Monday, January 22, 2018

Job Announcement- Open Recruitment for an Adaptation Program Manager

We're Hiring!! Open recruitment for an Adaptation Program Manager.


Position Title
: Adaptation Program Manager

Position Location: Washington, D. C.

Reports To: Science Advisor

Job Type: Exempt / full-time

Salary: Commensurate with experience. Please include salary expectations in cover letter.

AFWA Background: The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, founded in 1902, represents North America’s fish and wildlife agencies. It promotes sound management and conservation, and speaks with a collective voice on important fish and wildlife issues. The Association is a nonprofit, 501(c)(6) trade association. See www.fishwildlife.org for more information.

Position Summary: The Adaptation Program Manager manages the Association’s programs and activities related to climate adaptation, providing leadership in managing national efforts to develop and implement practical climate adaptation strategies for fish, wildlife and habitats.

Duties: Manage and facilitate a collaborative partnership of government agencies, academia, industry, and NGOs which is developing and implementing climate adaptation activities for the benefit of fish, wildlife, and habitats, as outlined in the “National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy” and the State Wildlife Action Plans.

Provide staff support for the AFWA Climate Change Committee and its affiliated subcommittees and working groups, including monthly conference calls and in-person meetings. Help advance the work of state fish and wildlife agencies (including marine resource agencies) and partners for climate-ready fish and wildlife management.

Produce and distribute a regular e-newsletter, the “AFWA Climate Change Round-Up,” to AFWA members and partners.

Facilitate the administration of an annual “Climate Adaptation Leadership Award for Natural Resources,” in partnership with state and federal agencies and the AFWA Climate Change Committee.

Create and facilitate the development of a “community of practice” among climate adaptation professionals at state and federal agencies through regular communications such as webinars, workshops, special conference sessions, conference calls, training sessions, and other learning and networking opportunities.

Represent AFWA on the steering committee overseeing the annual “Climate Academy” course at the National Conservation Training Center.

Represent AFWA at national conferences and meetings of committees and working groups that are focused on natural resource climate adaptation.

Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications: Outstanding written and verbal communications skills; strong organizational and people skills; experience facilitating diverse multi-stakeholder groups; ability to work independently and as part of a team; prior experience working in a fast-paced office environment; excellent understanding of climate change and climate adaptation as related to wildlife or natural resource management; knowledge of wildlife and natural resource management as currently practiced in the United States; understanding of the role that state fish and wildlife agencies play in conservation.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science, Environmental Policy, Conservation Biology or related field; Master’s degree preferred.

Travel: 10% of time (~6-12 trips per year).

Desired Work Experience: At least 5 years’ relevant work experience in fish or wildlife conservation; experience working in a state, provincial, or federal wildlife or natural resource agency in the United States or Canada a strong plus.

Application Process: Please submit a letter of interest and CV to John Lord, Director of Operations at  jlord@fishwildlife.org. Applications must include salary expectations.


Application Deadline: Wednesday, February 21, 2018, or until a suitable candidate is found.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Webinar: A Vulnerability Assessment Tool (“SAVS”) to Evaluate Species Response to Environmental Stressors Including Climate Change

Due to the government shutdown, we are unfortunately postponing the AFWA – U. S. Forest Service webinar on species vulnerability assessments which had originally been scheduled for Wednesday, January 24th.   We will post a new announcement about this webinar once it has been rescheduled.

Webinar presented by the U.S. Forest Service and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies


Abstract: Species’ response to disturbances are often difficult to assess, especially where such disturbances have large scale and interactive impacts. Climate change represents a major challenge for wildlife management because its impacts are ubiquitous but also likely to vary across diverse landscapes. Further, individual wildlife species exhibit a range of coping mechanisms and sensitivities to climate related change in habitat and biotic communities challenging attempts to predict impacts. Vulnerability assessments provide a method for developing relevant information that can help wildlife managers identify priorities for actions that may reduce impacts. The System for Assessing Vulnerability of Species (SAVS) to climate change was developed as a tool that would quantify species’ vulnerability to climate and related disturbances. SAVS is easily implemented using expert knowledge or literature and provides scores that indicated overall species vulnerability to expected changes. The SAVS system also identifies the primary ways in which a species might be affected by climate related changes in habitat, physiological limitations, phenology, and biotic interactions. This information is critical to efforts to identify potential intervention points. During this presentation, I will describe SAVS and discuss its use in several wildlife management assessments for federal and State planning efforts.

Dr. Megan Friggens
Research Ecologist
U.S. Forest Service
Research & Development
Rocky Mountain Research Station

Wednesday, January 24
3 p.m. Eastern/2 p.m. Central/ 1 p.m. Mountain/12 p.m. Pacific

To join the webinar:
Step 1: For audio, dial: 1-800-768-2983, and use access code: 8383462
Step 2: Web Login: https://cc.callinfo.com/r/11qsccjgfyg4a&eom

Contacts: Monica Tomosy (mstomosy@fs.fed.us) or John Rothlisberger (jrothlisberger@fs.fed.us)

Download the flyer here.

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Webinar Series: Marine Protected Area Management and the Role of Federal Agencies, States and the Public

Hosted by AFWA’s Ocean Resources Policy Committee

Please join us this Thursday, January 11th,  from 2-3:30ET for the second installment in the AFWA webinar series on U.S. marine protected area (MPA) programs. Thursday’s webinar will be focusing on MPA Programs at NOAA.

Each webinar in this series will feature presentations on individual federal agency MPA programs and will discuss legal authorities, program objectives, designation processes, management approaches, relationships with state governments, stakeholder engagement and public involvement. The webinars will be formatted to allow for interactive discussion and questions with the federal agency representatives after each formal presentation. Please see the attached invitation and below for more information how to join the discussion!

In the event you were not able to join us in December for the first webinar in this series titled MPA’s 101, you may view it by following this link.


Marine Protected Area Programs at NOAA

January 11th, 2:00-3:30 ET

Presenters:
Matt Stout, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
Heather Sagar, NOAA Fisheries
Kim Texeira, Office for Coastal Management

This webinar will include presentations on National Marine Sanctuaries, Marine National Monuments, National Estuarine Research Reserves and MPAs managed by NOAA Fisheries.

How to Join


After registering via the link above, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Please feel free to forward the information about this webinar series to any of your colleagues who may have an interest in this topic!


Contact Devin DeMario (ddemario@fishwildlife.org or 202-838-2562) with any questions or concerns.