Boston Parks Department

OTGBOSTON

OTGBOSTON

Location
Tha Dirty Bean
CITY OF BOSTON PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT
NOTICE TO ENTRY LEVEL URBAN FORESTERS
REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS
The Boston Parks and Recreation Department, acting through its Commissioner, is requesting qualifications for an Assistant Project Manager for its Urban Forestry Program. Entry-level, one-year, full-time contract position.
Salary $35,000 to $45,000 per year without benefits, commensurate with training and experience. This is a full time position.
Job Description: The Assistant will be responsible for the administration and quality control of multiple street-tree planting contracts. The Assistant will review streetscape and other construction projects and provide recommendations to mitigate any impacts to public shade trees. The Assistant will be responsible for program development such as grant writing and community forestry programs including Arbor Day, Tree City USA, Keep it Clean/Green, the Boston Urban Stewards Program, and the Community Forest Partnership. The Assistant is also expected to perform any miscellaneous work that may be necessary to carry out the Urban Forestry Program.
Minimum Qualifications:
· Bachelor's degree in urban forestry or arboriculture, environmental science/ecology or a closely related field and three or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
· Knowledge of urban forest management practices as needed to preserve the City's trees
· Excellent communication and public relations skills
· Proficiency with Microsoft programs
Preferred Qualifications:
· Experience with contractors' work practices
· Certified Arborist (state or ISA)
· Ability to read and interpret landscape plans, GIS maps, etc. as needed to assist developers and to manage urban forestry projects and programs
· Ability to identify problems and review related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions

Must be a resident of the City Of Boston, and possess a valid drivers license
 
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Must be a resident of the City Of Boston

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The really crappy part is that you have to be surrounded by Mass-Holes.
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SZ
 
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no offense, but if a person is able to do all of these things, shouldn't they make more than 35-45000? Especially if they have a ba.

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None taken. We have had some excellent people take this job and either move up in the department or move on to bigger things. I'd have to guess that a lot of people in the tree biz don't make 45k a year, and with this economy it could be a very long cold winter of not working for a lot of treeguys.....
 
It's an entry level position for a graduate with some minor field experience. The wage is on par and I'm sure the opportunity for advancing is good. The only setback is no benefits. Given that this is a city job why not? I realize it's only a one year contract but still not very competitive.

I would presume that the wage would be closer to the 35K mark for a new grad.

A BA today means "BUGGER ALL" unfortunately. Many professions require an MA just to get started.
 
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The only setback is no benefits. Given that this is a city job why not? I realize it's only a one year contract but still not very competitive.


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Because technically it isn't a "city job" it is paid for from private funds in an effort to help us be able to plant more trees. There are several other positions in our department that function like this and they are always filled....so there are people out there that will work like this, and they enjoy it.

It is what it is guys, I appreciate the feed back ('cept for yours EZ ;) )keep the questions coming. I'm sure the job position will be filled by the end of the year.
 
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It is what it is guys, I appreciate the feed back ('cept for yours EZ ;) )

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I'm sorry, I couldn't pass that one up! I'm sure the job has its perks.



SZ
 
Ah yes, you'll have plenty of takers. I've worked this type of arrangement for a government dept. This is a way to work around the union and other obligations. Hey, it's a great start but too bad this is the way of it.
 
Hi my names david bell i have several years in tree work. im an 07 graduate of northlands urban forestry,an 03 grad of arbor master training , i have worked on the USDA asain long horn beettle prodject in rahway nj. I would like to speak to you in person my cell is 914- 424-4130
 
<u>WARNING LOTS OF WORDS TO FOLLOW (AGAIN)
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A BA today means "BUGGER ALL" unfortunately. Many professions require an MA just to get started.

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The sad thing is that the reason a "higher" degree is now oft needed is not because the jobs require more education, rather it is because much of what they teach in college now used to be taught in High School.

Some background is in order here.

Over the past 35 years I have watched and known hundreds of people that have worked at an IBM plant here. To give you an idea of what this plant has produced just look at the computer in front of you. If you have ever used something that contains micro-electronics it is because micro-electronics were invented at this plant.

This plant is also where the computers for the moon shot were developed. So your satellite tv would not be possible without what they did here.

Now here is the kicker...many of these engineering "miracles" were discovered, created or invented by people with no formal college education. And certainly all of those inventions were refined by folks without any degree beyond an AS. A huge number of the patents for those items were awarded to folks that had only a High School Education.

All of them had immense education through on-the-job experience.

I also worked in a college as a Database Manager during the 1980's and early '90's.

During that period of time many colleges started reducing the number and types of course required for admissions. They also started offering "remedial" level courses to make up for the fact that many students didn't have the basics down.

Finally many colleges started making much of the freshman year curriculum into a Highschool review session.

So, if only 35 years ago a Highschool grad could handle calculus and invent, design and build stuff that at the time was unimaginable, why the hell can't a kid with a BS degree figure out how much change they are supposed to get back from the cashier at McDonalds?

Consider this: Do you remember in the late 80's when older folks were losing thier jobs and could't get hired in new ones because they lacked "paper" credentials?

This happened at our IBM plant.

Most of these folks in the engineering world had not only invented the stuff the current students were using, they had written the text that the recent grads were educated from.

And yet, because theses IBMers lacked a "sheepskin" they were not "qualified" for even entry level engineering jobs.

The education from our college system has been diluted in order to give as many degrees as possible to as many people as possible.

A laudible goal, but since the value has been placed on the having the sheepskin and not being deeply educated; and since the schools are more interested in taking your money and producing graduates, it only follows that the quality of the product will fall.

Now I realize that there are plenty of professions where the education recieved for a degree is huge and still produces a graduate with immense amounts of eductation. Any degree that is intensely focused in one particular field fits this category: Medicine, Specialized engineering, the sciences.

However, the plethora of "General" or "Liberal Arts" degrees are the ones that have the effect of diluting the value of degrees in general.

Remember that quote from the The Incredibles? "When everybody is super, then NOBODY will be super."

Some might say the problem is "a chicken or egg scenario."

However, the whole reason the college I worked for changed their admissions criteria was because the quality of student from the public primary education systems had dropped.

These kids were not coming out of highschool prepared for the next level of education.

Since you can't force the government, or unions, to produce a better product, you either give up or lower your expectations.

Society has done the latter.

We can't leave any child behind, so rather than help the ones that are not performing do better, we'll lower the standard.

So now we have lots of BS students, who are less educated than someone with an AS 30 years ago and are expecting to be paid what an MA was paid 20 years ago.

Let's raise a Pint for Lowering the Standards!
 
Hey OTG-

Saw you guys (Boston Forestry) had an incident with a neighborhoood willow.

Here's Denver's willow.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=104183&amp;provider=top


extreme hazard tree that kids played on constantly, the caveat is that it was on a parkway island in a high tax bracket neighborhood. We maintain the island, but the neighborhood beautification committee thinks they run the public land, and obviously don't know about the high liability risk a city carries in trees.
 
It looks to be a great resume builder at the least. If I was a young college grad. I would certainly look at this opportunity a lot closer. Especially if I had aspirations to be a Forester/Arborist for a municipality.

A diverse resume with all sorts of "real world" experience is a good thing in my opinion.
 
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