The Forest of Marston Vale is a forest in the making; covering an area of 61 square miles between Bedford and Milton Keynes, it’s one of England’s Community Forests which together form the country’s largest environmental regeneration initiative. The Forest of Marston Vale Trust is the charity creating the Forest of Marston Vale. Since the early 1990’s, we’ve been planting trees to transform the once-degraded landscape and make the Marston Vale a thriving place to live, work and play.
A core target for creating the Forest is increasing tree cover to 30% – a ten-fold increase from the early 1990’s – as a means to transform the social, economic and environmental prospects of the area. The Forest of Marston Vale Trust, working with local communities, landowners and partners, has already increased tree cover to over 15% – a truly impressive achievement – and we’re looking to build upon this success in the next phase of creating the Forest.
We’re looking for an enthusiastic, driven and confident Forest Creation Officer to join us and expand our existing team. You’ll work to secure increased levels of woodland creation and tree planting to boost the creation of the Forest of Marston Vale.
To do this, you’ll work proactively with farmers and other landowners to promote, secure and implement new woodland creation projects and schemes, and be instrumental in delivering our c.£8m Trees for Climate programme, supported by Defra. As part of doing this, you’ll take a confident approach to engaging with landowners and managers, and be able to use your technical and practical knowledge to provide professional advice to them. You’ll be able to comfortably undertake surveys and assessments of land, then design and prepare tree planting, woodland creation and other habitat creation schemes, and ensure their successful delivery, including managing contractors .
The role will be based at the award-winning Forest Centre and Millennium Country Park in Bedfordshire, reporting to the Forest Director, with day-to-day supervision from the Forest Development Manager. You’ll work alongside the two existing Forest Creation Officers, boosting the capacity and output of this unit within our wider Forest Team. You will be key to increasing tree planting and woodland creation activity, including the creation of a further c.250ha of woodland under the Trees for Climate programme by 2025.
To be successful in the role, you must be qualified to HND or degree level in forestry, countryside/land management or another related field, or have equivalent work experience. Professional experience within a similar land management role or natural environment context will also be required. Professional membership of the Institute of Chartered Foresters or another relevant professional body is desirable but not essential.
As landowners are key stakeholders, you are also required to have proven, positive experience with farmers, land managers and land agents. Experience of managing contractors is needed, as is a broad ecological knowledge of a range of habitats and their management. The role also requires excellent written and verbal communication skills, excellent IT literacy and knowledge of using GIS.
The role will require travel around the Marston Vale area and applicants are therefore required to hold a full driving licence or have the ability to accommodate such travel.
In return, we offer a competitive starting salary of up to £32,000, 25 days holiday (plus bank/public holidays) and a pension scheme, plus the chance to be part of a small, high-performing, professional team that are passionate about improving the environment and have an enviable track record in delivering great results.
Should you be interested in this role we would love to hear from you. Please email stacey@solutionsforhr.co.uk with your CV. A detailed job description and further information on our charity and mission is available upon request.
The closing date for applications is the Monday 16 th January 2023 at 5:00pm with interviews to be arranged shortly after.
