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 people dependent upon them. We use innovative, science-based solutions to meet the challenges of forest conservation and management. The Guild has over 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, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Colorado, Washington, and Wisconsin. The Southwest office has a history of working alongside place-based communities and Tribes for 35 years including some longstanding programs related to youth education and workforce development, fire adapted communities, and collaborative forestry.

The Forest Stewards Guild is hiring a full-time Project Coordinator to support the 2-3-2 Cohesive Strategy Partnership and the Rio Chama Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP). This role involves coordinating climate-smart forestry projects for small acreage and underserved landowners and building collaborative capacity in the landscape.

We are seeking a dynamic and collaborative leader who is outgoing, personable, and skilled at connecting with individuals and groups. This role requires excellent listening skills and the ability to foster relationships with diverse partners and the public. The successful candidate will demonstrate a proactive approach to building partnerships and a genuine enthusiasm for working collaboratively to achieve shared goals.

The successful candidate will use their experience in project management, partnership building, science communication, and ecological forestry to work with Guild staff, partners, and landowners to evaluate project needs, implement climate-smart forestry projects, conduct educational outreach, and facilitate collaborative participation, among other activities as project needs are identified. The Project Coordinator will collaboratively develop solutions to move project outcomes forward, with creative approaches such as quantitative storytelling, community art and writing projects, and field tours. The successful candidate will help fulfill the Guild’s mission of ecological forestry in the Southwest United States and advance existing projects. Candidates should have strong project management skills, communication abilities, budget tracking experience, knowledge of dry fire-adapted forests, and strategic thinking capabilities.
 

Position Description 

The successful candidate will have a degree in forestry, ecology, natural resource management, science communication, environmental science, or related field with professional non-profit 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 and forest dependent communities in the Southwest. The Guild has been 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 SW Project Coordinator will work closely with directors and staff based out of the Santa Fe, NM office.

The successful individual will:

• Work with a team to coordinate collaboration for the Rio Chama CFLRP and the 232 Cohesive Strategy Partnership including,
  • Convene and facilitate collaborative and community meetings.
  • Support collaboration and coordination of project stakeholders.
  • Coordinate the 2-3-2 Collaborative Partnership to execute collaborative project outcomes.
  • Maintain relationships with a diversity of project partners and funders across multiple states in the Southwestern United States, often in-person with some travel required.
  • Lead and facilitate education and outreach activities for private landowners and natural resource professionals.
  • Engage with small-acreage and underserved landowners to foster emerging markets.
  • Work with the Guild’s San Luis Valley Partnership Coordinator and other Guild project staff to strengthen community connections across the 2-3-2 Partnership.
• Implement climate-smart forestry by working with a team to develop strategy and build partnerships for climate mitigation and forest resilience that benefits underserved and small-acreage forest landowners
  • Support the delivery of technical forest and fire management services with other Guild staff and/or contractors.
  • Seek opportunities to increase treatments on non-federal lands by identifying linkages between the federally funded CFLRP, federally managed lands, and non-federally managed lands.
  • Address challenges such as limited contractors, information access, and lack of partnerships that hinder climate-adaptive stewardship efforts
  • Build trust, improve forest health, and increase landowner participation in climate-smart forestry practices by training landowners, conducting forest treatments, and tracking impacts.
• Support Forest Stewards Guild work
  • Maintain and grow partnerships for Southwest programs.
  • As needed and desired, may support Guild prescribed fire operations.
  • Represent the Guild at professional conferences or events and perform public speaking, such as PowerPoint presentations or panel discussions to share on project deliverables or monitoring metrics.
  • Collaborate as a team using software such as Asana, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.
  • Track budgets, match, metrics, and deliverables for projects.
  • Perform grant writing, administration, and reporting to a variety of different funders, including private foundations and government grants.

What You’ll Bring

• Bachelor’s degree in science communication, forestry, environmental science, or other applicable field, or five years equivalent experience of professional work
• Strong experience in partnership building and collaborating with multiple diverse partners, stakeholders and funders
• Project management experience with complex, multi-year collaborative projects
• Experience with disseminating scientific and complex project information to the public
• Proficiency in tracking deliverables and report writing
• Clear verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to work both independently and with a team
• Leadership skills and self-direction
• Strong organizational skills 
• Effective knowledge of common software applications
• Valid driver’s license

Additional Desired Qualifications:

• Experience using partnerships to leverage resources and funding to accomplish cross boundary projects
• Experience in staff supervision or managing a team of people
• Experience writing proposals and building budgets
• Proficiency in project budget tracking
• Master’s degree in science communication, forestry, environmental science, or other applicable field, or seven years equivalent experience of professional work
• Forestry knowledge or experience in southwest forest ecosystems

Compensation and Benefits Package 

• $27.59 - $32.00 /hour, 40 hours/week
• Paid leave is accrued monthly from the first day of employment  
• Paid sick leave  
• 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   
• Retirement plan with an employer match is available after 90 days
• Family Leave after 12 months, including up to six weeks paid leave with the remaining time unpaid up to 12 weeks total. 

Location 

This position is based at the Forest Stewards Guild’s office in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Other locations in northern NM and southern CO (i.e., Chama, Taos, Alamosa, Pagosa) will also be considered. A hybrid schedule is acceptable and remote work is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. This position requires travel throughout northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Some overnight travel is required if travel distances make it necessary. All travel costs from the Guild office in Santa Fe are covered, including the use of a Guild vehicle.

How to Apply 

Interested applicants should visit the Smart Recruiters posting and click “I’m Interested” to submit a one-page cover letter, resume, one-page writing sample, three professional references, and earliest available start date. This position is open until filled. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis starting July 11th.

NOTE: After clicking “Next” on the initial application page, you will have an opportunity to upload the cover letter and reference documents.

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.

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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. 

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. 

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