Forest service gets ready to hire for slew of positions

The U.S. Forest Service is hiring.

Tory Houser, acting district ranger, is looking to hire for four positions at the Wrangell Ranger District. A recreation manager, a wilderness and recreation technician, an Anan Wildlife Observatory crew manager, and a fisheries biologist.

The recreation manager is a permanent position. “That's the person who will go and maintain cabins and campsites and help with trails and help us get a lot of those projects done,” Houser said.

The biologist will be working on fish streams and habitat, and work with the Wrangell Cooperative Association to develop a partnership to work on the Stikine River.

All of these positions come with benefits, Houser said. The recreation manager job would pay between $24 to $29 per hour, the forestry technician and Anan crew manager would be paid $19 to $24 per hour, the fisheries biologist $29.43 per hour.

In the meantime, Houser is sorting interviews for positions advertised last fall, including hires at Anan, some interns and a researcher. She’s getting someone to help with visitor-use monitoring, and trail crews.

Houser said the Wrangell Ranger District will also be getting a wilderness fellow from the Wilderness Fellowship program. “They are usually really high-end. The last one came from Yale.”

The four positions of recreation manager, recreation technician, Anan crew manager and fisheries biologist will be posted on usajobs.gov, Houser said. She’s hoping to fill those by spring.

There is also potential for two archeology positions — an archeologist and an archeology technician — but those decisions are pending.

The archeologists would help with the ranger district with its environmental reviews, including tribal consultation and engaging with the State Historic Preservation Office.

An archeologist would make $29.43 per hour, and $24 per hour for an archeology tech.

Houser said the Forest Service is looking at, including the interns, about 22 to 25 hires in total for the Wrangell district this year. It’s been a long time since they were able to hire this much, she said.

Sandra “Punky” Moore is the public affairs and partnerships staff officer at Tongass National Forest. “Alaska communities may notice a trend in increased Forest Service hiring,” Moore said on Friday.

“This trend aligns with the agency’s priorities and funding sources from new legislation. This historic legislation gives us more of the funding we need to ensure that the people and communities we serve get all the benefits they want and need from Alaska’s national forests.”

Moore said the funding sources are the Great American Outdoors Act, the Southeast Alaska Sustainable Strategy and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.