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Job Type: Student \/ postdoc
Salary Details: $63,000 – $77,000<\/p>\n
This fellowship is available with the US Department of Agriculture\u00a0(USDA) Forest Service\u00a0(USFS)\u00a0within the Pacific Northwest Research Station.<\/p>\n
At the heart of the U.S. Forest Service’s mission is their purpose. Everything they do is intended to help sustain forests and grasslands for present and future generations. Why? Because their stewardship work supports nature in sustaining life. This is the purpose that drives the agency\u2019s mission and motivates their work across the agency. It\u2019s been there from the agency\u2019s very beginning, and it still drives them. To advance the mission and serve their purpose, the U.S. Forest Service balances the short and long-term needs of people and nature by: working in collaboration with communities and our partners; providing access to resources and experiences that promote economic, ecological, and social vitality; connecting people to the land and one another; and delivering world-class science, technology and land management.<\/p>\n
Research Project<\/u>:<\/strong>\u00a0This research opportunity is at the\u00a0Pacific Northwest Research Station’s Corvallis Forestry Sciences Laboratory, a world-class facility on the Oregon State University campus adjacent to the OSU College of Forestry \u2014\u00a0and a nexus of\u00a0forestry and research connections\u00a0with a vibrant community of federal researchers and professionals from the PNW Research Station, USGS, the Siuslaw National Forest and with\u00a0faculty\u00a0and graduate student researchers in the College.<\/p>\n You will evaluate responses of west coast forest ecosystems\u00a0to fires over the past 20 years, leveraging\u00a0a large\u00a0dataset constructed from over two decades\u00a0of\u00a0repeated measurements of permanent\u00a0inventory plots in forest that burned. Through your analysis of this spatially balanced, statistically representative sample, you will contribute to our\u00a0understanding of both immediate fire impacts, centered on tree mortality and carbon dynamics, and carbon and management-relevant aspects of post-fire trajectories. We’ll also investigate\u00a0post-fire trajectories to understand 1) post-fire dead wood dynamics and their implications for wildlife habitat, carbon pools, and future fire behavior; 2) post-fire forest structural and community dynamics, including describing post-fire vegetation development without active management under different pre-fire structural conditions and wildfire burn severities; and 3) early seral habitats initiated by fires of varying severity across a gradient of pre-fire stand structures. Summarizing and building models from this data across nearly 1000 forest inventory plots that span broad gradients in climate, forest type, and fire severity will allow us to generalize findings more broadly to west coast forests that have not yet burned or have burned quite recently. Collaborating with manager, practitioner and academic co-producers within this\u00a0research initiative will ensure that findings inform post-fire management that can more effectively address future fire hazard, regeneration needs, habitat development and delivery of climate mitigation benefits.<\/p>\n Learning Objectives<\/u>:\u00a0<\/strong>Learning objectives for the project include understanding how west coast forest ecosystems and the climate benefits we count on them to deliver respond to and develop following wildfire disturbance, and exploiting the knowledge attained to guide post-fire management under actively shifting climate and fire patterns. You will also gain experience analyzing and modeling many kinds of inventory re-measurement data, gain broad perspectives on forest management through engagement with managers and practitioners, and improve communication skills and experience by sharing information developed with management, professional and scientific communities via presentations and publishing findings in journals, reports and electronically delivered visualizations.<\/p>\n Mentor<\/u>:\u00a0<\/strong>The mentor for this opportunity\u00a0is\u00a0Jeremy Fried\u00a0(jeremy.s.fried@usda.gov<\/a>). Please contact him with any\u00a0questions about this\u00a0research opportunity.<\/p>\n Anticipated Appointment Start Date<\/strong><\/u>: <\/strong>January\u00a02024.\u00a0\u00a0Start date is flexible (can be earlier, and potentially later) and will\u00a0depend on a variety of\u00a0factors.<\/p>\n Appointment Length<\/u>:\u00a0<\/strong>The appointment will initially be for one\u00a0year, but may be\u00a0extended\u00a0upon\u00a0recommendation of\u00a0USFS\u00a0and is contingent on the availability of funds.\u00a0Funding is currently available for two years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Level of Participation<\/u>:<\/strong>\u00a0The appointment is full-time.<\/p>\n Participant Stipend<\/u>:<\/strong>\u00a0The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience, ranging from $63,000 – $77,000.<\/p>\n Citizenship Requirements<\/u>:\u00a0<\/strong>This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR).<\/p>\n ORISE Information<\/u>:<\/strong>\u00a0This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and USFS.\u00a0Participants do not become employees of USDA, USFS, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits.\u00a0Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Health insurance can be obtained through ORISE.<\/p>\n Questions<\/u>:<\/strong>\u00a0Please visit our\u00a0Program Website<\/a>. After reading, if you have additional questions about the application process please email\u00a0ORISE.USFS.PNWRS@orau.org<\/a>\u00a0and include the reference code for this opportunity.<\/p>\n Qualifications<\/strong><\/p>\n The qualified candidate should have received a\u00a0master’s or doctoral degree\u00a0in one of the relevant fields, or be currently pursuing a doctoral degree. If not a current doctoral program student, then qualifying degree must have been received within five years of the appointment start date.<\/p>\n Preferred Skills:<\/strong><\/p>\n Eligibility Requirements<\/strong><\/p>\n HOW TO APPLY<\/strong><\/p>\n A complete application package consists of:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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