Careers

New England Forestry Foundation

The New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) is an advocate for cutting-edge, forest-based natural climate solutions. NEFF is a conservation landowner that actively manages forestland, a generator of new information and science on issues involving improved forest practices, and an active collaborator in support of ecologically aligned forestry.

This position posting comes in the context of a significant period of growth for NEFF focused on how climate-smart forestry can be implemented across New England and as a national and international model for climate-smart forestry on private lands. The USDA recently awarded NEFF a $30 million grant under their Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program for the New England Climate-Smart Commodities Partnership project. This program represents an unprecedented opportunity to pilot scalable, carbon-saving forest management practices as part of a systems approach including forestland protection, wildland preservation and building with wood to store carbon and displace carbon-intensive materials. With this USDA funding, NEFF will define and implement a groundbreaking and nationally relevant pilot program in New England to build a climate-smart, forest-based economy as a powerful tool for climate action.

Position Summary

The Executive Assistant is responsible for providing a wide range of support to the organization’s Executive Director and other senior staff with a focus on increasing the number of donor and partner interactions and acting as an effective liaison to the Board of Directors. The position will also provide support in the planning and execution of key organizational projects including the Board of Advisors working group, and occasional event planning with assistance from the development department. The position requires strong organizational skills, comfort communicating by phone and email with donors and leaders of partner organizations, coordinating activities among staff, and—as a member of a small but ambitious staff—willingness to pitch in on diverse tasks as needed.

Principal Responsibilities

• Serve as the principal hub of coordination among senior staff, board members and donors to drive forward organizational success.
• Schedule donor meetings via phone and email.
• Support project planning for the development department and major organizational initiatives and track progress against plans.
• Provide support in donor outreach and coordination of schedules.
• Assist ED and other senior staff with donor and partner meeting follow up.
• Make travel arrangements for the ED and other senior staff as needed.
• Organize staff meetings, department head meetings, retreats, and other means of formal and informal communication to maintain a sense of unity of purpose across staff and board.
• Plan and implement occasional events, both on-site and off-site, in partnership with the development department.
• Schedule and assist in occasional corporate volunteer opportunities.
• Serve as staff point person for the Board of Advisor group; work alongside board and staff to best leverage this working group in support of NEFF’s mission.
• Schedule board and committee meetings.
• Develop board and committee materials and agendas as requested.
• Take minutes of board and committee meetings.
• Prepare presentations and materials for the board, committee, and staff meetings.
• Assist with planning and coordinating the Annual Meeting.
• Coordinate conference attendance, sponsorship and exhibitor schedules.
• Prepare and/or verify invoices and receipts.

Preferred Experience & Requirements

• Energy, drive, and a positive can-do approach to challenges.
• Desire to facilitate organizational success and to take on responsibilities and challenges as needed to secure that success.
• Professional yet friendly phone manner. Not hesitant to make cold calls.
• High-quality, compelling writer.
• Outstanding people skills. Able to choose the right means of communication and the appropriate timing for sensitive communications.
• Extremely organized and detail oriented in one’s own work. Enjoys organizing the work of others. Demonstrated skill in organizing teams of people to deliver successful outcomes.
• Enthusiastic team player. Enjoys participating in a team that delivers high-quality results even when personal contributions are somewhat behind-the-scenes.
• Facility with Microsoft Office, Outlook and a fundraising database program such as Raiser’s Edge, or demonstrated proficiency at rapidly mastering new software applications.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, environmental studies, forestry, sustainability, or related fields.
• Understanding of New England’s physical, social and political landscape.
• Passion for conservation.
• Growth potential within a rapidly developing organization.

Working Conditions/Physical Effort

• Work will rarely involve long or irregular hours, such as attending NEFF’s Annual Meeting.
• Work typically occurs in an office and requires only light office duties in terms of physical activity.

Compensation, Location & Other Information

• Salary range for this part-time position—of 25 hours a week/5 hours a day—is $33,000 – $38,000 commensurate with experience.
• Part-time employees are offered paid time off, seven paid holidays, FSA/DCA offerings, retirement plan with employer match and vesting, four weeks of paid parental leave and an additional eight weeks of unpaid parental leave, and a congenial and flexible working environment.
• This position is hybrid with the expectation that at least 2 days per week will be at NEFF’s main office in Littleton, MA.

New England Forestry Foundation is an equal employment opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws. NEFF commits to respecting and learning from different perspectives, reflecting the diverse citizens and communities of New England. In hiring, mentoring, and managing staff, the organization seeks to maintain a diverse, supportive, friendly, and discrimination-free workplace.

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and writing sample via email to Kim Doherty at kdoherty@newenglandforestry.org. Please use Executive Assistant as the subject line of your submission. Position will be filled on a rolling basis.

New England Forestry Foundation

The New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) stands at a pivotal moment of opportunity for advancing cutting-edge, forest-based climate solutions across New England and beyond. NEFF is an advocate for forest-climate solutions; a generator of new information and science on how Exemplary Forestry can advance the integrated goals of ecological health, forest carbon, and a dynamic bioeconomy; a conservation landowner that actively manages forestland; and an active collaborator in support of ecologically aligned forestry.

Project Background

The first phase of the Forest Carbon for Commercial Landowners (FFCL) Project determined that the commercial forests of northern Maine could store at least 20% or more additional carbon than they do today while maintaining current-day harvest levels over the long term and improving habitat for vulnerable wildlife species. Through forest management changes, funded by efforts to mitigate climate change (corporate, governmental, and/or philanthropic sources), the commercial forests of Maine can provide even more in terms of social, economic, and environmental value and help fight climate change.

The Forest Carbon for Commercial Landowners Phase II (FCCL II) Project seeks to build on the work of FCCL Phase I and provide a solid base for decisions about program design by doing the following:

• refining elements of the analysis where we could improve the specificity, accuracy, and reliability of the results; and
• developing a blueprint for an implementable forest carbon program that benefits the climate by reducing GHG levels, works for landowners, and maintains harvest levels.

The focus of this effort is to be on large commercial/industrial ownerships (just 10 entities own 7+ million acres) because, if they can be incentivized to change practices, it will be possible to achieve climate benefits at scale and because that is where the major opportunity to increase “in forest” carbon storage lies. This position will be supervised by Alec Giffen, Senior Forest Science and Policy Fellow.

Position Summary

The New England Forestry Foundation is offering a two-year contract to a qualified applicant to be an integral part of the team designing a self-sustaining institution to fund climate-smart forestry in Maine. This will involve researching similar efforts around the country and the world, conducting sophisticated forest growth and economic optimization modeling and determining the mix of practices that can maximize carbon storage in the forest and products while maintaining harvest levels in the state. All this information will be combined with creative ideas on financing and institutional arrangements to design a program to pay the financial incentives needed to implement climate-smart management in the Acadian Forests of Maine for as long as such incentives are needed.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide organizational support to assemble a team of approximately 20 persons principally representing large landowners, small landowners, ENGOs, and scientists.
• Provide organizational support to the chairperson/presiding officer of the stakeholder group, by conducting background reading, analyses, defining key issues and solutions in preparation for meetings, support constructive moderation of the discussion in 12 meetings over two years, and draw conclusions from it pertinent to the success of FCCL II (including follow-up conversations with participants).
• Create a tech team consisting of a subset of the Stakeholder group supplemented with persons with specific expertise needed to resolve program design issues.
• Gathering and conveying the lessons learned from work on the Climate-Smart Commodities project.
• Support FCCL II team and partners to: 1) review the literature on how to design and fund incentive programs to maximize efficiency and effectiveness, 2) develop case studies that include domestic and foreign cases, government as well as non-government programs, different mechanisms for payment, different ways of determining rates, etc., 3) synthesize the literature and case studies and 4) develop preliminary conclusions regarding program design, including preparation of a report.
• Conduct a review of the scientific literature and unpublished experimental results to synthesize the empirical evidence covering the climate-beneficial outcomes (GHG reductions) of various silvicultural systems. Supervise the work of modelling experts.
• Supporting experts in the FCCL II team to update and refine the existing LANDIS modeling conducted in FCCL Phase I. Also, compare FVS/Woodstock with LANDIS results for growth modeling, identify strengths and weaknesses of each approach and leverage those results in order to best represent the most likely scenario outcomes.
• Supporting the refining of the economic modeling using Adam Daigneault’s Maine Integrated Forest System model as used in FCCL Phase I and considering results of earlier steps in this workplan.
• Supporting application of the prescriptions and methods developed for using the LANDIS/Maine Integrated Forest System and the FVS/Woodstock approaches to an individual large commercial/industrial landowner’s holdings based on their inventory data.
• Work with modelers to compare the results of the two optimization models (Maine Integrated Forest System and Woodstock) and determine how to most accurately predict carbon storage and cost outcomes.
• Support FCCL II partner organizations to: 1) identify and refine details of landowner incentive instruments and institutional arrangements for financing those incentives; 2) determine institutional responsibility for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) for forest and product carbon; 3) and synthesize this into a “blueprint” for a program in Maine that will fund additional silvicultural activities, avoid leakage, be attractive to large landowners, operate at the landscape scale and have a permanent financing stream.
• Support organization of process to elicit review and comments from outside experts at critical steps in the process, starting with the review of this work plan and continuing through when conclusions are being considered. (A full workplan including each task/responsibility, background on the FCCL II project and this position’s role within, is available upon request.)

Experience & Requirements

• Familiarity with New England’s forest ecosystems and forest industry.
• A passion for forest conservation, forestry, and climate change action with a clear understanding of those issues and their relationships to forests, forestry, and natural resource management.
• In-depth knowledge of the methods of statistical analysis.
• In-depth knowledge of forest modeling.
• Written and verbal communication skills, including experience with effectively communicating complex scientific and technical information to a wide range of audiences.
• Ability to work collaboratively with NEFF staff, project partners, and outside stakeholders to build strong partnerships and achieve common goals.
• Organizational skills with fluency and nimbleness in managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Master’s Degree in Forestry or Forest Science with at least three years of experience working on forestry and/or climate mitigation issues.

Compensation, Location & Other Information

• The hourly rate for this position is commensurate with experience.
• This is a 2-year contract.
• Location for this position is flexible within the New England region. The position will require travel to Maine.

New England Forestry Foundation is an equal employment opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws. NEFF commits to respecting and learning from different perspectives, reflecting the diverse citizens and communities of New England. In hiring, mentoring, and managing staff, the organization seeks to maintain a diverse, supportive, friendly, and discrimination-free workplace.

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and writing sample via email to Kim Doherty at kdoherty@newenglandforestry.org. Please use Quantitative Silviculturist as the subject line of your submission. Positions will be filled on a rolling basis.