Rio Chama CFLRP Project Manager

  • Full-time

Company Description

The Forest Stewards Guild, a national organization of foresters and allied natural resource professionals, is dedicated to practicing and promoting responsible forestry as a means of sustaining the integrity of forest ecosystems and the human communities dependent upon them. The Guild has 700 members, over half of whom are professionals who manage over 42 million acres of forestland in the United States and Canada. The Guild maintains regional offices in New Mexico, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin.

Job Description

The Rio Chama CFLRP Project Manager will focus on strategic, landscape-scale, cross-boundary forest management coordination to result in fire adapted landscapes and resilient watersheds for the newly funded Rio Chama CFLRP project that began in early 2022. The Manager will be responsible for managing all project activities and deliverables, maintaining partner and funder relations, and identifying and pursuing new funding and partnership opportunities.

Using experience in ecological project management, the best available science, and by integrating learning from other CFLRPs and shared stewardship efforts in the region, the successful candidate will work with partners to evaluate science needs, develop projects, and implement monitoring, as well as manage sub-agreements and match tracking. The Project Manager will also apply their understanding of research and project management to develop monitoring and evaluation methods that enhance our efforts. As project needs are identified, the Project Manager will collaboratively develop solutions to move project outcomes forward. The successful candidate will help fulfill the Guild’s mission of ecological forestry in the Southwest United States and advance existing projects as needed by providing staff support for other existing forest conservation projects in the region.

The successful candidate will have a degree in forestry, ecology, natural resource management, or related field with professional experience. This individual will have excellent organizational, communication, and written skills, the ability to work outdoors in remote locations, and a desire to support ecological forestry in the Southwest. The Guild has been rapidly expanding in the Southwest, and the ideal candidate will possess the desire and leadership skills to sustain and strengthen the Guild’s regional presence and impact. Previous experience in field forestry management and working collaboratively with diverse partners in the Southwest, coupled with project management experience, is highly desirable. The Rio Chama CFLRP Project Manager will work closely with directors in the Santa Fe office.

Among other duties as assigned, the successful individual will:

1. Manage the project

  • Manage project work-flow and collaborate with a team using software such as Asana, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.
  • Track budgets, match, metrics, and deliverables for the Rio Chama CFLRP project.
  • Perform grant writing, administration, and reporting to a variety of different funders, including private foundations and government grants. 

2. Lead collaboration

  • Convene and facilitate collaborative and community meetings.
  • Support collaboration and coordination of project stakeholders and engaging with the 2-3-2 Collaborative Partnership to execute collaborative project outcomes.
  • Lead and facilitate education and outreach activities for private landowners and natural resource professionals.

3. Implement collaborative forest restoration

  • Oversee and support the delivery of technical forest and fire management services with other Guild staff and/or contractors (e.g. management plans, forest thinning, burn plans).
  • Improve coordination and leveraging of funding and resources for Forest Restoration across the Rio Chama landscape.

4. Coordinate forest monitoring

  • Develop and implement shared monitoring protocols across the CFLRP landscape to assess social, ecological, economic objectives. 
  • Collect, store, and analyze monitoring data using comprehensive all lands forest and fuels decision management support software, including mapping and modeling add-ons.
  • Leverage existing data sources and monitoring efforts to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the monitoring program.
  • As projects require, work in variable weather conditions, in remote locations, on difficult or hazardous terrain, and in other physically demanding environments

5. Support Forest Stewards Guild work

  • Maintain and grow partnerships for Southwest programs.
  • As needed and desired, may support Guild prescribed fire operations.
  • As needed, may support other CFLRP or collaborative forestry projects.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree in fire ecology, forestry, environmental science, or other natural resources field
  • Forestry knowledge or experience in southwest forest ecosystems
  • Experience with designing and implementing a field monitoring program
  • Experience collaborating with multiple diverse partners and stakeholders
  • Project management experience with complex, multi-year collaborative projects
  • Proficiency in project budget tracking
  • Clear verbal and written communication skills
  • Ability to work both independently and with a team
  • Leadership skills and self-direction
  • Proficiency with Arc geographical information system (GIS) software
  • Strong organizational skills 
  • Strong technical writing skills
  • Effective knowledge of common software applications
  • Valid driver’s license
  • Must be vaccinated against COVID-19 (medical and religious exemption requests are accepted and must follow the process outlined in The Guild’s COVID-19 Policy) 

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Experience with wild or prescribed fire
  • Experience developing processes that close feedback loops so that monitoring findings and collaborative input inform adaptive management
  • Experience managing a data repository and organizational schema for project and monitoring data
  • Experience leveraging resources and funding to accomplish cross boundary project implementation
  • Experience writing grant proposals
  • Skilled in the use of ArcGIS and ESRI software to handle and analyze geographic information by visualizing geographical statistics through layer building maps
  • Experience with disseminating scientific and complex project information to the public
  • Master’s degree in fire ecology, forestry, environmental science, or other natural resources field, or seven years equivalent experience of professional work

Additional Information

Compensation and Benefits Package 

  • $27.13 per hour.  
  • Paid leave is accrued monthly from the first day of employment  
  • 12 paid holidays per year  
  • Employer-sponsored comprehensive health and dental care coverage is available after 30 days of continuous employment with the employee contribution at 20%   
  • Short and long-term disability policies paid by The Guild after 60 days of employment  
  • Accidental death/dismemberment and life insurance policies paid by The Guild after 60 days   
  • Flexible compensation plan available after 60 days   
  • Participation in a retirement plan with an employer match is available after 90 days
  • Family Leave after 12 months, including six weeks paid leave and six weeks unpaid leave  

The Guild is dedicated to providing an open, transparent, and just organization and workplace. We strive for clear, open, and kind communication and are committed to recruiting, hiring, mentoring, and supporting staff from underrepresented communities. We are dedicated to building a work culture that recognizes the inherent value of our employees, supports a healthy work-life balance, and provides an environment that supports personal and job growth. 

Location 

This position is located at the Forest Stewards Guild’s office in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This position requires travel throughout New Mexico and Southern Colorado, but most of the travel does not require an overnight stay. Some overnight travel is required if travel distances deem it necessary. All travel costs from the Guild office in Santa Fe are covered, including the use of a Guild vehicle. The opportunity to work from a home office on administrative tasks will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. 

 

How to apply 

Interested applicants should click “I’m Interested” and follow the prompts. For a complete application, please submit a one-page cover letter, resume, one-page writing sample, and three professional references COMBINED INTO ONE PDF by 11:59 p.m. on March 31st, 2022. 

The one-page writing sample format is flexible. It can be on a natural resource subject of your choice; it can be a press release, newsletter article, research brief, or other sample of your writing capabilities. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

DEADLINE: Thursday, March 31st at midnight. 

 

Contact us 

Questions about this position can be directed to Esmé - esme at forestguild.org. 

We believe that a diverse workforce reflects the strengths of all members of our community. The Forest Stewards Guild strives to create a collaborative, supportive, and respectful setting for all employees and partners. To meet this goal, we recognize and celebrate the wide range of differences that characterize our members, employees, partners, and collaborators. Indeed, it is those differences that enhance our organization and help us to meet our mission and vision. The Guild values diverse forests because they are more productive, more resilient, more adaptable, and better able to recover from disturbances. Similarly, our community is healthier when we are inclusive of a diversity of people and perspectives.