees like a Masters or PhD in the following sciences Ecology Plant Science Geology Hydrology Environmental Engineering Plant Pathology Wildlife Management Silviculture Forestry Biogeochemistry

USAJOBS.gov All federal jobs are posted on USAJOBS.gov you can set up an account that allows you to define criteria that describe your job interest you can specify what kind of job you are looking for or you can specify a state or an agency or pay grade when a job meets your criteria, you get an email with a link to the job announcement The Forest Service advertises a lot of jobs using Open Continuous Registers OCR are blanket announcements for a specific type of job – Rec tech jobs, the location is listed as “US-Throughout the Nation” the concept is that you pick your job and location, then submit your application, then when there is a vacancy the agency has a stack of applications on hand The problem is you are looking for a job, you can’t just sit around waiting for a job to open up, and you don’t even know if there is even a rec tech position at your location of interest So what can you do? If you are interested in working for the Forest Service at a specific office, you call or email the district ranger, tell them you are interested in working for the Forest Service and find out if they have any positions in your field they will likely pass your information to the appropriate staff member, you ask them who that is and you call them, let the know who you are

www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/white_mountain/employment The White Mountain is trying to help applicants by posting announcements on our Forest website when we have vacancies The address is up there and you are looking for “Employment”

Some things to keep in mind Education Experience Status Be Informed Increase your chances Cast a wide net Be flexible (temporary employment, location) Network (emails, phone calls, face to face)

Success Story

Recommendations Be a known quantity Get to know the local staff Volunteer if you can there are 155 national forests, opportunities to get experience elsewhere and come back to NH Don’t give up