Stewards VISTA: NM Forest & Watershed Restoration Institute-Collaboration Specialist

This position is a 365 day (1 year) public service term lasting from January 13, 2025-January 12, 2026

Living Allowance: $68.39/day ($24,962.35/year)

About Stewards:

Stewards Individual Placements (Stewards) provides individuals with service and career opportunities to strengthen communities and preserve our natural resources. Participants work with federal agencies, tribal governments, and nonprofits building institutional capacity, developing community relationships, and supporting ecosystem health.

For more information regarding Stewards, please visit our website.

About the Site and Position:

The VISTA Collaboration Specialist position is based at the New Mexico Forest & Watershed Restoration Institute (NMFWRI) in Las Vegas, NM. The NMFWRI’s mission is to promote adaptive management practices and to reduce the risk of high-intensity, catastrophic wildfires and other disturbances in New Mexico’s forests. Developing partnerships among interest holders is an important part of this mission. In forested areas in New Mexico, community-based collaborative conservation (CBCC) organizations coordinate forest management across large landscapes, aimed at building ecological resiliency to reduce the risk of forest disturbances. The NMFWRI Collaboration Program has an ongoing project to organize CBCC organizations into regional networks and link these networks statewide, with the goal of facilitating greater collaborative knowledge and capacity. Capacity building focuses on developing financial resources, increasing local knowledge about effective collaborative techniques, and training local residents in collaborative skills, including facilitation and mediation, conflict resolution, problem solving, leadership, active listening, and effective communication. All of this contributes to the creation of local restoration-based economic development, offering new opportunities to residents in the forestry sector and reducing poverty in rural New Mexico towns and villages. VISTA Collaboration Specialist will take a lead role in continuing the organization regional networks of CBCC groups to build collaborative capacity and promote adaptive management practices. The job requires some travel to CBCC meetings and training sessions, or work through videoconferencing software. The VISTA Collaboration Specialist will also promote a restorative economy locally and statewide, engaging in hands-on economic development in rural communities. Service work is done in a hybrid work environment.

Member Duties:

• The VISTA will expand an existing network of community-based collaborative conservation (CBCC) organizations to build collaborative capacity and promote adaptive management practices that enhance ecological resilience.
• The VISTA will undertake the creation of a new network to extend the availability and accessibility of resources for CBCC groups in New Mexico.
• The VISTA will plug into statewide and multi-state efforts to develop and maintain financial and informational resources for CBCC organizations, and to assist in training programs on collaborative knowledge and skills. There are opportunities for creative network development and collaborative work and hands-on economic development work.

Service Areas:

• Environment
• Education
• Community Outreach
• Community and Economic Development

Program Benefits:

• Segal Education Award ($7395) OR Cash Stipend (~$1,800) upon successful completion of service
• Living Allowance ($68.39/day, disbursed every 2 weeks)
• Relocation Allowance ($750)
• Regular Training and Professional Development Opportunities (free and virtual)
• Employee Wellness Program (access to a licensed, professional counselor and 24/7 in-moment support)
• Childcare*
• Healthcare*
• Non-Competitive Eligibility upon successful completion of the term*
• Networking and Mentorship
• Access to a nationwide cohort of like-minded peers

  *For more information regarding the Segal Education Award, check out this link as well as alternative uses for the award here. *For more information regarding the AmeriCorps VISTA Childcare benefit, please visit https://americorpschildcare.com/ *For details about AmeriCorps VISTA healthcare benefits, please visit http://www.vistacampus.gov/healthcare *For details about Non-Competitive Eligibility, please visit https://my.americorps.gov/trust/help/member_portal/non_competitive_eligibility_overview.htm

**APPLY HERE: My AmeriCorps – Home Page

For more information, please contact Addie Gilkerson (she/her) at agilkerson@conservationlegacy.org

Stewards Individual Placements does not and will not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, age, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all. If you need assistance and/or reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application, interviewing, and/or onboarding process, please send your request to the hiring manager in your preferred method of communication.