Urban Forester bei Town of Vienna, VA

About the Department

TOWN OF VIENNA PARKS & RECREATION

URBAN FORESTER (FULL TIME)
PAY GRADE 120: $70,606-$113,675

The Urban Forester plays a key leadership role on the Town’s Urban Forestry and Horticulture team, working closely with the Town Arborist and the Superintendent of Urban Forestry, Horticulture & Park Maintenance. This position provides day-to-day, on-site guidance to staff and contractors to ensure the health, beauty, and sustainability of the Town’s trees, parks, landscapes, and green spaces.

Blending technical expertise, hands-on fieldwork, and team leadership, the Urban Forester actively participates in and oversees planting, maintenance, repair, and landscape improvement projects throughout the Town—including parks, sports fields, stream corridors, and public spaces. This work directly supports the department’s mission to build community through people, parks, and programs by fostering safe, welcoming, and thriving natural environments.

This is an outdoor-focused role that involves working in varying weather and site conditions, with regular physical activity such as walking, bending, lifting, and operating tools and equipment. Under the general supervision of the Town Arborist, the Urban Forester exercises sound judgment, demonstrates initiative, and upholds the department’s core values: exceptional service, environmental stewardship, inclusivity, health and well-being, and continuous improvement.

Work Schedule
 Monday through Friday 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM
 Overtime as necessary and mandatory during emergency situations

This is a non-exempt position.

Position Duties

The functions listed below are those that represent the majority of the time spent working in this class. Management may assign additional functions related to the type of work of the class as necessary. 

Essential Functions:

Inspects Town trees to identify and/or prevent existing or potential safety hazards, including diseases, infestations, weather-related damage or other dangerous conditions.
 
Instructs, trains, organizes,   schedules and assigns work to Urban Forestry and Horticultural Town staff and Town contractors; maintains, updates and posts standards and policies; provides feedback to Town Arborist; recommends hiring, selection, promotions, demotions, disciplinary actions, or terminations.

Orders and procures all plant material including trees, shrubs, herbaceous, forbs and graminoid plants, seasonal plants, bulbs, seeds for green house production, topsoil soil, mulch, potting mix, tools, equipment for tree and landscape work.
 
Manages debris generated from staff and contract activities including wood chips reuse and disposal of wood, brush and landscape debris.
 
Creates and reviews work orders to ensure accuracy and compliance with assigned work tasks, policies and standards; prepares and processes reports, memos, etc.; responds to, and composes emails, telephone calls, and verbal inquiries.

Supports the management of contracted services to include but not limited to tree maintenance, irrigation, landscape maintenance, vegetation management, seasonal plant installation, tree installation, plant procurement.
  
Participates in maintenance of the trees, shrubs, landscape plants, streetscape planters, landscaped areas, seasonal plant displays and irrigation systems and other vegetation.

Participates in and leads a weekly safety meeting discussion with staff.
 
Attends the Town’s Tree Advocacy Committee monthly meetings when needed.

Uses a variety of computer software such as Tyler Munis, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Tree Plotter.

Maintains Pesticide application records, provide required State reporting.
 
Manage the Town’s Habitat Restoration Plan including volunteer events.

Liaisons, collaborates, and assists the Town Arborist and Superintendent of Urban Forestry, Horticulture, & Park Maintenance.
 
Collects, enters, updates data into the Town’s Tree inventory software.

Staff town tree planting events including volunteer events.

Assist the Town Arborist with staffing the Town’s Arbor Day celebration(s) and Urban forestry related events including managing the Town’s Habitat Restoration events.  
Occasionally generates, updates and posts educational information to be displayed on the Town’s website and display kiosks. Rarely makes presentations to Town staff and the general public.

 
Oversees Greenhouse and facility operations, ensuring cleanliness, organization and overall maintenance.
 
Fleet Vehicle inspecting, servicing, generally maintenance oversight and facilitate servicing

Additional Duties:
Responds to resident’s questions/concerns/inquiries.

Works occasional weekends and evenings for Parks and Recreation Department special events. Currently, there are 4 mandatory Special Events that staff must work – Independence Day fireworks and festival, Halloween Parade, two of the Chillin’ on Church events.
  
Reports to work for snow, emergency response, and other emergencies as assigned.

Responds to emergency tree related queries and maintenance requests during and after hours.
 
Operates, demonstrates, and trains staff on a variety of equipment and/or tools pertaining to trees and grounds maintenance vegetation maintenance.
 
Guides, helps, and advises less experienced workers in all areas of job duties; fills in for Town Arborist as requested.
 
Uses a variety of tools such as tree climbing and rigging equipment, chain saws, hand tools, pitchforks, rakes, power shrub pruners, string trimmers, backpack sprayer, etc.

Performs related work as assigned.

Responsibilities, Requirements and Impacts

Data Responsibility:

Data Responsibility refers to information, knowledge, and conceptions obtained by observation, investigation, interpretation, visualization, and mental creation.  Data are intangible and include numbers, words, symbols, ideas, concepts, and oral verbalizations.

Collects, classifies or formats data or information in accordance with a prescribed schema or plan to facilitate the identification and extraction of useful information.

People Responsibility:

People include co-workers, workers in other areas or agencies and the general public.

Speaks with or signals to people to convey or exchange information of a general nature. Provides information, guidance or assistance to people that directly facilitate task accomplishment.

Asset Responsibility:

Assets responsibility refers to the responsibility for achieving economies or preventing loss within the organization.

Requires responsibility and opportunity for achieving moderate economies and/or preventing moderate losses through the management of a small division; handles supplies of high value or moderate amounts of money consistent with the operation of a small division.

Mathematical Requirements:

Mathematics requires the use of symbols, numbers and formulas to solve mathematical problems.

Uses mathematics involving the practical application of fractions, percentages, ratios and proportions; or measurements, logarithmic, or geometric construction; may use algebraic solutions of equations and inequalities, descriptive statistics, deductive geometry, plane and solid and rectangular coordinates; mathematical and classifications or schemes.

  

Communications Requirements:

Communications involves the ability to read, write, and speak.

Reads professional literature and technical manuals; speaks to groups of employees, other public and private groups; writes manuals and complex reports.

Judgment Requirements:

Judgment requirements refer to the frequency and complexity of judgments and decisions given the stability of the work environments, the nature and type of guidance, and the breadth of impact of the judgments and decisions.

Responsible for long range goals, planning and methodologies.  Decision-making is focus of the job, affecting entire organization and surrounding population; works in an unstable environment with frequent and significant changes in conditions.

Complexity of Work:

Complexity addresses the analysis, initiative, ingenuity, concentration and creativity, required by the job and the presence of any unusual pressures present in the job.

Performs supervisory work involving policy and guidelines, solving both people and work related problems; requires continuous, close attention for accurate results and frequent exposure to unusual pressures.

Impact of Errors:

Impact of errors refers to consequences such as damage to equipment and property, loss of data, exposure of the organization to legal liability, and injury or death for individuals.

The impact of errors is moderately serious, affecting work unit and may affect other units or citizens.

Physical Demands:

Physical demands refer to the requirements for physical exertion and coordination of limb and body movement.

Performs work that involves lifting, shoveling, and carrying 50 to 75 pounds on an occasional basis and exerting 100 pounds of force on an infrequent basis.

Equipment Usage:

Equipment usage involves responsibility for materials, machines, tools, equipment, work aids, and products.

Leads or handles machines, tools, equipment or work aids involving moderate latitude for judgment regarding attainment of a standard or in selecting appropriate items.

Unavoidable Hazards:

Unavoidable hazards refer to the job conditions that may lead to injury or health hazards even though precautions have been taken.

Involves routine and frequent exposure to traffic; moving machinery.

Safety of Others:

Safety of others refers to the level of responsibility for the safety of others, either inherent in the job or to ensure the safety of the general public. 

Requires responsibility for the safety and health of others.

Minimum Qualifications

Requires Bachelor’s degree or education and training equivalent to four years of college education in botany, forestry, horticulture or agriculture or closely related field

Requires a minimum of five years’ experience related to tree maintenance, plant health care, grounds management, or other closely related experience.

Special Certifications and Licenses:
Valid State Driver's License

International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Arborist Certification

International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Tree Risk Assessment Qualified 

Virginia Pesticide Applicators License Category 3-B (Ornamental), 3A (Turf) 

Preferred Qualifications: 

International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Board Certified Master Arborist

International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Municipal Arborist Certification

Intermediate Work Zone Traffic Control from Virginia Department of Transportation

First Aid CPR, AED qualifications

Virginia Pesticide Applicators License Category 6 (Right of Way), 9 

Certified Tree Care Safety Professional

Electrical Hazard Awareness Training

Virginia Certified Horticulturist through the Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association

Other Qualifications

The Town of Vienna is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  ADA requires the Town of Vienna to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified persons with disabilities. Prospective and current employees are encouraged to discuss ADA accommodations with management.
 

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