All applications should be emailed to sbfiresafecouncil@gmail.com. Applications submitted through LinkedIn or Indeed will NOT be reviewed.

Overview: The Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council (SBCFSC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to unify public and private organizations in Santa Barbara County toveducate, motivate, and coordinate to minimize negative impacts associated with future wildfires. Members of the Board include current and past firefighting professionals, representatives of local government, and citizen representatives from various local communities. The Board holds monthly meetings with the goal to provide relevant information to local citizens and offer a platform for community members to become active participants in the solutions to the challenges fire poses to our wildland urban areas.

The SBCFSC is funded through donations and grants, using these funds to increase wildfire preparedness through education, planning, and mitigation projects. Recent projects include the Lompoc Valley Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), Firewise USA®, Community Chipping, prescribed grazing, educational videos, and Wildfire Preparedness Expositions.

SBCFSC Vision for Landscape Resilience: SBCFSC currently implements the novel Regional Wildfire Mitigation Program (RWMP) which provides a philosophical framework for a focal organization to facilitate a collaborative and holistic approach to wildfire resilience through built environment, landscape, and community programming. The goal for the landscape is to conserve and expand fuel buffers, particularly vegetated greenbelts, to protect communities and critical infrastructure from wildfire. Traditional fuel reduction projects for wildfire mitigation focus on removing or thinning fuels. However, to accomplish the above goal, SBCFSC seeks to focus on a more holistic and nature based approach to wildfire risk mitigation fuels projects. We aim for most of our landscape based mitigation projects to have multiple benefits - soil erosion protection, biodiversity enhancement, ecosystem restoration, food security, environmental justice, workforce training - while planning for project sites to be self-sustaining over time and resilient to future climatic changes. There are several partner organizations doing similar work. The selected candidate will be expected to coordinate with partners to incorporate research into their existing or planned projects to help inform other practitioners and future work. While SBCFSC encourages research, it should be noted that this is not a research dominant position. The primary goal of this position is to implement nature based projects that reduce wildfire risk with a secondary goal of incorporating small, manageable, and cost-effective scientific studies into project plans.

Current Landscape Work: SBCFSC currently manages a chipping, tag and trim, prescribed grazing, and defensible space programs. Additionally, we have some funds for community fuel buffers and habitat restoration. Projects that are accomplishing the above goal have already been started by our partner SIG-NAL. The candidate will be expected to continue maintenance and monitoring of existing sites and continue to seek and implement similar projects.

Position Opening: SBCFSC seeks well-rounded candidates with in-depth experience in applied landscape ecology, research, community outreach, relationship cultivation, and volunteer coordination. The candidate will lead the planning and oversee the implementation of nature based wildfire risk reduction projects for communities and critical infrastructure, incorporate research into existing SBCFSC and partner projects to better inform wildfire mitigation tactics, and provide a strategy for landscape resilience to wildfire. Specifically the candidate will:

Strategic Planning: Conduct geospatial analysis to determine environmental and land-use policy suitability of landscape risk reduction strategies: shaded fuel breaks, orchard buffer rehabilitation, targeted grazing, xeric agriculture, and riparian conservation. Prioritize communities and critical infrastructure for implementation of landscape risk reduction projects. Coordinate with Santa Barbara County to build on existing agricultural geospatial mapping to identify additional vulnerability attributes at the parcel scale (e.g., water source). Partner with Santa Barbara County Fire to conduct prescribed fire suitability/feasibility analysis at the parcel scale.

Project Planning: Actively seek and coordinate with partners and SBCFSC staff to identify locations for landscape risk reduction strategies. Coordinate with landowners on a project plan. Incorporate scientific best practices and use a multi-benefit, climate resilience approach to project plans.

Applied Research: Work with partners to incorporate research into their current and proposed projects. Incorporate research into existing SBCFSC projects. Seek opportunities and coordinate with partners to incorporate research into their risk mitigation projects. Assist with SBCFSC project monitoring.

Publication and Conferences: While publication is not the main objective of this position, SBCFSC does support and encourage contributions to science. The candidate may write and publish scientific articles/reports and attend conferences to share results and SBCFSC projects. Funding Support: SBCFSC has limited funding for project implementation. The candidate will seek funding through grants, contracts, or fundraising to continue implementation, maintenance, monitoring of current and additional fuel buffers and other landscape based projects.

GIS and Spatial Analysis: Be the lead GIS staff member for the SBCFSC. Develop a public Project Tracker that maps fuels projects that communicate to the community and stakeholders planned, in-progress, and completed mitigation projects reducing wildfire risk in the County. Conduct spatial analyses to support all SBCFSC planning and prioritization efforts.

Staff and Volunteer Oversight: Provide direct oversight to staff, interns, and volunteers to assist with project tasks. SBCFSC currently has a Program Assistant who will assist with project implementation, maintenance, and monitoring. SBCFSC also occasionally has GIS interns who, depending on the project, may report to the Landscape Ecologist. The candidate will mentor and manage interns and volunteers.

Relationship Cultivation: Implemented projects will continue to need monitoring and maintenance for the foreseeable future. There will be a need to expand monitoring and maintenance capacity through volunteers or partnerships with other organizations/communities. Sit on working groups and committees that align with the vision of the SBCFSC. This candidate will also engage with the public and potential donors and will be expected to represent the values of the SBCFSC and share their passion for wildfire mitigation and conservation.

Field work: Implement restoration and research projects, including weed control, planting, mapping, and monitoring. Collect spatial data using Field Maps for ArcGIS, Avenza, etc.

Outreach and Education: Work with SBCFSC staff to develop outreach materials, including newsletter articles, web updates, videos, press releases, and social media. Represent the Garden’s conservation program in regional and state meetings, and build a strong relationship with conservation partners. Share your passion for conservation with the public via lectures, workshops, nature walks, field trips, and other outreach events.

Minimum Qualifications:

• This position is being offered at the principal investigator (PI) level and requires a PhD from an accredited university in Conservation, Restoration, Environmental Science, Ecology, Fire Ecology, Botany, or equivalent degree.
• Analyze data using modern statistical and modeling techniques
• Excellent proficiency at R and ArcPro for conducting spatial analyses, data analysis, mapping, and data visualization
• Design and implement original research projects
• Give public presentations and perform other outreach to promote projects and engage the public and prospective donors
• Quickly learn the California flora (if not already familiar) and use dichotomous keys and other resources to identify unfamiliar taxa
• Be physically able to conduct field work in a remote setting with rugged terrain under a variety of environmental conditions. Work may include standing/walking for extended periods of time, bending, squatting, digging, and hiking rugged trails, and safely lifting and carrying 40lbs.
• Experience supervising interns and/or volunteers
• Experience managing budgets and tracking expenses.
• Detailed oriented person who goes above and beyond.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Google products
• Excellent communication and people skills for shared leadership and coordination across teams and projects, community and stakeholder engagement, and proliferation of progressive resilience planning
• Valid US driver's license with functioning vehicle – selected candidate will be required to drive their own vehicle; fuel stipend will be provided for project related activities

Desired skills:

• 2+ years as a Principle Investigator (PI) or Co-PI
• 2+ years experience outside of academia
• Familiarity with EEMS
• Experience with fire modeling programs such as but not limited to, FARSITE, FlamMap, Behave
• Experience with Python
• Ability to communicate factors influencing wildland fire behavior and how vegetation treatments impact fire behavior
• Familiarity with fundraising and donor relations
• Experience with the California flora
• Knowledge of prescribed grazing, prescribed burning, habitat restoration, and other wildfire mitigation activities
• Fluent in both English and Spanish

Location: This is a Countywide program in Santa Barbara, California. Work is hybrid with one full day in the office per week. The selected candidate will need to be within reasonable commuting distance to the project area as there are frequent in-person duties.

Application Deadline: Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until a suitable candidate is found. However, for full-consideration please apply by April 22, 2025. The ideal start date is by mid June.

Terms of Employment: Funding is available until April 30, 2027, however another round of grant funding for this position is highly expected but not guaranteed.

Salary and Benefits: This is an exempt (40 hours/week) position. Expected salary is $104,000/year. SBCFSC provides 3 weeks PTO, 5 sick days, matching retirement plan, and health insurance reimbursement up to $6,350/year.

Applications: In a single PDF applicants are invited to send a cover letter illustrating their suitability based on the above position description, a curriculum vitae, two writing samples (ideally one for a more general audience), and contact information for 2 references. All applications should be emailed and addressed to the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council, sbfiresafecouncil@gmail.com. Please include your name and “Applied Landscape Ecologist” in the subject line.

The Santa Barbara Fire Safe Council is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants from all cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, military, or other status are encouraged to apply.