Position Summary

New Mexico Wild is seeking an experienced and energetic professional who is passionate about public lands and community engagement to fill our Gila Grassroots Organizer position. The Gila Grassroots Organizer will take a leadership role in grassroots community organizing activities to promote the protection of New Mexico’s wilderness, wildlife, and water in southern New Mexico. The Gila Grassroots Organizer will also support New Mexico Wild’s mission through engagement in our diverse coalitions with community groups and organizations with shared interests in land, water, and wildlife protections. All work activities will be approached with consideration towards diversity, equity, and inclusion and will be coordinated with our community-based offices statewide to ensure cohesion and collaboration across our conservation initiatives.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Lead Community Organizing Activities in Southwestern New Mexico

• Work closely with the Executive Director, Conservation Director, Staff Attorney, Grassroots Organizers, other staff, and key partners to research, monitor, and analyze land and river protection opportunities.
• Ensure that New Mexico Wild’s wildlands protection goals are consistent with its diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives and emphasize equity for the communities they are mostly likely to affect.
• Lead grassroots organizing efforts to build support for New Mexico Wild’s goals with the general public, business owners, landowners, elected officials, community leaders, youth, civic groups and organizations, Tribes, agricultural interests, and to influence state, regional, and federal agency decisions and plans.
• Develop and maintain relationships with state and federal land managers and other key stakeholders, including non-profits working on land and water protections in New
• Participate in and lead coalitions related to priority land and river protection
• Prepare white papers, fact sheets, comments, letters, and other materials aimed at advancing and defending New Mexico Wild’s public lands advocacy and defense agenda.
• Remain current on and, when appropriate, participate in research efforts that are likely to inform land management policy and federal land management.
• Effectively communicate the goals and objectives of New Mexico Wild’s work to decision- makers, funders, partners, and other stakeholders.
• Attend and represent New Mexico Wild at public meetings related to campaigns and other federal lands issues.
• Represent New Mexico Wild at community events and celebrations, including participating in occasional event planning.
• In cooperation with Communications staff, initiate media outreach to create awareness and promote New Mexico Wild priorities through all media outlets, including development of content for submission to publications, social media, websites, media, and to our
• Keep current on land management issues and the associated political
• Lead frequent outings/hikes and over-night outings at least five times per year (campouts, backpacks, guided trips).
• Recruit, train, and lead volunteers to conduct monitoring of grazing, off-road vehicle use, roads, fire, and wilderness access on federal public lands; to jointly conduct on-the-ground inventory of lands with wilderness characteristics on lands managed by the Forest Service and BLM to identify new opportunities for land protections and/or to validate and update previous inventories; and to jointly complete stewardship projects planned in coordination with federal land management agencies.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have at least a bachelor’s degree in natural resource management, political science, or a related field; have excellent writing and oral communications skills; have a demonstrated proficiency in developing relationships around shared values and interests with diverse communities; and be adept at building a powerful movement focused on environmental protections. Experience with non-governmental organizations and/or public lands conservation issues is a plus. Ability to speak both English and Spanish is highly desired.

Minimum requirements include experience with grassroots organizing; a passion for protecting wildlands; familiarity with the geography of New Mexico; experience in field data collection using GPS or similar applications; an ability to work for several days in the backcountry, including organizing and leading multi-day volunteer activities, trips, and camping events; an ability to work a flexible schedule, including some evenings and weekends; an understanding and commitment to abiding by “Leave No Trace” principles in the field; and a high degree of self-motivation with an ability to work both independently and with groups and partners.

Other Position Information

• This is a full time, exempt
• Duty location is Silver City,
• Compensation is anticipated to be between $50,000 and $60,000, dependent on experience, plus health insurance (base plan is 90% employer paid) as well as dental, vision, long term disability and life insurance policies (100% employer paid), a 403b retirement plan with an employer match of up to 5%, and competitive time off benefits.

New Mexico Wild is a statewide, non-governmental grassroots advocacy organization dedicated to conserving federal public lands in New Mexico. New Mexico Wild is an equal opportunity employer and actively works to ensure fair and equal treatment of its employees regardless of differences based on culture, socioeconomic status, race, marital or family situation, gender, age, ethnicity, religious beliefs, physical ability, or sexual orientation.