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Job announcement: Fish, Wildlife and Ecosystem Monitoring and Evaluation Report Manager

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council has an opening for a fish, wildlife, and ecosystem monitoring and evaluation report manager in the Council’s fish and wildlife division, reporting to the director of the fish and wildlife division. This person will be the division’s team leader for designing and producing an annual Fish, Wildlife, and Ecosystem Monitoring and Evaluation Summary Report.

The Council is an interstate agency formed by the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington pursuant to the 1980 Northwest Power Act. The Council consists of eight members, two each appointed by the governors of the four states, with a small central staff based in Portland, Oregon. This position will be part of that staff, working with seven others in the fish and wildlife division.

Among other responsibilities, the Power Act directs the Council to adopt and periodically amend a program to protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife affected by the development and operation of hydroelectric projects on the Columbia River. The current version of the program is the Council’s 2000 Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, as supplemented by the 2003 Mainstem Amendments and by 57 subbasin plans adopted in 2004-05.

The Fish and Wildlife Program is now in the process of being amended. With the assistance of independent science panels, the Council also conducts extensive reviews of projects funded and proposed for funding by the Bonneville Power Administration and decides on funding recommendations to Bonneville to implement the Council’s fish and wildlife program. The Power Act also calls on the Council to develop and periodically amend a regional power plan, and to integrate the fish and wildlife program into the power plan. The Power Act also directs the Council to develop its fish and wildlife and power plans in an open, public process.

The primary work of the fish and wildlife ecosystem monitoring and evaluation report manager is to design and produce an annual Columbia Basin Fish, Wildlife, and Ecosystem Monitoring and Evaluation Summary Report for use by the Council and other Northwest decision-makers. The report manager must successfully develop and maintain working relationships with a wide variety of individuals and organizations that gather, store, and report on fish, wildlife, and environmental data in the Pacific Northwest. This person will work closely with the scientists and policy analysts in the fish and wildlife division and with Council members to help organize technical information and put it into useful summary form to support policy development and decisions by the Council. The work will also include developing strategies to bridge information gaps, and how to best distribute relatively scarce monitoring and evaluation resources.

This person will also work extensively with representatives from the Bonneville Power Administration, NOAA Fisheries and other federal, state, tribal, local government and non-governmental entities involved with fish, wildlife, and environmental monitoring and evaluation.

Qualifications:

• A bachelor of science degree in biology, geomorphology, hydrology or a related field is required, and an advanced degree is preferred.
• Significant practical experience in locating, compiling, organizing, and presenting environmental, natural resources, biological, and other information using current mainstream software such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.. GIS experience is a strong plus.
• Experience with, and an understanding of, Pacific Northwest natural resource and Columbia River issues is important, but we will consider applicants who have expertise and experience with similar issues in areas other than the Columbia River watershed.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze, summarize, and clearly display natural resource and environmental data, and a proven ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing opinions and analyses in the same areas.
• Demonstrated ability to work with others in a collegial setting, especially with scientists and other technical personnel, to analyze and support decisionmaking on key resource issues, and to organize and synthesize masses of information into clear graphs, tables, maps, and succinct written summaries.
• Demonstrated ability representing, in an objective and professional manner, natural resource and environmental data.

Applicants should submit a letter of interest, resume, writing sample, and references by April 11, 2008, to:

Fish and Wildlife Division Director
851 SW 6th Ave, Suite 1100
Portland, OR 97204

If using e-mail, please submit all documents in Microsoft Word. For further information, including salary and benefits information, please call Tony Grover or Sharon Ossmann, the Council’s director of administration, at 503-222-5161 or 800-452-5161.