The North Carolina Forest Service is a team of professionals who provide forest protection, emergency response, resource management and environmental education to the residents and landowners of North Carolina through a variety of programs. The NC Forest Service provides services to the 100 counties in North Carolina.
This position is located in the Water Resources Branch, Forest Management/Development Division, NC Forest Service's State Headquarters. The Water Resources Branch primarily supports delivery of the agency's forestry nonpoint source/water quality program across the state, both directly and in support of the agency’s field personnel. The Forest Water Quality Senior Specialist is accountable for the following projects including but not limited to the recurring Best Management Practices (BMP) Implementation Monitoring Survey Administration, FPG Database Administration (compilation and quarterly Reporting via Microsoft Access); Satellite Based Land Use Detection Change for Forests Analysis and Quarterly Reporting; web-based Forest Pre-Harvest Planning Tool Administration; Stream/Watershed Restorations on agency-managed lands including Water Quality/Quantity Monitoring, forestry related non-point source pollution prevention training and education workshops to forest operators, participation on multi-stakeholder workgroups and interagency committees to provide forestry-related expertise, and other special environmental projects involving air-soil-water in support of the agency’s operations. The position also serves as the technical specialist back-up to the Forest Hydrologist on matters related to hydrology, water quality/quantity as they relate to forest management and forest protection. This position requires the individual to keep up with current developments and trends of forestry BMPs. Incumbent will periodically collect forest and water quality data, and assess for data accuracy, precision, and integrity; and conduct data analysis to report on the findings. This position requires the individual to prepare reports and/or presentations to project stakeholders and other interested parties.
Periodic statewide travel is required to fulfill the position's operational and project duties, as well as incident management response. Extended hours including evenings, weekends, and/or holiday work hours will periodically occur. **NCFS is an emergency response agency that responds to wildfires, hurricanes, and all-risk incidents -- the incumbent will be required to complete training and support at least one incident management team position.**
Duty Station Location: 512 N Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC
Learn more about State Employee Benefits here: https://oshr.nc.gov/state-employee-resources/benefits.
The NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services provides services that promote and improve agriculture, agribusiness and forests; protect consumers and businesses; and conserve farmland and natural resources for the prosperity of all North Carolinians. The Department employs approximately 2,000 employees.
Learn How to Apply
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities / Competencies
Experience with project management on subjects related to forestry or natural resources conservation management.
Experience using geographic information system (GIS) applications.
Experience of nonpoint source pollution prevention management measures.
Experience with Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Power Point, Excel, and Access.
Ability to effectively communicate in both oral and written formats to a diverse customer base.
MANAGEMENT PREFERENCES: Knowledge of forestry best management practices (BMPs) or similar protective measures that are focused on water quality, erosion & sediment control, or stormwater; as well as overall watershed conservation through forest management.
Ability to perform statistical analyses on project data, produce defensible results, and turn data into useful application information.
Experience in BMP monitoring and implementation on forest operations.
Ability to manage multiple projects; meet deadlines; and provide overall customer service to a wide variety of customers.
Experience with stream, river, wetland or watershed restoration.
Experience in grant acquisition and management, including grantor interface and reporting.
Knowledge or experience in wildfire and all-risk incident response using Incident Command System (ICS) processes.
Functional knowledge of analytical and automated water quality monitoring and sampling equipment (e.g., hand-held analytical water quality instrumentation, or remote automated water samplers).
Experience using and creating products with ESRI ArcPro, ArcGIS-online, ArcGIS Collector/Field Collector and Survey123.
Minimum Education and Experience RequirementsBachelor's degree in one of the agricultural, biological, engineering, environmental or natural resource sciences or a closely related curriculum from an appropriately accredited institution and two years of experience related to the area of assignment; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Recruitment Range
$42,780 - $72,423