Due to recent legislation from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law including the Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program, the funding for the “Wildfire Problem” has recently become more available than ever before. However, the workforce required is not available. As a leader in wildfire and forestry education and research, Northern Arizona University’s School of Forestry (SOF) is in a key position to facilitate workforce development and to increase workforce capacity.
First Steps
Step One: A Workforce Needs Assessment
We are interviewing a wide range of Arizonans who work in fire and forestry to identify gaps in their field’s workforce. After finishing the first round of interviews, we will form focus groups that will discuss workforce needs and think through the best ways to furnish students with educational programs that fulfill these needs. Learn […]
Step Two: Creation of New Educational Programs
Our workforce needs assessment will inform the creation of new educational programs in the School of Forestry. We anticipate that this may include, but is not limited to, launching an on-line/hybrid undergraduate Fire and Forestry Certificate for professionals, exploring a new on-line/hybrid Applied Fire Science Degree in collaboration with community colleges across the state and […]
Step Three: Collaborating with Agencies, Community Colleges, and Private Industry
Workforce development will include educational programs for university credit, continuing education, and workforce training modules for professionals. Collaboration with community colleges, agencies and private industry is critical; therefore, we will hire for positions designed to foster these collaborations and to help develop experiential learning opportunities while creating internships and pipelines to the workforce.