Beaver Restoration Project Manager

About Trout Unlimited’s Wenatchee-Entiat Beaver Project 

Trout Unlimited (TU) brings together diverse interests to care for and recover the rivers and streams on which we all depend. We are a national organization with 300,000 members and supporters organized into over 400 chapters and councils nationwide. Our dedicated grassroots volunteers are matched by a respected staff of organizers, attorneys, policy experts, restoration practitioners, and scientists, who work out of more than 25 offices across the country. 

The Wenatchee-Entiat Beaver Project was established in 2018 to provide technical assistance, education, and support to the communities of Washington’s Chelan and Douglas counties to help resolve human-beaver conflicts through coexistence and relocation. In addition to partnering with numerous federal, state, local, NGO, and private groups, we “partner” with beavers to harness their restorative potential by relocating them to vital streams so that they can enhance the aquatic zone and adjacent floodplain while providing habitat for a host of fish, wildlife, and plant species, including threatened and endangered salmonids. Learning from beavers, the project applies beaver-mimicking restoration to degraded streams through low-tech process-based restoration, or LTPBR. We install structures such as beaver dam analogs and post-assisted log structures to kickstart natural processes to allow streams to heal themselves. We have become a leader in installing low-tech process-based restoration projects throughout these same geographies. 

In addition to the Beaver Project’s stream restoration and beaver relocation/coexistence efforts, we provide outreach, education, and volunteer opportunities for the local community, research opportunities for graduate students, and engage with LTPBR practitioners and the Washington Beaver Working Group statewide coalition. The beaver/dam analog habitat coordinator joins a team of 17 TU staffers in Washington state including seven in Eastern Washington. 

Position Summary

TU seeks to hire a self-motivated and highly capable person to implement restoration projects to benefit aquatic resources and native wild fish populations in Upper Columbia Basin watersheds in Washington State. The Beaver Restoration Project Manager will work closely with the Restoration Program Director to implement TU’s beaver restoration program in the Upper Columbia watershed. A successful candidate will be self-motivated, well organized, and capable of completing assigned duties safely and efficiently, conducting work professionally as a public representative of TU, and working well with a team having diverse backgrounds and personalities. The primary duty stations will be the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery in Leavenworth, WA and the TU office in Wenatchee, WA.  

Competitive candidates for this position will need to demonstrate strong project management skills and technical abilities related to stream restoration, hydrology, ecology, and partnership-building. The successful applicant manages projects and works with TU staff and partners to secure additional funding for project activities, conceptualize and develop new projects, and functions as part of the team, assisting other staff as necessary. The Beaver Restoration Project Manager will be expected to manage projects from conception to completion and be a leader in project-oriented habitat restoration and conservation.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Effectively lead Wenatchee-Entiat Beaver Project’s low-tech process-based stream restoration and beaver coexistence, trapping, and relocation projects in North Central Washington.
• Develop, design, permit, coordinate, and implement low-tech process-based stream restoration projects, including preparing maps, field site evaluation, preparation, permitting, coordination with partners, and construction resulting in benefits to aquatic species and overall ecological function in priority watersheds.
• Conduct outreach and meet with community members managing conflicts with beavers and strategize coexistence and relocation opportunities.
  • Obtain required permits, coordinate with partners, and implement coexistence measures.
  • Implement conflict beaver coexistence and relocation work including tree caging, culvert protector and pond leveler construction, beaver live trapping, handling, processing and husbandry of captive beavers, hatchery maintenance, beaver release, site assessments, and post release site monitoring.
  • Preparation, maintenance, and cleaning of acclimation facility and equipment.
• In coordination with Restoration Program Director, identify funding sources, prepare grant proposals and reports, manage budgets, and secure funding for instream flow and habitat restoration projects.
• Foster and maintain positive relationships with landowners, tribes, state and federal agencies and other partners with varying political and social backgrounds.
• Attend, participate, and represent TU in meetings with project partners including community members and state, federal, and local agencies and organizations.
• Monitor project effectiveness and evaluate project site selection by collecting and analyzing pre-and post-restoration data.
• Participate in public education, interpretation, and outreach opportunities.
• This is a non-supervisory position although the selected candidate will manage day-to-day activities of seasonal staff, make field decisions, and be the primary reporting contact for the Restoration Program Director.
• The primary work schedule will be Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM, but will vary depending on program activities and will occasionally include weekends. Beaver trapping will require an early morning and evening schedule. Overnight travel will be infrequent but may be required for training or work purposes.
• This position requires grant and budget management responsibilities.

*This is not an all-inclusive list of duties and responsibilities. 

Required Qualifications

• A minimum of 3 years relevant work experience and a college degree in fisheries, wildlife, biology, water resources, natural resources, engineering, or similar field.
• Experience with project development, implementation, and management including projects that involve development, partner coordination, securing funding, managing budgets, and reporting.
• Knowledge of low-tech process-based restoration principles, methods, and practices
• Capable of simultaneously managing multiple complex projects with multiple funding agreements, including strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Superior interpersonal skills, comfort with public speaking and meeting facilitation, and ability to work constructively with a wide range of partners, personalities, and resource professionals.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including developed grant and technical writing skills, as well as data collection/analysis and analytical skills.
• Demonstrated experience indicating ability to prioritize workload, to think quickly and creatively in response to unanticipated challenges, to be highly motivated and self-directed, and possess advanced organizational and problem-solving skills.
• Experience trapping, handling, and/or processing wildlife, particularly mammals.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite and ESRI ArcGIS
• Experience using GPS and mapping tools to navigate and develop project sites, and comfort working long hours in remote settings and under difficult conditions.
• Ability to lift and carry up to 50 lbs and experience with hand tools and power equipment; must have a valid driver’s license.

Desired Qualifications 

• Passion for nature and the outdoors
• Knowledge of landscapes, communities, and ways of life in North Central Washington
• Multi-lingual, especially Spanish speaking
• Advanced degree in fisheries, wildlife, biology, water resources, natural resources, engineering, or similar field
• Understanding of restoration project construction and management, engineering design concepts, data analysis and management
• Experience with project permitting for aquatic restoration projects and in-water work

Salary and Benefits

Staff and leadership at TU understand that life outside of work is important to personal health, and we strive to create a healthy and family-friendly atmosphere. This is a full-time position with a generous benefits package. The salary range for this position is $60,000-$65,000 per year depending on experience.

At TU, we value a diverse representation of staff, and we actively seek candidates for this position who come from communities that have been historically under-represented in conservation and those who have been most impacted by degraded rivers and streams. We are committed to building space for all people to participate in our work to care for trout and salmon and clean our shared waters.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and welcome you to read more about TU’s equity practice and values https://www.tu.org/equity/.