What’s happening in Engineering on the Chippewa National Forest

The Engineering and Operations team is in the early phases of implementing our new organization. After many months of discussion, the new organization chart was recently approved by the Forest Leadership Team to include Engineering, and for the first time ever, an Operations staff.

The new Engineering group will include 5 Civil Engineers and 5 Civil Engineering technicians. These positions will be tasked with constructing, reconstructing, managing, and maintaining Forest Service assets like Bridges, Buildings, Dams, Water/Wastewater systems, and Roads. These tasks are completed through condition assessments, inspections, force account work, working with district staff and outside partners, creating agreements, and contracting with private contractors.

The newly created Operations group will include a Facilities Manager and 4 wage grade Maintenance Workers. These positions will oversee much more of the daily operation needs of the administrative site buildings at the 3 district offices, the Supervisor’s Office site and at recreation sites. The intent is to have much more hands-on oversight to the HVAC, plumbing, and electrical systems within our facilities.

Rounding out the new group is another new position, a Data Services Specialist. This position will provide focused oversight to the Forest’s NRM asset management database. This is a priority as all future project funding depends on accurate project descriptions and tracking current and deferred costs.

Fleet Management remains within this work group, providing vehicle services to ensure we can all get where we need to go with the best vehicle  for the task. The Forest Engineer will lead this entire new and dynamic group.

The team is very understaffed currently, with 1 Engineer 1 technician, the fleet manager, and the Forest Engineer on staff. Craig Taylor has recently accepted a promotion to the Regional Technical Services Team and will be leaving in early July 2022. We have tentative offers out for some key positions, outreaching the other positions, and are enthusiastically looking forward to seeing some new faces joining our team soon.