Job summary
Never has there been a more important time for trees and forests to help tackle the climate emergency and provide a much-needed sanctuary for people and wildlife. We aim to at least treble tree planting rates in England by the end of this Parliament, reflecting England’s contribution to meeting the UK’s overall target of planting 30,000 hectares per year by the end of this Parliament. This acceleration in current planting rates in England will contribute to meeting the net-zero by 2050 ambitions, and to government’s wider environmental targets. This is supported by the £640m Nature for Climate Fund (NCF) announced in the March 2020 budget.
The Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Forestry Commission have set up a joint NCF tree programme for England to support the forestry sector, landowners and communities in the delivery of these ambitions.
Forestry Commission leads the delivery of the following parts of the tree planting programme:
- developing sector capacity
- woodland creation on public land
- woodland creation on private land
- promotion and engagement
If you are passionate about the role of forestry in creating a better future for England, and want to play a key part in realising that, we want to hear from you.
By joining the Forestry Commission, you will become part of a team of passionate, committed colleagues, and be able to build on a wealth of expertise to take this ambitious work forward. You will be able to make your mark by helping the Forestry Commission to transform how we work together and reach new stakeholders.
This role will provide ecological advice on forestry schemes and proposals to Area colleagues and support the work of the national Natural Environment Advisors. This local, expert specialist advice will enable well informed and timely decision making that fully accounts for the existing ecological interests of both woodland and non-woodland (open) priority habitats and species and their potential for enhancement in line with the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan.
The post will be situated within the West Midlands of the North West and West Midlands Area Field Team. The Area contains over 239,000 hectares of woodland ranging from internationally important ancient and designated woodlands and very productive commercial plantations. The West Midlands area is varied from the rolling Hills of Herefordshire, hay rich meadows of Worcestershire, the Meres and Mosses of Staffordshire and Shropshire to the urban conurbation of Birmingham and everything in between. The area has the Wye Valley AONB, Shropshire Hills AONB, Malvern Hills, Cannock Chase AONB and part of the Cotswolds AONB the largest National Nature Reserve in the Wyre Forest. The West Midlands has nationally significant proportions of several important habitats, including 20% of England’s lowland meadows, 10% of England’s broadleaved woodland and 9% of the wood pasture and parkland, lowland heathland and acid grassland. The Ecologist will work closely with existing area Ecologst based in the North West on a range of issues relevant to Area Team Operations including grants and regulations.
