Science Director

Blackfoot Challenge Science Director

(For full job description, please visit blackfootchallenge.org/hiring)

The Blackfoot Challenge (BC) seeks a dynamic Science Director dedicated to collaborative conservation to oversee research, monitoring, and conservation planning in the Blackfoot watershed and High Divide region in Western Montana. The ideal candidate will have a Ph.D.-level quantitative background in conservation biology, applied ecology, watershed management, wildlife biology, or similar discipline. Additionally, the candidate must have well developed GIS skills and will help conduct fundraising to support the program. The Science Director will collaborate closely with BC and Intermountain West Joint Venture (IWJV) field staff and build partnerships with landowners, livestock producers, and additional stakeholders. The position will represent the BC and IWJV on scientific panels and technical committees, oversee scientific monitoring and research, and collaborate with a variety of scientists, agencies and conservation partners to advance the BC’s and IWJV’s missions.

Core responsibilities will include:

• Collecting, synthesizing, and managing relevant data for improved strategic program delivery in the Blackfoot watershed and High Divide.
• Working closely with key BC field staff to apply science toward developing specific work plans that target conservation.
• Measuring pre- and post-project conditions on BC stewardship projects to develop a clear data set of baseline conditions and a process for evaluating project impacts.
• Developing a program to measure stream restoration and long-term conservation actions for drought plans the BC has developed with hundreds of landowners.
• Researching opportunities to provide more reliable water through the natural processes of beaver-mediated restoration and restored floodplain functioning.
• Monitoring human-wildlife conflict trends in the Blackfoot watershed and developing assessment tools to measure benefits of coexistence infrastructure.
• Supporting monitoring of recreation trends across the watershed.
• Developing data to better understand what types of ranching and farming practices measurably improve soil health, soil biology, and soil moisture holding capacity.
• Exploring how landscape-level forest restoration treatments impact water storage, flow rates, and water quality in the Blackfoot watershed.