Western Reserve Land Conservancy has an immediate opening for a Land Steward – Western Region. The position reports to the Director of Land Stewardship and is located at the Land Conservancy’s main office in Moreland Hills, Ohio and its Medina, Ohio field office.

This is a full-time position with a salary range of $46,000 to $55,000 annually, commensurate with experience, and the position is eligible for benefits.

BACKGROUND

Western Reserve Land Conservancy provides people with essential natural assets through land conservation and restoration. Headquartered in Moreland Hills, Ohio, we are a non-profit organization, the largest land conservancy in Ohio and nationally accredited by the Land Trust Alliance. Serving an area of 29 counties from the Pennsylvania line to the Sandusky Bay, the Land Conservancy has permanently conserved more acreage than Cleveland Metroparks and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park combined. We work with private and public landowners, farming families, neighborhood development corporations, corporations, county park systems, local residents and many more to help create communities nourished by vibrant natural lands, working farms and healthy cities. Thriving Communities, our urban revitalization program, is nationally recognized for thought leadership on removing blight; creating land banks statewide to find productive uses for vacant properties; and revitalizing communities through greening strategies. Our mission is funded through a combination of program revenue, government grants, and philanthropic gifts from individuals, foundations and corporations.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Land Stewardship Team is responsible for conservation easement (CE) stewardship and fee land stewardship. This Land Steward (“Steward”) position is primarily responsible for providing conservation easement stewardship services, which include but are not limited to: creating Baseline Documentation Reports (BDRs); monitoring protected properties; resolving property issues as they arise; documenting changes to properties; issuing approvals for exercised rights; developing and maintaining relationships with landowner; responding to landowner questions; tracking property transfers and meeting with new landowners; maintaining extensive stewardship records (files, database information, GIS, etc.); and supporting all other areas of the stewardship program as may be necessary.

The Steward will cover the western portions of our service area, which may include some or all of the following counties: Lorain, Erie, Huron, Ottawa, Sandusky, Seneca, Crawford, Richland, Ashland, Morrow, Knox, Holmes, and Coshocton.

KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

Baseline Documentation Reports (BDRs)

The Steward completes BDRs for new land protection projects and as needed for CE amendments. This requires reviewing CEs and providing feedback on CE terms; gathering background information on the property from title work and GIS data; communicating with landowners; conducting fieldwork to identify flora and fauna; documenting structures, photo points, and natural features using GPS; and creating GIS maps and written reports. The Steward ensures that BDRs assigned to them are completed and updated in a quality and timely manner.

Conservation Easement Stewardship

The Steward is responsible for all CE stewardship-related activities for an inventory of approximately 200 protected properties and associated landowners. The Steward is responsible for monitoring protected properties annually by directly visiting the properties or reviewing satellite/aerial imagery and documenting appropriate information. The Steward communicates directly with landowners to schedule property visits and coordinates additional relationship building meetings. The Steward is also responsible for ensuring that the terms of all CEs and other conservation restrictions are upheld by delivering responsible stewardship practices including managing exercised rights, approvals, property transfers, CE amendments, violations, and all other practices related to CE management. Should issues arise, the Steward works with the Director of Land Stewardship and supports and/or manages the resolution process. All stewardship activities are conducted in accordance with internal standards and practices developed by the Land Conservancy.

Land Stewardship Record Keeping, Database, and GIS Management

The Steward is responsible for maintaining digital and paper records for protected properties and is responsible for working with the Director of Land Stewardship to maintain and develop the stewardship record keeping systems, including our Salesforce database and stewardship GIS files, for all protected properties region wide.

General Land Stewardship Support

The Steward also provides general support for land stewardship related activities which may include coordinating volunteers, maintaining partnerships with other conservation organizations, developing and coordinating signage for properties, map-making for other organizational needs, attending special events, leading hikes, managing special programs or projects, assisting with land stewardship publications, and other similar activities.

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE AND CAPABILITIES

Education

• A Bachelor’s degree or technical degree from an accredited training institute, college or university in a natural resource-related field is strongly preferred, but experience in the field will be considered.
• A forestry degree would be an added benefit for any candidate.

Experience and other qualifications

• Practical experience and knowledge of field work, forestry, soil and water conservation, and other “working lands” and/or natural resource management experience.
• Knowledge of farming and/or an interest in farming will be important for this role as the western and southwestern regions contain many farm properties.
• Proficient plant and habitat identification skills with an ability to categorize and describe major habitat types and components throughout the region.
• Ability to identify most common herbaceous, shrub, and tree species in most habitats throughout the region.

Management and interpersonal skills

• Detail oriented, organized, ability to multi-task, and the ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to develop strong lasting relationships with a diverse group of staff, landowners, partners, and other internal and external constituents.
• Pro-active, logical and measured approach to internal and external conflict resolution and problem solving.
• Respectful, energetic, team-player and problem-solving approach to work.

Physical requirements

• Ability to hike independently, quickly and efficiently in all kinds of weather throughout the entire calendar year on properties ranging from flat corn fields characteristic of Huron County, OH to steep slopes, forests, and wetlands characteristic of the Chagrin River valley, the Grand River gorge, and other natural features in Ohio and beyond.
• Ability to perform manual labor necessary for land management activities like clearing trails and installing gates.
• Driving throughout northern Ohio and beyond on a regular basis.

Technical skills

• Technical and general writing skills are necessary to produce high quality Baseline Documentation Reports, annual Monitoring Reports, database entries, and all other stewardship communication efficiently and effectively.
• Proficient using ESRI GIS products for creating and editing spatial data, making maps, and performing all other GIS related tasks for stewardship.
• Proficient using mobile mapping applications and other GPS hardware and software.
• Proficient using the Microsoft Office suite including Outlook, Word, Excel, and Power Point
• Ability to adapt to changing technology.

Western Reserve Land Conservancy is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to hiring staff members who represent the rich diversity of our community. At the Land Conservancy, all employees and applicants for employment are judged on their merits.  The Land Conservancy is committed to providing an environment free of illegal discrimination of any kind, and does not base any employment decisions on race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, religion, age, disability, military or veteran status, or any other protected category under federal and state laws.