SFNF News:SANTA FE ― The Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest seeks to hire five Veterans to form a crew in support of wildland fire operations for three or more months beginning in May.
Duty location is the Pecos District Ranger Office in Pecos, and work will primarily be in support of the hazardous fuels program. VIWF crew members will earn Federal Civil Service pay and benefits at the GS-3 pay grade, and receive crew housing if needed.
The Santa Fe National Forest’s Veterans in Wildland Fire (VIWF) – Hazardous Fuels Program 2018 is an opportunity for Veterans, following their return from the combat zone, to re-assimilate to civilian life by becoming trained wildland firefighters. The program also can “open doors” to other hiring opportunities in federal government, or elsewhere. Wildland firefighting can be physically challenging, and requires a mental “toughness” inherent of many Veterans.
The VIWF crew’s primary purpose is to perform thinning, hand-piling, limbing and brushing vegetation, assist with prescribed fire implementation, prepare prescribed fire burn units for implementation and monitoring. Focus areas are Rowe Mesa, where the VIWF crew will help improve fuels, range and wildlife habitat conditions, while protecting and/or improving other resources such as archaeology and watershed.
There can also be opportunities for the VIWF crew to spend time with resource specialists and receive an orientation across other Forest Service work areas. This may include working with wildlife crews during surveys (e.g. owls, fish, etc.), recreation crews with campgrounds and facilities, range crews to ensure livestock-grazing compliance and/or fence maintenance, weed-removal crews, and/or archaeology site surveys and more.
Work is very rewarding and positions can fill quickly.
For more information, call 505.757.6121 or email mburton@fs.fed.us or jjulian@fs.fed.us.
