A program worth exploring.

What you’ll do: (Core responsibilities)

Identify and execute opportunities to advance policy priorities tied to those generated in the FAS Wildland Fire Policy Accelerator. Work closely with Congressional offices to identify opportunities in the appropriations process and draft programmatic request letters, report language, and amendments.

Engage with internal and external stakeholders to build support for proposals in Congress by arranging support letters, stakeholder meetings, and briefings for Congressional staff.

Skills and Experience (Requirements)

At least five years experience working on federal legislative matters, preferably related to environmental policy or wildfire prevention.

Strong knowledge of the legislative process and familiarity with key Members of Congress and federal agencies involved in wildfire prevention.

Excellent research, analytical, and critical thinking skills to assess policy proposals and identify potential implications.

Demonstrated ability to develop and execute advocacy strategies, including building relationships with policymakers and stakeholders.

Exceptional written and verbal communication skills to effectively convey complex policy issues to diverse audiences.

Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment and manage multiple priorities with strong attention to detail.

Nice to haves

Existing knowledge of, relationships with, relevant federal agency and/or Congressional staff.

Experience navigating the difference between issue education and lobbying roles that characterize different types of interactions with Congress.

Work Environment

This position will be a hybrid role, meaning that both remote and in-person work can be accommodated, generally two to three days per week on-site, and two to three days per week remote. To be successful, we prefer the position be located in the Washington, D.C. area to responsively accommodate frequent meetings on Capitol Hill.

Salary Range

$95,000 - $115,000; This position will be a term position, for an initial period of 12 months, with renewal contingent on funding.

Hiring Statement

Don’t check off every box? Apply anyway! Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every listed qualification. At FAS we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, and developing new voices. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly, we encourage you to apply anyway – you might just be the right candidate.

The Federation of American Scientists is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. The Federation of American Scientists prohibits discriminating against employees and job applicants who inquire about, discuss, or disclose the compensation of the employee or applicant or another employee or applicant.

Timeframe to hire

FAS looking to fill this position quickly. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Early submission will ensure your application receives full consideration.

Wildfire Policy Specialist

Federation of American Scientists

$95,000 - $115,000 a year

Location

Washington, DC

https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=3f2d82bb31996ea3

This position needs to be filled this month.

By September 2023, the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commision, will deliver a comprehensive set of new policy recommendations on wildfire to Congress. In this “make-or-break” year for wildland fire, Federation of American Scientists, together with key partners, executed a Wildland Fire Policy Accelerator to source and develop actionable policy ideas aimed at improving how we live with fire. More than 20 participants from academia, Indigenous communities, the private sector, nonprofits, and national labs, brought their expertise across fire ecology, forestry, modeling, climate change, fire intelligence, cultural burning, and more to develop policy ideas.

Now FAS has partnered with Megafire Action, an advocacy organization solely focused on ending the megafire crisis within the next decade, to implement these policy recommendations and elevate the subject matter experts behind them. To accomplish this goal, we are seeking to hire a Wildfire Policy Specialist, with deep knowledge of both Congress and wildfire, to develop, implement and advance a policy agenda based on the actionable ideas in those recommendations. The ideal candidate will be skilled in engaging across a diverse array of stakeholders, will work to actively engage and educate Members of Congress and their staff and work with experts and organizations to build coalitions around legislative goals.

The individual in this role will be employed by FAS, but will receive significant guidance and direction from the CEO of Megafire Action. To be successful in this role, the Specialist will need to be nimble and savvy on how to work with both subject matter experts and Congressional staff and should have a nuanced understanding of the difference between issue education and lobbying roles that characterize different types of interactions with Congress.

By September 2023, the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commision, will deliver a comprehensive set of new policy recommendations on wildfire to Congress. 

Man, I was REALLY, REALLY avoiding commenting on this subject, even though it hits extremely close to home, because Nate is my guy and I didn't want to completely shit on his idea. His dedication to the environment is well documented, and maybe even surpasses my own, so I know he is sincerely just searching for answers. In addition to this, Raider moe or less covered anything that I would've said already but here I find myself. This is a horrible idea. This is why.

 First off, my stance on immigration, illegal and legal, is pretty well documented. I don't believe we are in need of more paths to citizenship. The way we now use the term "asylum" now is complete farce. It's absurd. Our asylum policies were created, essentially for people fleeing war torn countries in which we had been belligerents. Then that shifted to "anyone fleeing persecution" in their own country. People fleeing oppressive political regimes. And I can even support that. Now it's simply, "If your country sucks, you should be able to come here and apply for asylum." This is not a good policy for the long-term prosperity of our country. It just adds to our poverty stricken lower-classes and drains already tapped resources.

I know we all love the image of chasing the American dream but that is just that, a dream. It works out for a fraction of one percent. The rest will be disproportionately affected by drugs, alcoholism, poverty, teen pregnancy, crime, gangs, etc. This is not a know on them, personally, or on the basis of race, just as it isn't a knock on my own race. These are simply the things that ravage our lower classes. It's not racial, or nationalistic, it's socio- economical. We do not need to add to our lowest rungs of society. We do not need more paths to citizenship. That's the first part.

Second, pulling homeless people off the streets and sending them to perform wildfire management and abatement is just not an option. This isn't the movies. These aren't hardworking people who just fell on hard times when the plant closed and now they just need an opportunity. These are people struggling with mental illness and addiction. There's no way you're getting Johnny to take a break from picking at the 3" wide, 1" deep festering womb on his leg to strap on gear and hike 5 miles, gaining 1500 feet of elevation in the process, to go clear cut. Mental health is the key to reaching these people. Preventative mental health, not trying to reach them once their gone, which just becomes a constant drain on resources. There's no feasibility in a plan using homeless people to even do the basic fuel abatement/remediation. You couldn't put a weed whacker in these people's hands.

Lastly, we have to consider what we are talking about here. Are we talking about "wildland fire" abatement or "forest fire" abatement. These concepts can go over the heads of many of our brothers from east of the Rockies, and even someone from a heavily forested state like Maine, as is my brother Nature. Most of the West Coast is of a Mediterranean climate, leading to extremely dry Summers. Aside from a few noteworthy fertile valleys, the far Western States, where most wild fires occur, are either Mountain or high desert. Most states suffer from either periodic, or in the case if California, nearly perpetual drought. So you have the dry, chaparral scrubland regions, where most "wild fires" occur. And let me tell you, you're hard pressed managing those areas. They are all thick with dry vegetation. You could spend months and thousands of dollars, millions even, clearing an area and one rogues July rain will make that shit explode all over again thus restarting the process. The type of dry fuel that covers much of the western states is extremely hearty and specializes in surviving in dry climates. This is the type of fuel you see in the high desserts as well as the dry chaparral regions you see as you move away from the deltas and river courses of the western states. It covers most inland coast areas as well as the huge rain shadow that runs the entire length of the United States created by the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges. This stuff is everywhere and it's nearly impossible to manage.

Next you have the mountains. The western states are covered in mountains. These mountains are higher, steeper, and more densely forested than what is encountered in the eastern states. These are where our "forest fires" occur. The topography and terrain, while creating difficulty in fighting forest fires, also create difficulty in mitigation. Clearing of old and dead growth is more difficult than you can imagine. Opening more lands to loggers helps some but not much, as the old and dead growth lacks value in harvest. And something I've learned since moving to Oregon, the Cascades and it's foothills are prone to dry Summer lightning strikes. So a fire could spark literally anywhere. This issue hits close to home. I have acquaintances who have lost their homes in Oregon. I have actual friends who have lost their homes in California. Since living in Oregon, we have had to evaluate twice but thankfully were spared.

So what's my solution? We need to invest heavily into our already existing wildland fire crews. We need to double their size, specifically in Washington, Oregon, Cal Fire, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. We also need to pay them better. Those kids are doing God's work and they typically get paid dogshit. We also need to implement diversionary programs for non-violent offenders between the ages of say 16 and 23. I'm not talking about the programs we already have in place of using inmates to do this work. I'm talking about catching kids who are young enough to make a difference in their lives and give them a shot at an actual career path. The best use of money in investing in the people and agencies we already have in place. Not giving a path ton asylum seekers. Grow the ranks. Pay them better. Give young, able bodied Americans an honest job with a decent wage. That is my solution.

Then what to do with the 5 million homeless in America. 

Let's see ... exterminate thr problem?

Of they dead then we have the solution no human trafficking and no homeless desperate enough to be human trafficked. 

And we back to sky net is operational let the ai decide who lives and what's not needed can be eliminated...

If they can't be helped and we are tired of witnessing the abject suffering they endure.  We can end this issue. Homeless report to hospital and have your body recycled for organ removal. Here the fentenyl you font want to live and we are tired of seeing you shit in thenpark.

I was homeless in sleeping 

park in New haven Connecticut. 

Today I am homeless sleeping on a buddies couch and remodeling an apartment for someone else to enjoy. 

And I know we have as a nation a solution to this...

Back in the day Jesus himself didn't have a home or a place... so olive branch or sword because thos is a problem .

We don't live with problems we solve them or we leave them but we don't live with them....

And simply justify thus to the soccer moms point of veiw,

as we don't want some trash defecating in front of our children in front of the playground. 

Homelessness is a never ending problem mostly caused by poverty and shortage of cheap housing.  There are many reasons for homelessness such as job loss, family breakdown, substance abuse and mental illness.  But instead of solving individual problems, Houston and Finland have reduced homelessness more than other places by getting people quickly into permanent housing.  So the most successful and expensive solution has been government housing assistance. 

Over 1,000 people missing after deadly Hawaii wildfires

Source fox News.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6333112648112

Allowing asylum seekers to work more quickly will allow them to earn income, pay taxes and contribute to the Maine economy, as well as move from the limited state housing. The state of Maine, Maine’s congressional delegation and Maine’s nonprofit partners have done an admirable job in trying to help asylum seekers with little coordination and assistance from the federal government. It is time for the Biden administration to step up and push this commonsense legislation that would allow asylum seekers to seek the employment they need to move on from state housing assistance and fill the open positions so prevalent in the Maine economy.

Matthew J. Maiup? 

Source Bangor daily news opinion section. 

Sure, bro. Send all the "asylum" seekers up to Maine. See how that works out.

Somehow we ended up with about 3000 of them .

Mostly from African countries.

But this is a dying state meaning most of our children for many generations moved else where to work. They do come back but to retire.

We actually have serious need for people to live and work here. The dynamics of Lewiston maine has made this city maine in terms of what Somalian across the country refer to the city. 

And the results after 20 years what was  one of the largest ( white ghettos) tall pines has transformed into riverview and looks like town houses well kept lawns clean sidewalks and actually improved after the Somalian moved into neiborhood.

The area transformed into a nice community low crime and happy people, and very little angry voices crime went down there .

The tree streets have moved from a nice community into slums with increased crime deaths by homicides rapes and every class of violent crime with the policies of this is a slum. It wouldn't bother me if this was revitalized with new blood so to speak.

Same as Portland. From Congress to park Deering Avenue to high street is now a preferred neiborhood and Deering area has seriously digressed into a slum. 

What we don't have is enough available housing as more Americans from Boston region take second homes here and live and work elsewhere many vacant properties exist in western southern maine and utilized on weekends and vacation periods we just don't have space available for the influx of population. 

Maine has remained a pop I lation neutral state as far as year round residence. 1.5 million existed around the Civil War.  And 1.5 million remain after 150 years... while the population of the country went from 50 million to 300 million in same period of time.

Maine existing laws 8n towns is where the stop growth policies are recognized as many communities don't want to lose the rural character of town and prevent housing expansion in Southern Maine such as auburn policies to have 5 areas and so much town road frontage 8n the rural areas of the city...

These terms city means any community with iver 10k people of which we have 25 Portland being the largest with 150,000 or so.

Entirely different world here stu. Entirely different mentality as the ( white citizens die off we need new energy from other ethnic areas to replenish life here.in my opinion. It is better to have human beings who are happy to call this place home then the ones who just can't wait to live and build their lives elsewhere.

It is the change that is the struggle for example I watch the human beings going to their mosque emerge happy shaking each other's hand dressed in gowns full of hope and the old tired ones emerge in far less numbers from Sunday worship look as though the grave is a place to look forward to being placed. Sad discouraged and solemn. 

Susan Collins would like to revitalize the aroostook county with new hope . Is meeting huge resistance as most communities are led by these old tired ones in seats of power city councils planning boards sherriffs department ect. But this will begin to change as the new hope to me spreads south to north.

Hopefully most of them feel they should goto where ex governor Lepage want Florida.  And we become a strong vibrant community and again it will be a difficult struggle as the change occurs. But to me it is progress in the right direction. 

foot note.

Ripley maine church. Lasted 200 years as a spiritual center is now being transformed from an abandoned methodist church into a Marijuana grow room.

Turner church near bear mountain from a decaying structure into a single family home....

This is the sign of the times as these Christians spiritual centers are abandoned all over the state and being revitalized in a new vision and an image of what's to come in many  areas and a symbol of our dying failed policies of the part..

I'll leave this today with this thought. 

My family , the ones who left in my dad's generation have become beautiful people educated wealthy people who are well educated and very prosperous.  The ones who remained didn't do as well.

In terms of my Dad growing up in a family of 8 siblings from a very small community in northern Maine eating from the same plate raised by two working parents all with the same DNA.

I have lived in this decaying state for over 50 years. And have hope with this new citizens coming happy to be here.

@nature1970

 Interesting stuff, brother.