Property Steward

~ Mainspring Conservation Trust (formerly Land Trust for the Little Tennessee) was founded in 1997 and has evolved to become one of the leading nonprofit organizations in beautiful western North Carolina. ~

The organization is involved in broad conservation initiatives throughout its seven-county region.

Mainspring has strong leadership on both the Staff and Board level and has a history of raising significant contributions from both local communities as well as urban areas whose residents have second homes in the area. With a solid financial foundation in place, it is time to bring the right person in to join the senior management team and help drive the next phase of the organizational growth.

Position Overview

• Mainspring Conservation Trust is currently seeking a Property Steward.

Responsibilities

• The primary mission of a service member would be twofold: to manage habitat on three Mainspring properties, Tessentee Bottomland Preserve, Gibson Bottoms and Welch Farm, and to connect visitors with those properties.
• Though Mainspring has long owned these properties, we have only recently decided to hold them long-term.
• The properties have a rich natural heritage, including rare species and several aquatic and upland habitat types.
• They also have a rich cultural heritage spanning Cherokee and early settler periods.
• Part of the service would consist of activities to maintain early-successional habitat, manage invasive exotic species, promote rare plant species and preserve the historic character of an old farmstead.
• The other part of a member’s service would consist of activities to connect community members and visitors to the resources at these three properties.
• This would include trail building, trail maintenance, creation of educational materials, and leading tours.
• A secondary mission would be to assist in summer aquatic biomonitoring, Mainspring’s long-running fishbased citizen science water quality monitoring program.
• The member would be expected to serve alongside staff, to supervise volunteers, and to work independently.

Qualifications

• Comfort using hand tools - shovels, loppers, hand saws, maddock, etc.
• Experience using gas-powered tools – brush cutter, ATV, etc. (though not chainsaw), or ability to learn.
• Experience with hiking trail construction and maintenance, or ability to learn.
• Experience using physical and chemical methods to control invasive plant species, or ability to learn.
• Comfort supervising groups of volunteers.
• Writing skills, especially scientific writing for a general audience.
• Basic plant identification skills, or ability to learn.
• An interest in nature photography (ideal, but not required).
• Familiarity using ArcGIS software (ideal, but not required).
• Organizational skills.
• Eligible applicants must be at least 18 years of age, be a citizen, national, or lawful permanent resident alien of the United States, and consent to a criminal history check.