South Dakota Department of Game Fish & Parks is hiring a Service Forester as a member of an integrated resource management team of forestry, wildlife, bison, range and wildland fire natural resource professionals. Custer State Park has over 71,000 ac of managed lands and maintains active natural resource management programs. This is a unique opportunity to gain a valuable and diverse set of skills such as implementation, coordinate, and administration of forestry activities and programs within Custer State Park. As a Timber Management Forester, you would provide educational information to ensure effective conservation practices related to trees and forests and the protection of the state’s resources. Duties include timber sale preparation and administration, log scaling, non-commercial thinning setup and administration, forest inventory, pile burning activities, hazard tree ID and removal, timber sale cleanup, and assisting with writing stand level forestry prescriptions. The incumbent will also be encouraged to participate in wildland fire fighting and prescribed burning. 

This position requires the employee to work independently, traverse distances over one mile on uneven terrain and work in outdoor forested areas for extended periods of time through a variety of environmental conditions. This employee is encouraged to join Custer State Park Fire Guard, which is a group of park staff providing initial wildland fire response and provides assistance for prescribed fires within the park. Joining CSP fire guard is voluntary, and would require you to pass a physical fitness test. 

This is a Full-Time 40 Hours Weekly position with the Department of Game Fish & Parks. For more information on the Game Fish & Parks, please visit https://gfp.sd.gov/.

You can view our benefits information here.