Mid-Atlantic Land Stewardship Coordinator

Organizational Mission:

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s mission is to protect, manage, and advocate for the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.

Position Summary

The Land Stewardship Coordinator leads seasonal staff and volunteers in stewarding the lands conserved for the Appalachian Trail, called the A.T. Corridor. This position helps ensure that the Trail is protected by a well-marked boundary line and that any violations are promptly found and resolved. The undeveloped wildlands and unmatched hiking experience on the A.T. would not be possible without this work.

The Land Stewardship Coordinator will provide support and leadership for seasonal staff, trail maintaining clubs, and other partner organizations. The coordinator will perform fieldwork, plan project logistics, manage GIS databases, produce thorough reports, communicate with private landowners and maintain vehicles and equipment. They will hire, train, supervise, lead, and work alongside a team of seasonal Land Stewardship Technicians. While the coordinator’s workplan is flexible, and their responsibility to manage, they are expected to spend a good portion of their time working alongside the technicians, particularly during the field season(s) when fieldwork is the focus of the program.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Collaborate with program staff, volunteer clubs, and agency partners to coordinate a structured, systematic program of boundary monitoring and maintenance that will facilitate perpetual protection of Appalachian National Scenic Trail tracts and surveyed boundary lines.
• Hire and supervise seasonal Land Stewardship Technicians; includes advertising for positions, interviewing, onboarding, training, work planning, management, and administrative oversight.
• Train, lead, and perform fieldwork monitoring and maintaining the A.T. corridor boundary lines: posting signs, painting trees, finding survey monuments, and clearing vegetation with hand tools.
• Plan and complete field projects; including scouting field sites, pre-field preparation, daily safety check-ins, and post-field reporting.
• Travel to and from work sites, overnighting or camping near work sites as appropriate.
• Coordinate the monitoring of lands protected under easements by contacting the owners of these lands and ensuring compliance with easement rights and restrictions.
• Respond, manage, and work to mitigate reported land and boundary threats, violations, and encroachments. Maintain detailed reports on findings and follow-up actions.
• Organize inventory and maintain tools, supplies, equipment, and program vehicles.
• Coordinate and lead work trips with volunteer participants.
• Read and interpret property deeds to support tract management and neighboring landowner communications.
• Aggregate, organize, maintain, quality check and analyze detailed land stewardship data, including spatial data.
• Provide Geographic Information Systems (GIS) support for Land Stewardship Program.
• Use GPS to record control points in the field to improve accuracy of GIS data.
• Other duties assigned as needed to help drive to our Vision, fulfill our Mission.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree, or working towards a degree, in environmental science, ecology, recreation management, natural resources or related field strongly preferred.
• Effective leadership, communication, and critical thinking skills.
• Significant hiking experience and comfort working in backcountry settings.
• Self-motivated person who works well independently and in a team environment.
• Experience using and maintaining hand tools and four-wheel-drive vehicles.
• Valid driver’s license.
• Expertise using a compass and interpreting map, property deeds, and survey plats.
• Proficiency with ESRI ArcGIS software, GPS, and Microsoft applications.
• Wilderness First Aid, Wilderness First Responder, or other first aid certification preferred.
• Familiarity with Leave No Trace.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

• Rigorous outdoor work and camping in rugged terrain and remote off-trail locations with exposure to ticks and pests, as well as extreme and varied weather conditions.
• Must be able to move equipment weighing up to 40 pounds.
• Regular travel to trail locations.
• Long days in the field and some weekend work may be required, particularly for volunteer and partnership meetings and events.
• Primarily outdoor work during field season and indoor work during winter months; variable by region.
• Office environment may have a moderate level of notice due to some shared spaces and staff activity on the phone, computer, and printer.

Additional Details

• Pay rate: $24.50 hourly.
• Health, dental, and vision insurance available.
• Company paid long-term disability and life insurance provided.
• 403(b) Retirement Plan with up to 7% match after 1 year of service.
• Location: Required to work out of our Carlisle office (Central Pennsylvania).

ATC Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) encourages collaboration, flexibility, and fairness with all employees and volunteers to enable participation and contributions to their fullest potential.

We are committed to being a diverse and inclusive organization and recognize that diversity contributes to an effective and successful organizational culture and mission.

The ATC prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity and/or expression), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, political affiliation, union membership, or any other status protected by the laws and regulations in the locations where we operate.

Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s Identity Statement

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