Operations Forester
Mast Reforestation
Operations
Posted on Saturday, September 9, 2023
About Mast Reforestation (Mast):
As the leading end-to-end reforestation company in the U.S., Mast is on a mission to make reforestation scalable. As bigger and hotter fires destroy more forestland every year, Mast provides faster and more resilient forest restoration for landowners impacted by devastating wildfires. Mast also provides everything from collecting native, diverse seed species to site prep, planting, and ongoing monitoring, using carbon and project financing to cover the costs for landowners. Mast is the only vertically-integrated reforestation company that has removed the financial, procedural, and seed supply barriers that typically stand in the way of getting reforestation done. By assembling a first-of-its-kind tech-enabled reforestation supply chain and adding trusted forestry companies Silvaseed and Cal Forest to its portfolio, Mast has expanded to become both the largest seed bank and reforestation container stock producer in the Western U.S. Mast is also an innovation center for the non-timber supply chain for reforestation, developing various biological and technical products for achieving land management goals more efficiently. To learn more, visit www.mastreforest.com.
Check out our recent reforestation project.
(or click this Vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/843967328)
If our work thrills and inspires you, we’d love to receive your application!
Successful forestry projects require a combination of domain expertise and the ability to work with a constellation of stakeholders to get the job done. As an Operations Forester at Mast Reforestation (Mast), you will take the lead on ensuring that our carbon projects are done well, resiliently, and provide outcomes that delight landowners while furthering our mission to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.
What you’ll do:
- Work with a motivated team of internal stakeholders (foresters, GIS analysts, biometricians, project managers) and regional consulting foresters to plan and execute forest carbon reforestation projects on post-catastrophic wildfire lands.
- Perform site assessments using aerial imagery, pre-fire inventories, public databases, and on the ground data collection methods using automated data collection tools for data management and analysis.
- Write forest regeneration prescriptions for forest types throughout the intermountain west, taking into consideration long term survival under changing climatic conditions.
- Perform operational-level training and supervision of contractors and their crews, including as related to site assessment, vegetation management, treeplanting, forest surveying, and cone collections.
- Source forest management contractors and their crews, including the planning and overseeing of hiring events.
- Handle contractor relations including contract signing, pre-work meetings, safety, scheduling, oversight, and administrative functions like invoicing.
- Interface with landowners on operational issues as they relate to project implementation.
- Plan and direct forest surveys and related studies and prepare reports and recommendations.
- Monitor contract compliance and results of forestry activities to assure adherence to Mast's specifications, and state and federal laws.
- Make frequent visits to project sites across Western North America.
What you will bring:
- A completed undergraduate degree in forestry, environmental science, or a related field.
- 3+ years of experience as a practicing field operations forester.
- Operational experience with site assessments necessary for artificial regeneration and/or restoration of forested ecosystems.
- Operational experience of silviculture practices in one or more Western North America forest types.
- Comfort with sourcing and organizing forest management crews.
- Understanding of silviculture and forest mensuration.
- Prior experience in post-fire forest management, and ideally regeneration.
- A technical understanding of site planning, site preparation and civil engineering for forest operations.
- Physical capability to work in forested environments and adverse terrain in all weather conditions.
- Operational experience with GIS.
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
- The ability to embrace change and modify behavior and plans to effectively achieve goals. Self-motivation, adaptability, flexibility, and change agility are necessary.
Other preferred qualifications:
- M.Sc. or equivalent experience in the realm of applied forestry, forest ecology, or wildland management
- Licensed Registered Professional Forester or equivalent certification or expertise in California, Oregon, and/or Washington state is preferred, but not required
- A functional understanding of the influences of climate change upon long term forest health and management, seedling viability, and conifer species migration
- A functional understanding of the influences of wildfire upon forest ecosystems
- A functional understanding of seed procurement and processing and nursery seedling production
- A functional understanding of seed biology and seedling ecophysiology
- Proficiency in Spanish language
Mast Reforestation, Silvaseed & Cal Forest offer:
- Competitive salary
- Location-based compensation
- 75% health insurance coverage for Full-Time non-seasonal employees, including Medical, Dental & Vision insurance plans
- Company’s incentive stock options (ISO) for eligible employee groups
- Retirement saving plan: 401(k) and Roth 401(k)
- Commuter Benefits in eligible cities
- 6 paid holidays. Two shut-down weeks per year.
- Flexible PTO for Salaried employees. Generous PTO accrual for Hourly employees.
- Allowances for out-of-state employees
- Relocation support for out-of-state employees
