Job Opportunity: Community Conservation Coordinator
The Ozaukee Washington Land Trust and River Revitalization Foundation recently merged to become Restoring Lands: A Wisconsin Land Trust. The Restoring Lands mission is to protect, connect, and restore southeast Wisconsin’s lands and waters for the benefit of all. Since 1992, we have worked to conserve and steward the lands and waters of the Milwaukee River Basin. This merger propels our capacity for conservation leadership in Southeastern Wisconsin, expanding our service area and advancing land protection efforts beyond county borders to a science-based, watershed-level approach. Restoring Lands owns and actively manages 38 nature preserves, conserving over 7,000 acres in Ozaukee, Washington, and Milwaukee counties and has two offices: one in West Bend, and one near downtown Milwaukee.

Creating a welcoming and inclusive culture in the conservation sector is a core value at Restoring Lands. We are passionate about building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable environment for all staff and our community. We believe every member on our team enriches our diversity by exposing us to a broad range of ways to under-stand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design and deliver solutions. Through this position, Restoring Lands seeks to take ownership of addressing barriers to conservation by engaging, training, and empowering underrepresented communities in the work of fostering biodiversity, promoting climate resiliency, and enhancing public access to the outdoors.

About the Position
The Community Conservation Coordinator will:

• Provide consistent leadership in the field
• Serve as a mentor and facilitator to our summer high school-aged youth interns
• Support Restoring Lands' community conservation, volunteer and outreach programming

The position is both field- and office-based. A standard work week is targeted with occasional pre-planned weekend and evening hours. The ideal candidate will have an exceptional ability to work with diverse community members and groups and guide them through stewardship projects throughout our service area.

Geography: Restoring Lands’ service area includes all of Milwaukee, Ozaukee, and Washington counties and includes the parts of Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, Dodge and Waukesha counties that fall within the Milwaukee River Basin. This position will be expected to be in any part of the service area on any given day but will be based mainly in Milwaukee, with occasional ability for remote work. There will be a work truck available at the Milwaukee office to facilitate travel throughout the service area.

Primary Responsibilities

Volunteer and Outreach

• Coordinate volunteer programs and keep calendar updated.
• Lead, organize, engage with, and motivate volunteers (individuals, groups, school groups, boy/girl scout troops, service learners, corporate groups, etc.) to accomplish stewardship goals efficiently while establishing and maintaining both a team-style comradery and the Land Trust’s respected image during public, corporate or civic group volunteer workdays.
• Work with the Stewardship team to plan and execute volunteer workday plantings, invasive species control, and community science efforts.
• Co-lead workforce partnerships.
• Support volunteer partnerships with outside organizations.
• Act as a representative of Restoring Lands at Environmental Youth Collaborative meetings.
• Represent Restoring Lands at outreach events throughout the Basin.
• Share community conservation stories via social media, newsletters, and other publications.

Program Coordination and Development

• With support from the Community Conservation Director, coordinate and facilitate summer high school internship program, interacting with and mentoring a small cohort of high school-aged youth through stewardship, education and project-focused activities.
• Work alongside Stewardship and Community Conservation teams to:
o Plan, design, build, coordinate, and advertise aspects of the Emerging Conservation Professional, Internship, and Volunteer Programs.
• Identify activities that increase public access to recreation and knowledge about the importance of both urban and rural green spaces and build public programming to offer more opportunity for those activities throughout the service area.

Desired Qualifications

• Knowledge and experience working with diverse types of individuals including volunteers and high school-aged youth
• Experience with social media, Microsoft Office Suite, general computer and graphic design skills
• Valid driver’s license
• Demonstrated commitment to the environment, especially in a densely populated, diverse urban setting

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong communication skills including ability to convey information about the importance of the environment.
• Build connections and rapport to gain long-term supporters
• Comfort working with diverse populations (urban, suburban and rural)
• Successful experience leading a team and/or supervising volunteers
• Self-motivated, flexible, adaptable to change; high degree of professionalism and initiative
• Communicate effectively with the public, media, colleagues, youth and government entities
• Work independently, in a team setting, with partners, and with the public
• Work occasional nights and weekends
• Meet project deadlines
• Navigate and manage online and web applications
• Ability to drive a pickup truck
• Experience and/or willingness to learn basic of hand tools and power equipment including hand shears, loppers, chainsaws, lawn mowers, brush cutters etc., with safety training.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to work in all weather conditions
• Ability to walk across sometimes uneven and vegetatively dense types of terrain
• Ability to lift 30 lbs.