GIS Specialist

At Collins, we are committed to building a better world. As a family-owned company founded in 1855, this begins with our commitment to land and resource stewardship on our 370 thousand acres of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) certified forest lands. With operations in California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, we manufacture softwood and hardwood lumber, particleboard, and hardboard siding.

Position Summary:

Professional staff position overseeing Geographic Information Systems (GIS), inventory, databases, property disposition, easements, and licenses in support of forest management of the commercial forestland operated by a long-term forest products company with lands in northeast California, southcentral Oregon, and northwest Pennsylvania. This position may be based at any Collins location but travel to forest management sites will be required.

Duties/Responsibilities:

• Responsible for the acquisition, manipulation, usage, and storage of land ownership information, GIS data, easements, encumbrances, licenses, and land-based agreements.
• Reconcile and authorize payment of timber yield and property taxes.
• Examine easement documents and share results with forestry staff.
• Design and implement forest inventory methods, control data, and manipulate in modeling software.
• Support company foresters in planning and implementing timber harvests and woods operations. 
• Understand field work associated with inventory, growth and yield, wildlife monitoring, and other aspects of company-managed forests.
• Interact with forestry and wildlife staff.
• Support implementation of silviculture regimes through the management of ArcGIS, web-based applications, and other analyses.
• Use ground-truthing and other methods to verify GIS data accuracy.
• Seek out new technologies and implement them to become more efficient.
• Supports forestry research projects in cooperation with Oregon State University, University of California, Pennsylvania State University, the United States Forest Service, and others.
• Perform additional duties as required by supervisor.
• On-site attendance is essential to effectively perform the listed duties and responsibilities. 

Required Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to implement emerging technologies.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to collaboratively solve problems.
• Strong analytical, reasoning, and problem-solving skills; ability to think creatively and find innovative solutions to complex problems.
• Exceptional curiosity and willingness to learn.
• Expert-level computer skills, including the suite of applications in Microsoft Office and GIS applications supported through ESRI.
• Excellent time-management and organizational skills.
• Must be able to perform rigorous, field-based work in all weather conditions, on steep, brush-filled terrain.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree or the equivalent experience in forestry, biology, forest engineering, natural resource management, economics, business, plant biology, plant genetics, or agriculture sciences.
• Experience in GIS systems and analysis and knowledge about mensuration, growth and yield modeling, forest management, silviculture, and timber harvest scheduling.
• Demonstrated leadership skills; demonstrated collaborative problem-solving skills; must be comfortable with change management.