Natural Resource Investigator pay range
State of Washington · class code 427H
- Class code
- 427H
- Salary range
- 50
- Pay unit
- Year
- State
- Washington
- The State of Washington published pay range for Natural Resource Investigator is $55,596 to $74,748 per year.
- Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM) keys this classification as class code 427H.
- This is the range the plan authorises, not the salary of any individual employee.
Step progression
Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM) assigns this class to salary range 50 in the General Service Salary Schedule. The range pays 13 steps; a step is normally earned on a periodic increment date, not negotiated.
| Basis | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual | $55,596 | $56,952 | $58,392 | $59,760 | $61,332 | $62,880 | $64,512 | $66,072 | $67,704 | $69,348 | $71,136 | $72,900 | $74,748 |
| Monthly | $4,633 | $4,746 | $4,866 | $4,980 | $5,111 | $5,240 | $5,376 | $5,506 | $5,642 | $5,779 | $5,928 | $6,075 | $6,229 |
| Hourly | $26.63 | $27.28 | $27.97 | $28.62 | $29.37 | $30.11 | $30.90 | $31.64 | $32.43 | $33.21 | $34.07 | $34.91 | $35.80 |
Steps as published. The monthly and hourly rows are the state's own, not conversions of the annual row.
Class specification
The OFM classified job specification for this class is published by Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM). The passages below are quoted from it as published, not paraphrased, and cut to their opening sentences; the full specification is the authority on duties and qualifications.
What the state says the job is
Conducts complex criminal and civil investigations within the jurisdiction of the Department of Natural Resources. Determines the origin and cause of forest and other fires, conducts fire cost recovery activities. Conducts follow-up investigations for the Attorney General and County Prosecutor's staff. Leads and/or supervises other investigators and lower level investigators in extended investigations.
Examples of the work
Conducts origin and cause determination investigations for forest and other fires or trains and inspects fire cause determinations of qualified field staff; writes investigation reports; recommends cost recovery actions and on approval, coordinates actions with Assistant Attorney General and County Prosecutors; Conducts surveillance and preserves evidence; interviews and takes statement of witnesses or other involved parties, such as suspects; develops case files; testifies in court; Teaches fire investigation to other department employees and cooperating interagency employees; Manages the agency investigation/cost recovery data and related databases.
Minimum qualifications
Completion of the following national fire qualifications: Incident Command System (ICS); Introduction (ICS-100); National Incident Management System (NIMS); Introduction (IS700); Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior (S-190); Wildland Fire Observations and Origin Scene Protection for First Responders (FI-110); Wildland Fire Origin and Cause Determination (FI-210); and completion and certification of the Wildland Fire Investigator Task Book (INVF). AND Five years’ experience investigating wildfires with successful completion of at least 20 wildland fire investigations, including cost recovery and reporting.
Quoted from the OFM classified job specification, read 2026-10-21.
Where this comes from
Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM) publishes this figure in Classified Job Listing joined to the OFM salary schedules effective July 1, 2026. Every number on this page is read from that document; nothing is estimated, modelled or averaged.
The dollar figures come from the salary schedule the listing assigns this range to.