Forest to Cities Climate Challenge Organizer

~ New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) is the only non-profit organization with a region-wide geographic focus and a mission focused on forest conservation and management. ~

We conserve forests and promote Exemplary Forestry to permanently protect the character of New England and the region’s primary source of clean water and air, native wildlife habitat, diverse recreational opportunities, and rural economic opportunity. In this millennium NEFF has protected one of every three acres of land conserved in New England and currently manages more than 140 properties that the organization owns outright and more than a million acres of conservation easements. The organization is in a period of growth, having nearly doubled staffing and budget since the start of 2013.

Position Overview

NEFF’s Build It With Wood (BIWW) Program aims to advance wood construction in the Northeast with the mutually reinforcing goals of supporting sustainable forest harvest and forest conservation in the region, helping reduce carbon emissions and increasing sequestration from forests and wood, and improving the affordability and density of urban housing, with benefits for social equity, traffic congestion, and climate change. Evidence suggests that wood construction can serve as a major climate wedge, possibly eliminating or offsetting emissions equal to up to 31% of annual global emissions.

The Forest to Cities Climate Challenge Organizer is the primary staffer for the Build It With Wood program and heads the Forest to Cities Climate Challenge. The Forest to Cities Climate Challenge aims to build social license for a new generation of tall wood buildings to help solve the climate crisis, and simultaneously to overcome timing issues around investment in tall wood buildings and facilities to produce the cross-laminated timbers used in construction of those buildings. The concept is to develop and publicize commitments to an integrated value chain linking carbon in New England’s forests to carbon in new wood buildings in New England cities.

The position will seek climate commitments from forest landowners, forest product manufacturers, builders, architects, engineers, developers, investors, and ultimately legislators and other elected officials, and manage an associated social media campaign. S/he both executes projects directly; oversees contractors, interns and other NEFF staff working on the project; and works with partners to ensure completion of all critical actions in a timely manner. The Project Leader will collaborate with key senior leadership (Bob Perschel, Alec Giffen, and Frank Lowenstein).

Responsibilities

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Outreach to stakeholders along the value chain to gain pledges of support for the Build It With Wood concept and to develop a community of interest that supports and communicates with one another. Organize that community in support of specific actions, policies, and communications opportunities.
• Establish and promote the Exemplary Forestry registry.
• Develop strong partnerships with WoodWorks, Think Wood, the US Climate Alliance, the Trust for Public Land, The Nature Conservancy, Second Nature and others to promote engagement with the Forest to Cities Climate Challenge.
• Work with the three firms considering Northeastern CLT mills to define their sourcing sustainability criteria and relationship to the Exemplary Forestry registry.
• Work though the Boston Planning and Development Agency, the Green Ribbon Commission, the Metro Mayors Commission Regional Housing Task Force and other avenues to encourage individual cities to adopt policies to encourage sustainably sourced mass timber as part of their housing and climate commitments.
• Develop and implement a social media campaign and possibly a broad communications campaign in support of the Forest to Cities Challenge, building on public commitments from the constituencies above. The social media campaign will target both building sector professionals (architects, engineers, developers, builders) and the climate concerned public, and will include sophisticated use of social media aggregators to identify and reach target groups via multiple social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). Where possible, we will try to reach the same individual with multiple streams of information.
• Simultaneously improve the Build It With Wood section of NEFF’s website as a primary information resource about wood construction and the Forest to Cities Challenge.
• Continue NEFF’s existing partnership with construction companies to develop simpler costing protocols for mass timber buildings and to make those available through MIT’s wood design lab.
• Conduct interviews with builders and developers who self-identify as interested in wood construction in response to a survey and social media outreach to identify builders and developers interested in being part of the Forest to Cities Climate Challenge.
• Support NEFF’s senior advisor in developing science components of the program and promote the results as they become available.
• Oversee and guide the work of a TerraCorps member assigned to NEFF or other intern, staff or contractors.

Qualifications

Professional experiences and the skill set of top candidates will include:

• Successful experience with community organizing in any context.
• Excellent written and verbal communications. Proficiency with social media communications.
• Exceptional organizational and prioritization skills with fluency in managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Understanding and appreciation of New England Forestry Foundation’s unique niche among conservation organization.
• Documented dedication to forest conservation, forestry, or climate change action and clear understanding of those issues and their relationship to forests, forestry, and construction.
• Bachelor’s degree and at least three years of experience working on forestry, construction and/or climate mitigation. Five years of experience in the non-profit or government sector working on these topics or a master’s degree and at least three years experience preferred.

Compensation 

• Salary is commensurate with experience.
• New England Forestry Foundation offers a comprehensive benefit package for full time employees and a friendly working environment.
• The position is based at the organization’s Prouty Woods headquarters in Littleton, Massachusetts, which offers access to hiking trails and a lake for swimming as well as ample parking and easy access to major commuting options.

~ New England Forestry Foundation is an equal employment opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws. ~