ESAC Hires Avalanche Forecaster
Over the past several months, the Friends of Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center (the non-profit fundraising and outreach portion of the Center) has been working with the Inyo National Forest on filling the Center's Avalanche Forecaster position. We are pleased to inform you that as of Monday, December 21st, Sue Burak has been re-instated into this position.
The process of filling this position has been extremely time consuming, complicated, and not without a great deal of consternation for all parties involved. The non-profit and Forest Service have been working together since June on converting the forecaster position from a Temporary type to that of a Term position. The primary purpose behind this conversion was to provide a more attractive, stable, and 'permanent' position for our avalanche forecaster.
Though significant effort was put into to classifying and flying the position, as well as reviewing applications and working toward filling the position, the Forest Service and Friends of opted to revert to the previous year's temporary position again for this season. This decision was difficult to make, but was based on the need to get a forecaster in place as soon as possible. The complications that came with filling the Term Position in a time frame that would benefit the public proved to be just too great for this season.
As such, Sue Burak (who has been the Center's forecaster for the past several years) was re-instated into the temporary position on Monday, December 21st, and will be working at that capacity until the Center's operating season ends in mid-May. It is our goal to try to fill the Term Position again for next season.
In addition, the Friends of organization is working to hire a second forecaster on a part-time basis in early January. The purpose behind this position is to provide support to, and expand the efficacy of Sue's role by providing greater coverage and ideally working to increase the number of advisories that are issued each week. As soon as we know more about this position, we will let you know.
In the meantime, if you have questions or comments for Sue, you may send them via email to her at sburak@esavalanche.org, or post them to our discussion. As always, your participation in the online discussion board is appreciated, as that information helps not only fellow backcountry enthusiasts, but also Sue in putting together advisories.
We apologize for the delay in bringing a forecaster on, and appreciate your understanding of the process. If you have organizational questions, please post them in the online Organization Discussion.
Many thanks. Here's to a great season!
