Rangeland/Ag Water Specialist: Oregon

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Agency

Harney Soil and Water Conservation District

Location

Hines,

Job Category

Full time Positions

Salary

$24.08-26.35 DOE

Start Date

11/21/2022

Last Date to Apply

11/15/2022

Website

https://www.harneyswcd.org/

Description

What you’ll be doing:
This position’s main focus will provide technical assistance to landowners enrolling private lands into Sage-Grouse Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances (CCAA) and assist landowners with agricultural water issues. You will survey properties, gather history, and write Site-Specific Plans (SSPs) for private properties that wish to enroll in the CCAA program. The successful candidate will work to develop long-term funding strategies for implementation of projects. The Sage Grouse Habitat and Rangeland Restoration Planner will focus on providing conservation program delivery and support to ensure the maximum number of landowners are enrolled and are actively engaging in conservation efforts as outlined within their Site-Specific Plan. You will work with District staff, partner agencies, and private landowners on conservation strategies and measures for identifying additional resource investment areas.

This position will focus on the following habitats for Greater Sage-grouse and other Sage-steppe obligates:
 Sagebrush steppe communities
 Riparian areas/wet meadows
 Agricultural/native grassland interface areas

Geographic Focus Area:
All lands within Harney County with program emphasis on private land within Harney County CCAA and Ag waters jurisdiction. Coordinated resource management with federal lands is an important planning component to CCAA, Site-Specific Plan (SSP) documents and Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA). There may be work in adjacent counties as work assignment requires.

Specific tasks and responsibilities:

Provide delivery & technical support for habitat conservation projects.
– Conduct outreach to private landowners through in-person meetings, telephone, or other mechanisms to identify opportunities for conservation of sage grouse and other sagebrush obligate species.
– Conduct site visits with the landowner and field office (FO) to provide technical guidance on developing conservation plans that address ecological and wildlife resource concerns.
– Develop voluntary conservation agreements to improve or maintain habitat conditions on private lands. (Baseline inventory, screening and ranking, ARCGIS mapping).
– Conduct annual monitoring and provide written reporting to US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and others as necessary.
– Identify potential grant opportunities through private foundations and the state and federal government, and match grant opportunities with needs within the District.
– Write grant proposals for private, state and federal funds with emphasis placed on sustaining capacity and Conservation Measure (CM) implementation.
– Coordinate Ag water issues with local working groups and landowners.

Identify, develop and provide formal trainings, workshops, and products for information and outreach.
– Collaborate with local, state, federal, NGO, tribal, and other stakeholders to formulate program level and strategic plans to address issues/opportunities related to the CCAA and maintaining working landscapes for wildlife.
– Identify and secure funding to enhance efficiencies for outreach, development, implementation, and monitoring activities associated with the Harney County CCAA.
– Provide partners and landowners with on-ground training; (as needed or requested.)
– Wildlife education and outreach for the general public (landowners, youth groups, community organizations, etc.).
– Write wildlife and rangeland management related articles for district website and other publications.
– Develop and implement communications strategies and tools, provide for adequate recruiting and facilitate community capacity building and interest in the CCAA (to include but not limited to) media releases, social media, web presence, and participation in community meetings.

Sustain cooperative working relationships.
– Assist Sage Grouse Coordinator and participate in Harney County CCAA steering committee as necessary.

Develop technical proficiency.
– Attend trainings as needed for professional development.
– Become proficient with records management as it pertains to privacy requirements of Oregon law.

Qualifications

Your success will be driven by your demonstration of our Mission, Vision, and Core values. More specifically related to this position, the successful candidate possesses the following:
• Bachelor of Science in a field that emphasizes the principles exhibited within this job announcement (such as, agriculture or natural resource) or a minimum of 3 years work experience involving these principles may be substituted.
• Exhibit knowledge in natural resource conservation project development which includes plant identification, understanding of riparian restoration, and upland restoration.
• Experience with Microsoft software, be capable of creating complex documents in Microsoft Word and possess good English writing and proofreading skills;
• Experience with ARCGIS mapping software and tablet interface;
• Organized, detail oriented, and comfortable working in and maintaining different types of databases and Excel spreadsheets;
• Have the ability to manage diverse tasks each day and understand and implement instructions from multiple contributors;
• Requires perseverance and good human relations skills;
• Must be comfortable working in muti-disciplinary teams and be able to maintain deadlines;
• Must have demonstrated ability to lead and execute projects;
• Required skills include demonstrated ability to communicate effectively and positively with private landowners; develop, encourage and maintain strong respectful relationships with coworkers, collaborators and partners; accept supervision and work independently; tolerate difficult and sometimes tedious work conditions; abide by all applicable organizational policies.

Contact Person

Jason Kesling, District Manager

Contact Phone

541-573-6446 ext 4

Contact eMail

kesling@harneyswcd.net

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