Position Summary

The Montana Land Reliance (MLR) seeks a full-time Regional Stewardship Manager to monitor MLR’s growing conservation easement portfolio in southwest Montana. Regional Stewardship Managers foster a cooperative relationship with easement landowners based on trust, respect, and fairness. They serve as the first point of contact on behalf of MLR for easement landowners and conduct annual visits to ensure compliance with the terms and conditions of its easements. The position will also produce Resource Documentation Reports that accurately record the condition of properties for new conservation easement projects via narrative, mapping, and photographic data collection.

About MLR

MLR is an accredited, nonprofit land trust that partners with private landowners to permanently protect Montana’s agricultural lands, fish and wildlife habitat, and open space. Since 1978, MLR has helped more than 1,000 families conserve over 1.3 million acres of working lands, wildlife habitat and open space across the state. MLR runs like a business and is one of the most focused and efficient land trusts in the country. The lasting benefits of MLR’s work are the perpetuation of a lifestyle and an economy that relies on responsibly managed private land and increasingly valuable Montana open spaces that will continue to nourish the spirit of future generations. MLR intends to double its conserved acreage by 2040 through a planned approach that recognizes MLR’s values, respects MLR’s history, and builds on the solid foundation laid by MLR’s founders to keep the organization and its unique brand of conservation at the forefront of private land conservation in Montana and nationwide. To learn more, visit www.mtlandreliance.org.

Essential Functions (Duties and Responsibilities)

• Monitor conservation easements in southwest Montana.
• Act as a first point of contact for easement landowners in southwest Montana.
• Prepare necessary monitoring documentation in conjunction with annual property site visits.
• Ensure property compliance with MLR conservation easements and address violations in consultation with other MLR stewardship staff and conduct necessary follow-up.
• Digitize working hard copy files into electronic format.
• Prepare Resource Documentation Reports that document the human development and natural resource attributes of properties for new easement projects.
• Attend monthly staff meetings in Helena.
• Attend overnight meetings when required (typically three per year).
• Some overnight travel is expected for distant easement visits, depending upon applicant’s location.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in environmental science field preferred.
• Passion for and commitment to MLR’s mission.
• Excellent writing skills.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills with the ability and personality to foster cooperative relationships and resolve or diffuse conflict.
• Knowledge of natural resources in southwest Montana landscapes (ex. range, forestry, aquatic ecology).
• Competency in ArcGIS and GPS mapping technology.  Able to produce natural resource inventory maps in ArcGIS and import/export geospatial data between desktop and mobile mapping devices. 
• Ability to interpret aerial photography.
• Basic understanding of agricultural operations in southwest Montana.
• Comfortable administering consistent compliance within a regulatory setting.
• Competency in natural resource inventory and report preparation (ex. wetland delineation reporting, NEPA documentation, regulatory permit preparation, forestry management planning).
• Comfortable and competent working independently.
• Valid driver’s license and safe driving habits.