Wildland Firefighter - Fuels Management Specialist

Core Values

The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation’s Forestry and Trust Land Division recognizes that building a collaborative, professional, and inclusive work environment is critical to fulfilling our mission of managing, protecting, and promoting stewardship of Montana’s forests and lands for the benefit of current and future generations and our trust beneficiaries. We hold ourselves to these high standards as we are accountable to the people of Montana.

• We value and respect each other.
• We create collaborative work environments.
• We build and maintain strong relationships.
• We practice accountability.
• We celebrate our successes and take pride in our work

Libby Unit represents the DNRC Forestry and Trust Land Management Division within its assigned areas in Lincoln County. Libby Unit conducts field activities and is responsible for all day-to-day operations of this Division within the geographical area. The Unit provides direct wildland fire suppression service for approximately 390,000 acres of state, private, and federal land. A substantial portion of the land area is wildland residential interface, which presents a complex fire-management situation.

The Unit assists the State/County Cooperative Fire Program in Lincoln County and aids the county and their rural fire departments as needed. Libby Unit manages and administers approximately 30,218 acres of state-owned land. On these lands, the State maintains a significant forest-management program that includes forest-product sales and forest-improvement projects. In addition, the Unit is responsible for administration of commercial leases, several residential leases, rights-of-way, grazing leases, and gravel pit development and sales, as well as management of recreational use.

Libby Unit administers the Good Neighbor Authority Program (GNA) for the state of Montana on the Kootenai National Forest. Through partnership and agreement, the GNA program looks to increase the pace and scale of forest management with our federal partners.

This Fuels Management Specialist position is located at Libby Unit and is a crucial position that will provide leadership in the fire program and expertise to various other programs within Libby Unit. (Trust Lands, Good Neighbor Authority, Forestry Assistance, etc.) This position emphasizes prescribed fire and fuels management for the Libby Unit and the state of Montana. The incumbent plans, coordinates, and implements prescribed fire projects;

develops burn plans and treatment prescriptions; oversees smoke and fire effects monitoring; coordinates hazardous wildland fuels treatments on state, federal, and private land; and ensures compliance with applicable laws, policies, and interagency standards. The position also supports wildland fire suppression readiness and coordination, assists with Trust Land Management and Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) forestry tasks, performs administrative duties, and manages grants to support fuels projects.

Additionally, the position may assist the Fire Management Officer (FMO) with supervision of seasonal staff when grant funding and FTE is available. This position reports directly to the Libby Unit FMO (position #6098). The incumbent serves as both an internal resource to DNRC personnel and to key DNRC partners in local, state, and federal government.

These job functions are the essential duties of the position and are not all-inclusive of all the duties that may be assigned to the incumbent.

• Serve as a principal subject matter expert and point of contact on the Libby Unit regarding fuels and prescribed fire management. Provide leadership and support for the unit and Land Office as well as interagency partners to ensure a sustainable prescribed fire and fuels management program;
  Assist the FMO with progress towards objectives of the Fire Protection Program Strategy and Division Initiatives.
• Utilize prescribed fire and hazardous fuels removal treatments to assist in meeting the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy:
  Safe Effective Response, Fire Adapted Communities, and Resilient Landscapes.
• Plan, coordinate, and implement Fuels Management across the Unit or the Northwest Land Office as directed.

This position may be responsible for managing various grants and seeking and applying for additional grants as directed by the Unit Manager and Unit FMO. It can be any or all of the duties listed below.

• Plan, coordinate, and supervise several concurrent activities within the Unit Fire Program when assigned by the Unit Manager or Unit FMO.
• Fire Suppression
• Fire Pre-Suppression

The Libby Unit administers and supports Trust Lands and Forestry Division programs within the administrative boundaries of Lincoln County, Flathead County, and Sanders County. The incumbent will be expected to…