Associate Forestry Tech / Forestry Specialist- NJ Veg Mgmt - Morristown Gen. Office

About this role:

Assoc Forestry Tech, Forestry VM

FirstEnergy at a Glance

We are a forward-thinking electric utility powered by a diverse team of employees committed to making customers’ lives brighter, the environment better and our communities stronger.
 

FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE) is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, FirstEnergy includes one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, more than 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, and a regulated generating fleet with a total capacity of more than 3,500 megawatts.

 

Note- This is a position with FirstEnergy Service Co., a division of FirstEnergy Corp. 

 

This position will be located in the Northern NJ area  / Morristown NJ. 

 

Responsibilities: 

• Demonstrates and directs a solid commitment to all aspects of safety. 
• Plans, monitors, inspects, and enforces the terms and conditions of contracts for the performance of operating maintenance, new construction and storm restoration activities provided by qualified contractors. 
• Coordinates the activities of the region's vegetation management program for both sub-transmission and distribution planned work, capital projects, and storm response. 
• Provides supervision and direction for the safe and productive performance of a skilled workforce. This includes oversight of bargaining unit line clearance employees and vegetation management contractors to achieve performance objectives and meet safety requirements. 
• Ensures system wide work practices are followed in accordance with all related specifications, policies, and procedures of the vegetation management program. This includes clearly understanding and implementing work standards in accordance with state and federal reliability standards. 
• Serves as lead personnel on all customer directed inquiries regarding vegetation management clearing work, including negotiating with property owners to balance customer satisfaction with scope completion. Researches and analyzes new methods and procedures for vegetation management including tools, equipment, crew types and herbicides. 
• Acts as the vegetation management lead within a given region for all concerns pertaining to vegetation clearing and treatment activities. 
• Executes all vegetation management activities within a given region, including maintenance and new business, by meeting scheduled timelines and achieving quality work scope completion while meeting cost targets. 
• Inspects tree-caused outages and investigates outage to determine cause and conditions. Schedules contractor follow-up work as necessary. 
• Monitors company-owned properties for weed growth and schedules contractor follow-up work as necessary. 
• Supports ESSS program by monitoring, investigating and developing remedies for forestry conditions. 
• Responds to helicopter patrol condition abatement notifications, schedules contractor follow-up work as necessary, and promptly communicates completion to Transmission group. 
• Efficiently manages time and priorities, and updates management on work in progress, backlog of work, and any other applicable status updates. 
• Support storm restoration activities as required.

 

Qualifications at the Assoc Forestry Tech level include: 

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree in Forestry Science or related discipline (agriculture or environmental), or Associate’s degree in Forestry Science or related discipline (agriculture or environmental) along with 2 years of related job experience, or High School Diploma (or GED) along with 4-5 years related work experience. Related work experience is utility vegetation or right of way management. International society of arboriculture, Certified Arborist / utility specialist preferred. 
• Must have strong background in urban forestry, plant identification, and hazard tree knowledge. Demonstrated knowledge in herbicide application techniques, tree identification and growth rates, computer application programming, and line construction. 
• Must be familiar with diagrams / drawings and have a working knowledge of electrical systems. 
• Must understand the National Electrical Safety Code as it applies to vegetation management 
• Must understand the American National Standards Institute – ANSI Z133.1 – Arboricultural Operations – Safety Requirements 
• Must understand the American National Standards Institute – ANSI A300 Part 1 - Tree Care Operations – Tree, Shrub and Other Woody Plant Maintenance – Standard Practice - Pruning 
• Must understand the OSHA Safety Standard 29 CFR