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Virginia Tech

Location: BlacksburgVA 24061 Document ID: AC383-0L6K Posted on: 2018-11-0211/02/2018 Job Type: Full-time

Job Schedule:Full-time
2018-12-02
 

Private Lands Engineer - Biologist

Virginia Tech is a public land-grant university, committed to teaching and learning, research, and outreach to the Commonwealth of Virginia, the nation, and the world. Building on its motto of Ut Prosim (that I may serve), Virginia Tech is dedicated to InclusiveVT-serving in the spirit of community, diversity, and excellence. We seek candidates who adopt and practice the Principles of Community, which are fundamental to our on-going efforts to increase access and inclusion, and to create a community that nurtures learning and growth for all of its members. Virginia Tech actively seeks a broad spectrum of candidates to join our community in preparing leaders for the world.

Position Summary:
The Conservation Management Institute ( CMI ) at Virginia Tech is seeking applications for a Private Lands Engineer Biologist ( PLEB ) to support implementation of an Eastern Hellbender Habitat Project. This project is a collaboration between CMI , Defenders of Wildlife, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service ( NRCS ). It is funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and NRCS' Working Lands for Wildlife ( WLFW ) program.
Through the Farm Bill, NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to farmers, ranchers and forestland owners/managers who voluntarily undertake conservation practices on working lands. WLFW systematically targets conservation efforts to enhance wildlife habitat on agricultural landscapes while improving agricultural and forest productivity. Hellbenders face many threats from conventional agricultural practices that lead to loss of forested riparian habitat and degraded water quality from sedimentation and pollutants. The WLFW hellbender project seeks to restore and/or improve hellbender habitat and reverse population declines by supporting sustainable conservation practices on working lands.
The PLEB will be responsible for conducting landowner outreach within targeted watersheds to provide education about hellbender conservation, increase awareness about WLFW , and promote landowner participation in the WLFW hellbender project. PLEB will be expected to provide verbal, written and on-site technical assistance to interested private landowners. PLEB will work directly with landowners to identify options for applying NRCS technical and financial assistance to their lands, guide each landowner through the NRCS application process, and develop hellbender-specific conservation plans following the NRCS planning requirements. They will provide technical assistance to landowners to ensure that conservation plans are correctly implemented, evaluate the effectiveness of conservation practices, and coordinate provide technical guidance during project construction, and coordinate post-project monitoring. The PLEB will be responsible for the design and approval (i.e. P.E. stamp) of any WLFW hellbender projects requiring an engineering component, including for more complex floodplain, stream bank and in-stream projects. The PLEB may occasionally be responsible for the review and approval of other NRCS engineering projects. The PLEB will be expected to work to build supportive relationships with landowners and communities within each priority watershed, both through targeted individual outreach and through participation in partner-supported community outreach events such as farm demo days and Shade your Stream workshops. These relationships will help identify opportunities to target lands with the greatest potential to improve habitat conditions for hellbenders.

Required Qualifications:
Required Educational Experience ( PLEB )
A MS degree or higher in environmental or civil engineering or a related discipline or a BS with related experience.
Successful applicant must be a licensed Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Required Knowledge Skills and Abilities:
Excellent verbal/written communication and organizational skills and demonstrated ability to communicate clearly and effectively with diverse audiences.
Ability to work independently with little supervision and with diverse clientele.
Working knowledge of wildlife ecology principles, and the ability to apply those principles utilizing various habitat management tools, in order to develop NRCS conservation plans.
Demonstrated ability to produce engineering designs and successfully construct projects in dynamic aquatic systems (e.g. streambank stabilization, erosion control, livestock and vehicular stream crossing, culvert replacement, dam removal).

Preferred Qualifications:
Educational background in aquatic ecology, hydrology, wildlife science, fisheries science, natural resource management, agricultural sciences or similar discipline.
Experience working with NRCS conservation programs and/or software.
NRCS Conservation Planning certification and/or Job Approval Authority and/or Technical Service Provider status.
Knowledge of federal and state agency conservation and wildlife programs such as the Farm Bill, the Endangered Species Act, or State Wildlife Agency Private Lands Programs. Also, knowledge of how these programs are implemented in an agricultural landscape.
Demonstrated experience working with agricultural land owners.
Demonstrated superior skill with both verbal and written communications.
Experience with geospatial information systems.



To apply please click here!