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The Role & Strategic Mandate
The Director provides leadership for a multi-faceted statewide organization with offices across the state. Managing an agile team of professionals and a complex budget comprising state, federal, and private funding, the Director will oversee key program areas:
- Wildland Fire Protection: Partnering with rural fire districts to provide training, equipment, and fire suppression strategies.
- Community Forestry & Sustainable Landscapes: Partnering with communities to elevate urban canopy through training, funding and outreach. Overseeing PlantNebraska – formerly the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, a member-based nonprofit organization.
- Rural Forestry: Assisting private landowners with forest management, wildfire mitigation, agroforestry, and wood product utilization.
- Forest Health: Diagnosing and mitigating threats to forest health.
Key Responsibilities
- Administrative Leadership: Provide strategic direction, operational management, and financial stewardship for the agency’s personnel, facilities, and diverse funding portfolio.
- Partnership & Advocacy: Cultivate deep, trusted relationships with the U.S. Forest Service, Council of Western State Foresters (CWSF), the National Association of State Foresters (NASF), Natural Resources Districts (NRDs), state legislators, commodity groups, and private landowners.
- University Integration: Align NFS goals with the broader research, teaching, and Extension missions of IANR and the School of Natural Resources.
- Public Voice: Serve as the primary advocate and public face of the Nebraska Forest Service.