increased to a new high of 56%. This would be an encouraging sign if overall staffing was increasing but seems to instead reflect a shift aligning with available funding and to some degree, crisis management. Staffing shortage and need The Funding and Position Analysis tracks not only current staff, but needed staff as well
in a variety of forestry and fire positions. Respondents are able to list the FTE they feel are needed in a variety of position types (professional, technician, etc.) across discipline areas, such as timber sales, research, forest health, and others. A total need of 2,057 additional staff were identified, an increase of 120% over current staffing levels. Ten years ago, the additional need was only 72%.
As in past IFMAT assessments, forest planning, forest product sales, forest protection, and multi-use management had the highest need for professionals. These four disciplines combined equaled 71% of the additional professional needs identified in 2019, with forest planning alone comprising about 22% of the overall requested increase. Forest protection, which includes fuels and fire, had by far the
Table C.3. Identified staffing needs for both BIA and Tribal forestry and fire. Category 1991 1996 2001 2006
2011
2019
Forestry
Professional Support Technical Temporary
223
286
315
412
373
294
64
52
80
63
56
56
284 N/A 571
223 104 666
254 292 940
245
329 159 917
210 440
49
All
769
1,000
Fire
Professional Support Technical Temporary
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
46 24
49 16
59 38
59 18
102
117 114 297 461
157 208 462 431
126 854
57
All
229 362 104 356 348
1,057
Total
Professional Support Technical Temporary
223
286
352
64
52
80
94
74
284 N/A 571
223 104 666
362 163
486 367
336
1,294 2,057
All
1,170
1,066
1,379
Table C.4. 2019 staffing needs by category and discipline area.
Temp/ seasonal
Discipline
Professional
Support
Technical
Total
Admin support
6
25
1
0
32
Forest development Forest education
35
4 2 4 3
51
177
265
5
6
18
31
Forest planning
79 65 63
54 62
5 6
142 135
Forest product sales
Forest protection (including fire)
19
127
854
1,062
Forest research
1
0 6 1
1
2
4
Multi-use management
43
21
156
225
Other
5
1 5 9 0
0 3 9
7
Program administration
37 12
11
55 31 68
Roads
2 0
Technical assistance
3
65
Total
352
74
336
1,294
2,057
102 Assessment of Indian Forests and Forest Management in the United States
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