The Habitat Bureau Chief is responsible for implementation of all components of the Wildlife Division's Habitat Bureau. This includes overseeing acquisition of conservation easements and fee title properties as part of the Habitat Montana program; management of FWP wildlife management areas; supervision of six full time staff, some of whom work remotely; management of large capital budget and annual operations budgets; in conjunction with Regions, development and implementation of WMA management plans; prioritization of WMA capital projects (O&M) among regions, and then coordination of approved projects with identification and prioritization of priority habitats for conservation; implementation of FWP habitat conservation programs including the Upland Game Bird Habitat Enhancement Program, wildlife habitat improvement program, and the Wetland Conservation Program; implementation of outside habitat conservation programs including Forest Legacy, Farm Bill, NAWCA, HCP, and other similar programs; and providing technical guidance on habitat management and conservation within FWP, to other agencies and NGOs, and to private landowners. Implementation of much of the Wildlife Program is done by regional staff not under the direct supervision of the Wildlife Helena staff, so the person in this position must be able to clearly articulate program goals and objectives and work persuasively with regional staff to implement programs.

This position is located in the FWP headquarters in Helena, MT, the Queen City of the Rockies. It spends large amount of time in an office environment but does require travel in a vehicle over long distances and in various weather and road conditions - up to 20% of the time is spent in travel status out of the office. The position works on multiple high profile, often controversial, politically charged, high stress issues frequently at the same time. Many tasks have hard deadlines and quick turn-around times. Much of the work is dependent on other staff over which there is no supervisory authority, necessitating excellent working relationships with colleagues and constituents.