Careers

Description:

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is hiring a Smoke Management Analyst for the State Office located in Boise, ID. Join Our Team and Make a Difference!

This is a unique opportunity to combine science, policy, and community engagement to help manage agricultural burning in a way that protects Idaho’s air quality and supports our farming communities.

Responsibilities:

· Smoke Management Program Implementation:

- Serve as the lead for the Crop Residue Burning (CRB) Program across Idaho.

- Develop and post preliminary and final burn decisions daily and coordinate daily CRB conference calls with other agricultural burning programs and prescribed fire activities.

- Manage the operation of the CRB software application and collaborate with the Office of Information Technology Services to address maintenance, implement enhancements, and create data reports.

- Support the program’s outreach plan by attending grower-related events to foster strong customer relations.

- Serve as a point of contact for interagency CRB coordination with the agricultural community.

- Monitor daily air quality and initiate documentation when program concentration thresholds are exceeded.

· Smoke Management Program Development:

- Lead the development and continuous improvement of the CRB Program.

- Identify and implement process enhancements.

- Develop CRB training materials and conduct annual training sessions for seasonal staff and regional office analysts.

- Support DEQ regional office managers for ongoing staff training needs.

- Organize and host the annual end-of-season CRB meeting to facilitate closeout reporting and discuss areas for improvement.

- Coordinate with statewide prescribed burning efforts to ensure that Idaho’s CRB needs are represented, and that prescribed fire smoke is considered in daily burn decisions.

· Smoke Management Program Reporting:

- Support development of the annual CRB report by providing essential database and implementation information for review efforts. Oversee the completion of the final document.

- Conduct a yearly review of the CRB Operations Guide to ensure it reflects the most current rules, procedures, and staffing scenarios.

- Supply program data to support the development of agricultural open burning categories for both annual and periodic emission inventories.

- Participate in wildfire communication protocol implementation and wildfire-related conference calls.

- Track and report CRB charges to assist with end-of-year invoicing for all CRB-related burning activities.

Skills/Eligibility:

Minimum Qualifications:

Possession of a bachelor’s degree in the physical or biological sciences, political science, business or public administration, engineering, or related natural resources management field OR any combination of education and/or experience equivalent to a typical four (4) year bachelor’s degree.

For example: Successful completion of sixty (60) semester hours of study, including twenty four (24) semester hours in a subject required for the specific discipline, is equivalent to two (2) years of undergraduate education; and/or experience performing routine duties in completing multiple tasks such as policy research, data collection, interpretation, analysis and preparation of reports and written documents for at least two (2) years can substitute for one (1) year of college. 

AND 

At least four (4) years’ experience managing and implementing, projects or component(s) of programs that are environmental, regulatory, or administrative in nature, where you were required to routinely perform program or project planning; provide technical assistance to staff, special interest groups and the public; and provide policy and/or regulatory interpretation and/or development. 

OR 

Possession of a master’s degree in any of the above fields AND at least two (2) years’ professional experience managing and implementing, or overseeing projects or component(s) of programs that are environmental in nature, where you were required to routinely perform program or project planning; provide technical assistance to staff, special interest groups and the public; and provide policy and/or regulatory interpretation and/or development. 

Desired Qualifications

At least one (1) year of full-time work experience supporting the implementation of air pollution control and air quality improvement strategies; conducting air emission inventories, or ambient air quality monitoring; working closely with a specific category of emission sources, such as industrial source testing, mobile source emissions and controls, or air quality characteristics of residential wood burning and controls; or experience in air pollution control involving interpretation and application of the Clean Air Act and environmental rules, such as reviewing, developing or implementing monitoring networks, inspection programs, environmental compliance with state and federal rules, emission inventories, receptor modeling, air quality improvement plans for non-attainment areas, construction or operating permits and smoke management programs.