Location: Sacramento,CA, USA
Conservation Planner
Are you passionate about conservation, protecting natural landscapes and the environment? Are you an environmental professional with planning, permitting or mitigation experience? 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 Conservation Planner to join our team in our Sacramento office.
The Conservation Planner will assist in the reconnaissance, acquisition, development, and entitlement of mitigation projects (i.e., permittee responsible mitigation-PRM, mitigation banks, In-Lieu Fee programs-ILFs, and turn keys). The position will require the ability to work closely with other disciplines within the office, consultants as well as with a variety of federal, state, and local resource agencies to achieve regional goals.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities:
* Prepare and secure approval of Mitigation/Conservation Banking documents, including Prospectus, Banking Instruments and all technical documents, conservation easements, endowments, and credit releases.
* Manage project teams (internal staff and external consultants), with the ability to maintain clear communication, working relationships, and facilitate product development.
* Assist in project budget development and manage and track financial expenditures to the approved budget.
* Develop and maintain detailed project and task schedules, and management of the project to the approved timelines.
* Engage with regulatory agency staff, either independently or as part of the project management team, to solve complex project development issues.
* Identify areas of entitlement process improvement and engage in developing process solutions.
* Track and maintain project compliance.
* Assist in business and brand development through participation in client meetings and speaking engagements at technical conferences.
* Work collaboratively with the team to achieve safety, continuous improvement, ecological and business goals.
* Conduct or manage the development of mitigation documents for new and existing sites.
* Participate in discussions with non-profits, community members and other stake holders to assist in local relationships and project development.
* Other duties and responsibilities as assigned.
Required Qualifications:
* Bachelor's degree in Planning, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Biology, Forestry, Landscape Architecture or related field.
* Five years' experience related to CEQA, NEPA, 404 permitting, mitigation planning or design.
* Good knowledge of California's biological habitats, species and general conservation.
* Solid writing and reading skills. Experience in writing/developing mitigation documents preferred.
* Good interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively with team members of other disciplines.
* Good understanding of federal environmental laws and policies.
The base salary range for this position is $77,800 - $186,700. Actual base salary is based on the experience and qualifications of the selected candidate.
Equal Opportunity Employer: Minority/Female/Disabled/Veteran/Gender Identity/Sexual Orientation