REQUEST FOR STATEMENTS OF INTEREST
Conservation Applications Specialist
Strategic Conservation Assessment of Gulf Coast Landscapes
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Strategic Conservation Assessment (SCA) of Gulf Coast Landscapes is a 3-year collaborative project funded by the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council) via the U.S. Department of the Interior. This project will develop a suite of tools that can be used to identify and evaluate land conservation opportunities in the Gulf Coast Region that offer the greatest potential for shared economic and ecosystem benefits. This project is led through a cooperative partnership between Mississippi State University and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in direct collaboration with a Core Working Group composed of RESTORE Council agency representatives. The Project Team will engage with the broad community of stakeholders representing non-governmental conservation organizations, academia, tribal/federal/state/local agencies, business entities, and private landowners with interest in the conservation of the Gulf coast.
The Gulf Coast Region already has a strong conservation foundation that can be further strengthened by fostering a strategic approach to Gulf-wide conservation to support broader ecological function of Gulf systems, while incorporating critical social and economic values and future threats in a multi-criteria decision framework. The SCA aims to provide the RESTORE Council with a multi-scale, broad- perspective, but non-regulatory and voluntary decision support system that integrates Gulf conservation partner priorities and values into a transparent, defensible and dynamic framework from which strategic conservation investments can be made. The SCA has three main objectives: 1) collation of shared multi- scale priorities and objectives across the broader conservation community from existing conservation planning efforts; 2) use of multi-criteria decision analysis to translate these priorities into a comprehensive conservation planning tool; and, 3) development and distribution of a spatial prioritization layer incorporating conservation planning tool valuations and future change in a geospatial environment.
SUMMARY OF REQUEST
The project will require extensive interaction with stakeholders representing the RESTORE Council staff and member agencies, federal, state, local and tribal governments, private citizens, non-profit organizations, industry, and public-private partnerships working together toward implementation of their shared conservation vision along the Gulf Coast Region. Through this request for statements of interest we are seeking a qualified Conservation Applications Specialist to lead user support and communications efforts for the Strategic Conservation Assessment project. The Conservation Applications Specialist’s primary responsibility will be to work directly with RESTORE Council representatives and their partners to use the Conservation Prioritization Tool (CPT) and Strategic Conservation Assessment (SCA) Tool in their planning efforts. Through this targeted work on these tools with key partners, the Conservation Applications Specialist will identify ways that tools can be customized to individual users to address their specific needs, streamline and improve the user interface and experience, and solicit structured feedback on content.
STATEMENT OF INTERES T FORMAT
Statements of interest for the project Conservation Applications Specialist must be < 3 pages in length and must include 1) an outline of capabilities as related to the project description and required/preferred qualifications; 2) a comprehensive resume or Curriculum Vitae; and 3) a list of 3 references. Resume/CV and references are not included in the page limit.
TIMELINE
Review will begin June 30, 2018 and continue until a candidate is identified. We expect the SCA Conservation Applications Specialist to start work by October 1, 2018, depending on contracting mechanism.
CONTACT
Applicants are strongly encouraged to consult with the SCA project coordinator, Jennifer Roberts (jennifer.roberts@msstate.edu; 985-373-0377) prior to statement of interest submission.
SUBMISSION
Please email a cover letter and the Statement of Interest in the provided template format to Jennifer Roberts [jennifer.roberts@msstate.edu] with the following subject line “YOUR NAME – SCA Conservation Applications Specialist Statement of Interest”. Review of Statements of Interest will begin June 30, 2018.
Download the full job description here.