Field Operations Manager

Field Operations Manager

Sempervirens Fund, Los Altos, CA

About the Organization

Founded in 1900, Sempervirens Fund is California’s oldest land trust and the only organization focused entirely on protecting and permanently preserving the redwood (scientific name: Sequoia sempervirens) forests, wildlife habitat, watersheds, and other important natural and scenic features of California's Santa Cruz Mountains. To learn more about Sempervirens and its innovative work on land protection, restoration forestry, fire resiliency, invasive species removal, and stream habitat enhancement, please visit www.sempervirens.org. 

Position Summary

The Field Operations Manager is a full-time, exempt, staff position with excellent benefits. The Field Operations Manager reports to the Land Stewardship Manager and the Director of Land Conservation and supports all aspects of our land stewardship activities, with a primary focus on property monitoring and implementing a wide array of maintenance and restoration focused projects. Sempervirens Fund’s office is based in downtown Los Altos, although the position is currently remote-from-home with frequent field work spanning the Santa Cruz Mountains in Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties.

Essential Duties and Functions

Property Monitoring

• Monitors all of Sempervirens’ 11,600-acres of conservation easement, timber rights easement, and fee-owned properties, by conducting site visits, writing monitoring reports, managing and organizing records, and engaging with neighbors, volunteers, contractors, landowners, and partners.

Maintenance and Restoration Project Management

• Collaborates with the Natural Resource Project Manager to plan and implement a suite of maintenance and restoration projects across all fee-owned properties by managing contractors, consultants, and volunteers engaged in land stewardship activities. Focus areas include property road systems and infrastructure, invasive species treatment, and fuels management.
• Assists the Land Stewardship Manager and Natural Resource Project Manager in preparing, reviewing, and updating short and long-term management and improvement plans for each property that enhances and restores the natural, recreational, and scenic resources on these lands.
• Collaboratively oversees the stewardship volunteer program to assist in maintenance and restoration activities including events, volunteer communications, and partnerships.

Partner Coordination

• Coordinates with agency partners and neighbors for property specific needs, including roads management, access, shared interests, and stewardship projects.
• Meets and maintains friendly and professional relationships with all parties connected with our land stewardship activities, including but not limited to the Resource Conservation Districts, partnering land trusts, State Parks, road associations, neighboring property owners, conservation easement property landowners, regulatory agencies, etc. May include representing Sempervirens Fund at public meetings.

Team Support & Administrative Tasks

• Provides support for Communications and Development Teams along with the Natural Resource Project Manager in creating story-telling assets for our properties and projects.
• Assists efforts on both public and private funding and grants to implement our land stewardship work in close collaboration with our Grants Manager, Land Stewardship Manager, and Director of Land Conservation.
• Maintains accurate and easy to locate information on each of the properties and conservation easements we own, including property reports, contracts, photos, GIS data, maps, and project documentation.
• The Field Operations Manager will also be assigned other duties by the Land Stewardship Manager and Director of Land Conservation related to Sempervirens’ priorities and needs.

Special Knowledge and Skills

• Experience with best management practices and typical equipment for treatment of common weeds and rural road management, or a strong willingness and ability to learn. Qualified Applicator License or ability to acquire one a plus.
• Demonstrated knowledge of natural history and ecology of the Santa Cruz Mountains, or a strong willingness and ability to learn.
• Computer proficiency, including demonstrated proficiency with map orientation and interpretation, GPS and field marking, and associated software applications. Experience with GIS mapping and data management a plus.
• Flexible work habits, strong organizational skills, and efficient; can prioritize time and tasks between office and field work. Commitment to team building and teamwork.
• Discretion and sensibility required, as this position represents Sempervirens Fund to the outside world.

Qualifications

• College degree, preferably in natural resources, restoration ecology, environmental or biological sciences, or comparative experience in a related field.
• Minimum 3-4 years of work experience in a directly related field or an equivalent mix of education and experience.
• Available to travel, typically on daytrips. Some weekend and evening work may occasionally be required. Valid driver’s license and safe driving record.
• Ability to hike off-trail over strenuous terrain and through dense vegetation, often in isolated settings.

Working Conditions

• Frequent field work spanning the Santa Cruz Mountains in Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties.
• Occasionally lifts, carries, or otherwise moves and positions heavy objects up to 30lbs.
• Hiking off trail through dense vegetation in wilderness conditions.
• Operation and maintenance of a range of hand and mechanical tools for vegetation and road maintenance.

Salary: $70,000

To Apply

Email your resume and cover letter explaining your interest in the position and any pertinent experience, including professional and personal experience, that is relevant to this position in PDF format to irowbotham@sempervirens.org with “Field Operations Manager” in the subject line. Please visit our website for a complete job listing and more information on how to apply: https://sempervirens.org/about/employment.

Timeline

Applications due by June 25, 2021. Screening and calls for interviews will occur the week of June 28-July 2. Interviews will be scheduled for the week of July 19.

Employee Benefits

We provide generous health and dental insurance, holiday and paid time, and a 403(b)-program including employer matching.

Equal Opportunity

At Sempervirens Fund, we celebrate, support, and thrive on our differences to benefit our staff, our mission, and our community. Sempervirens Fund is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factors.

Land Acknowledgement

At Sempervirens Fund, we acknowledge that redwood forests in the Santa Cruz Mountains are among the ancestral lands for many Indigenous Peoples, who cared for these lands for millennia until they were forcibly removed. We are grateful to work with their descendants, including the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, to restore their cultural and traditional relationships to these lands.