Reporting to the Director of Grounds, the University Urban Forester is responsible for all facets of tree and forest management on the university’s Blacksburg campus and various other university-owned properties within the commonwealth, including high-profile areas such as the Old Growth Forest.

This is a highly visible, public-facing position, collaborating with internal and external constituent groups to promote the benefit of trees in urban areas as well as provide technical expertise and guidance for campus operations.

This position requires an individual that possesses the appropriate technical expertise as well as exceptional problem solving and people skills, tactful communicative ability, and substantial flexibility and patience.

Specific responsibilities include:
• Oversees, develops, and implements all aspects of urban forest management and Arboriculture practices on University campus properties.
• Supervises the daily operations of the Campus Tree Pruning Crew, including the development and implementation of a quality control program to improve arboricultural operations and ensure high standards of work.
• Reviews plans, advising project design team members, and monitoring tree health during project design and construction. Providing technical direction, including tree protection and prescriptive treatments to ensure the best possible conditions for the trees to be maintained at all project stages pre- and post-construction.
• Develops fertilization, insect, and disease control programs for the campus urban forest.
• Providing direction and identifying hazardous trees, through development and application of tree risk management and mitigation planning.
• Maintaining a comprehensive GIS dataset to facilitate responsible management of all urban forest assets on University properties and lands, including, periodic assessments of tree canopy cover, maintenance of tree inventory data, and monitoring of urban forest condition and performance.
• Working closely with the Design and Construction Design Team, the Office of Sustainability, the University Arboretum Committee, and other stakeholders on all strategic, operational, and tactical tree-related activities and ensuring successful participation in the Tree Campus Higher Education program.
• Establishing community outreach programming with educational components and hands-on volunteer opportunities to engage Virginia Tech community members in urban forest stewardship.
• Close collaboration with colleagues on the Grounds team, including the University Landscape Architect, Grounds Operations Supervisor, and Landscape Care and Maintenance Supervisor.
• Development of mission-oriented projects and solicitation of grant-funded support.
• Develop and implement a tree planting program that supports campus tree canopy and sustainability goals
• Develop policies and standards that promote tree health and urban forest sustainability

The incumbent must be detail, action, solution, and results oriented and dedicated to continuous improvement. The incumbent is expected to fulfill identified responsibilities independently while maintaining effective communication with university leadership.

This position is designated as Emergency Personnel.