CONTRACT MANAGER: Prickly Pear Land Trust (PPLT)

POSITION TITLE: Lands Project Coordinator - REPI Program

LOCATION: Helena, MT

REPORTS TO: Hydrometrics will serve as the employer, providing the salary and benefits. The contract position will be embedded at PPLT and report to the Lands Director. Hydrometrics will perform bi-annual reviews with the Lands Director and the Coordinator, and all three will meet annually to approve or terminate the annual contract.

SUPERVISES: Due diligence contracts

COMMITTEE PARTICIPATION: PPLT Conservation & Recreation Committee

STATUS: Salary exempt

CLOSING DATE: Nov. 14, 2025

ABOUT PRICKLY PEAR LAND TRUST

Prickly Pear Land Trust (PPLT) is a nationally accredited, robust regional land trust in Montana whose mission is to connect people to the land. PPLT is comprised of dedicated, passionate, ethical, and solutions-focused conservationists. Headquartered in Helena, Montana, and serving a four-county region, PPLT operates three main programs: Trails, Lands, and Community Conservation.

For over 30 years, PPLT has had a deep history of partnerships with public and private landowners. Through these partnerships, PPLT’s community has built out a nationally renowned public land estate in Helena’s South Hills, grown a grassroots parks and land management program focused on public access and restoration, and established an ambitious land protection program in several communities across central Montana counties.

About Hydrometrics

Hydrometrics is an employee-owned small business that provides professional scientific and engineering services for industrial, commercial, municipal and private sector clients across the United States, with a vested interest in maintaining our solid reputation for cost-effective, quality work. Headquartered in Helena Montana since 1979, Hydrometrics has provided a wide variety of professional environmental consulting services over the last 40 years, with a large focus on contaminated site characterization and remediation, hydrogeology, Brownfields redevelopment, and mining related permitting, infrastructure, and remediation.

Hydrometrics is dedicated to building durable partnerships not only with clients, but also regulators, other project stakeholders, and the public to develop responsible and long-term environmental solutions. Our employee-owned business consists of dedicated and talented employees applying their interdisciplinary skills to a wide variety of environmental, water resources, permitting, and remediation and redevelopment projects. Hydrometrics is excited to partner with PPLT to support their mission and better serve the communities where we work, live, play, and thrive. For more information on Hydrometrics, please see our website at https://www.hydrometrics.com.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Prickly Pear Land Trust recently received a multi-year challenge grant from the Department of Defense’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program to increase capacity to complete more conservation and restoration projects within a buffer around the Fort Harrison-Limestone Hills training areas in Lewis & Clark and Broadwater Counties.

To implement the project, PPLT has partnered with Hydrometrics to create the Coordinator role, a contract position designed to assist the PPLT lands team in acquiring conservation easement and fee-title property interests in the Fort Harrison and Limestone Hills Buffers. The position is housed at PPLT.

The Coordinator will be a central part of a dedicated and experienced PPLT team actively securing public and private funds for land protection. As necessary for due diligence work, the coordinator will also have access to a suite of Hydrometrics services. This individual will assist the PPLT Lands Director and Lands Project Manager in implementing a comprehensive land protection program, focusing on the REPI-eligible natural areas and habitat within the 3-mile buffers around the Fort Harrison and Limestone Hills facilities. PPLT’s conservation program is focused on rare and endangered wildlife and plants, as well as water resources and agriculture. While the program typically focuses on properties with the biggest gains for conservation, the land trust will, in certain cases, use program funds to purchase lands suitable for public open space and recreational activities.

The Coordinator will use the full range of protection tools, including gift and purchase of fee and easement lands, and cooperative projects with federal, state, and local government, conservation organizations, and other partners as appropriate. The coordinator will be responsible for implementing and achieving PPLT’s conservation priorities through negotiations with private landowners, conservation partners, and government agencies. The role will help with project selection, development, negotiation, budget creation, and any additional project fundraising or partner work. As a part of project selection, the coordinator will research legal and ecological information for tracts identified as potential protection projects and will respond to protection inquiries and screen potential protection projects. Once a project is underway, the coordinator will lead due diligence collection, including performing biological baseline report field work and compiling reports and maps. Due diligence work will also include managing contracts for legal review, mineral searches, geologic assessments, and environmental site assessments. At all stages of the project process, the coordinator will be responsible for financial tracking.

The Coordinator may be asked to help with administrative, grant management, and public relations support to PPLT’s land management program within the buffer during the field season. 

This position does not have guaranteed funding beyond 2 years and is subject to a 12-month probationary period.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Estimated Breakdown
• 50% - Fee-Land and Conservation Easement support
• 20% - Baseline Reporting
• 15% - Partnership Development & Project funding
• 10% - REPI Neighborhood Outreach/Project Development
• 5% -Land management field-season support

Acquisition Responsibilities

• Plan and execute protection projects.
• Maintain records related to land transactions.
• Maintain Landscape Software current projects, upload, and project financial tracking.
• Support Lands Director in REPI budgeting and administrative tasks.
• Negotiate real estate transactions, which can bind PPLT legally and financially.
• Follow PPLT and LTA Standard Operating Procedures, especially related to real estate transactions.
• Research, coordinate, and apply, solicit, or write grants for funding for land protection projects within the REPI boundary. Track and report any resulting matching funding sources for restoration and recreation projects within the buffer.
• Lead baseline documentation field work, mapping, and reporting.
• Stay abreast of current developments and trends in the field of conservation and conservation science, locally and regionally.

Program Administration Responsibilities

• Neighborhood outreach and assist with land management implementation.
• Maintain Landscape Software current projects, upload, and project financial tracking.
• Write grants and manage matching funding sources for restoration and recreation projects within the buffer.
• Support lands program in creating, tracking, and reconciling the land management budget.
• Work with the PPLT Lands Director and Bookkeeper to streamline financial reporting and tracking for all REPI projects, past and present.
• Occasional support of lands program in fieldwork—may include agricultural and fence management, irrigation, recreational development, and restoration efforts, etc.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• A minimum of a bachelor’s degree, with a preference for conservation-related fields
• A minimum of two years of full-time professional experience in project management, conservation or biology fieldwork, planning, community work, or a combination of these areas is desired.
• In your resume, please highlight experience or understanding of wildlife conservation, wildfire, restoration ecology, botany, rangeland management, outdoor recreation or education, agriculture, accounting, economics, business administration, statistics, real estate transactions, law, public relations, field crew management, or grant management. An understanding of and experience in relationships with state and federal agencies and land trusts is also helpful, but not required.

REQUIREMENTS

• Proficient in and knowledgeable of computer applications, specifically Microsoft Office, Google Suite, and relational databases. Work with digital photography/imagery, GIS, and mapping skills is preferable.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work constructively with a variety of entities internally and externally.
• An ability to develop and manage budgets.
• Experience working in rural communities.
• Comply with Hydrometrics Drug and Alcohol Policy
• Driver’s License
• Support of PPLT's mission, goals, organizational structure, activities, and the ability to promote them.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Communicate effectively with PPLT stakeholders and conduct professional presentations.
• Knowledge and comprehension of biology, habitat relationships, and basic principles of wildlife ecology, range, and forest management.
• Professionally represent Hydrometrics and PPLT.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The incumbent will encounter primarily office conditions and will be required to do limited travel. Office work will require sitting or standing for long periods, frequent use of office equipment such as telephones, scanners, and computers, and light lifting, bending, and physical exertion. While more rare, the Coordinator will be required to work and must be comfortable and capable of traveling by truck, foot, or mechanized OHV and in variable weather conditions, at remote locations, on difficult and hazardous terrain, and under physically demanding circumstances. Safety procedures and reasonable training opportunities will be provided where necessary. Evening work and weekend work may be required.

*The above is intended to describe the general content of and requirements for the performance of the job. It is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of essential functions, responsibilities, or requirements.