Associate Conservation Planner

Associate Conservation Planner

Westervelt Ecological Services (WES), is a national leader in mitigation and conservation. We are a private company established in 2006 that provides conservation and restoration solutions that we design and manage to help meet local, State and Federal compliance requirements for impacts to streams, wetlands, and wildlife. Our professional staff contributed to over 30,000 acres of habitat nationwide, implementing restoration projects protecting and restoring vital natural resources. We challenge ourselves to develop big, complex projects, that maximize local benefits beyond habitat restoration to flood management, water quality, and climate change; we are dedicated to implementing restoration projects that provide long-lasting benefits for future generations Our comprehensive and complex mitigation projects require a highly skilled multi-disciplinary team so we have assembled a team that is considered "Best of Class" in their respective areas of expertise - come join us.

We are looking for an experienced Associate Conservation Planner to join our team in our Colorado office.

The Associate Conservation Planner will assist in the reconnaissance, site acquisition, development, and compliance tracking of wetland, stream, and/or special-status species restoration and mitigation projects. The position will require the ability to work closely with different project managers and disciplines within the office as well as with a variety of federal, state, and local resource agencies to achieve regional goals.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

-Works largely at the direction of more senior planners developing restoration, conservation, and mitigation plans, providing baseline information about sites, and analyzing property legal constraints.
-Represents WES at trade conventions and conferences, and marketing events in association with more senior staff.
-Evaluates potential mitigation and restoration sites with other team members to determine existing habitat and assist in collecting baseline data for potential restoration and mitigation sites.
-Supports marketing and outreach efforts through participation at outreach events, client meetings, conferences and technical material preparation.
-Coordinates with clients, partners, and agency staff as required including effective oral and written communication.
-Learns independently from other project team members about special status species, soils, plants, and hydrology of a site in order to accurately portray the project in planning documents and in personal interactions with agencies.
-Prepares mitigation and restoration documents, including permits, for the development of mitigation or restoration site. Support service contract work, as necessary and awarded.
-Maintains project files.
-Prepares annual monitoring reports. Coordinates land management activities with staff and sub-consultants.
-Provides general office support.
-Other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in planning, Environmental Studies, Biology, Landscape Architecture, or related field
• Minimum of 3 years experience in related field
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite
• Prior field survey work or related experience with wetlands, streams, and regional wildlife
• Project management experience related to stream and/or wetland restoration
• General understanding of federal environmental laws and polices
• Experience communicating effectively with a variety of stakeholders and organizations
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Preferred Experience:

• GIS experience with ArcMap, ArcGIS or QGIS
• Experience in assembling and preparing permits, mitigation, land management and maintenance plan documents

Equal Opportunity Employer: Minority/Female/Disabled/Veteran/Gender Identity/Sexual Orientation