Conservation Assistant

~ Mississippi Valley Conservancy is a regional, non-profit land trust based in La Crosse that has permanently conserved more than 15,000 acres of blufflands, prairies, wetlands, and streams in southwestern Wisconsin since its founding in 1997. ~

MVC works with private landowners and local communities on voluntary conservation projects in nine counties along or near the Mississippi River: Buffalo, Trempealeau, Jackson, La Crosse, Monroe, Vernon, Crawford, Richland and Grant Counties.

The Conservancy uses voluntary tools such as conservation easements, land acquisitions, and a landowner registry program to protect lands for their ecology, scenic beauty, outdoor recreation potential, and prime agricultural soils. MVC works hard to restore native natural communities by removing invasive species and conducting prescribed burns. Additionally, the Conservancy provides hand-on learning experiences in the outdoors for thousands of young people and works to foster a conservation ethic.

Position Overview

To support Mississippi Valley Conservancy staff by carrying out administrative, advancement, program, and office management duties.

Responsibilities

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

• The Conservation Assistant will be a member of a team dedicated to permanent land protection, habitat restoration, and public outreach in southwestern Wisconsin.
• The position is responsible for providing technical and administrative support to the office, outreach, and land protection staff.
• Duties include collecting, organizing and digitizing data, report and grant application preparation, tracking complex information, and supervising volunteers. 
• In addition to the specific duties outlined below, assist with ad-hoc projects in support of the Executive Director and other staff as required.

Office and Conservation Assistance:

• Process incoming gifts, memberships and pledge payments by entering information into database and producing acknowledgement letters to donors, 2-3 times weekly.
• Produce monthly lists for annual: membership renewals, corporate sponsors, easement payments and other pledge payments, merge into appropriate letters, get Director and Board signatures and coordinate volunteers to mail letters via the bulk mail process. 
• Track existing and potential grants and communicate at least monthly to Director and team as deadlines approach for new grant applications and reports for existing grants.
• Research and assist with preparation of grants, applications and reports as assigned from Executive Director.
• Organize and maintain project, grant and membership files, and scan documents for archiving.
• Process and track Mysteries of the Driftless video sales and inventory.
• Assist with baseline property electronic and hard copy files documentation preparation including compilation of reports, photos, maps, natural resource inventories, etc.
• Completion of applications for Managed Forest lands Conveyance and Property Tax Exemption Requests as assigned by the Conservation Director.
• Volunteer coordination and supervision.
• Data entry.
• File organization and scanning.

Outreach and Communications:

• Assist with the monthly tracking public outreach events with landowners, volunteers, general public, and school groups.
• Review and edit internal organizational documents and external outreach publications and photos as needed.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• 2 years minimum experience in office setting, and working with complex database (e.g. Adobe Design Suite, Microsoft Office programs) and spreadsheet software.
• Excellent writing, editing, and communications skills a must.
• Experience with grants tracking, management, writing, budgets development and/or reporting preferred.
• Organized and detailed oriented.
• An understanding of land conservation issues.
• Successful candidate will be self-directed, highly motivated, flexible, and detail-oriented.

Education and Certifications:

• College or technical degree, or minimum of 3 years of comparable experience.

Compensation: Mississippi Valley Conservancy offers competitive compensation, flexible work policies and a collaborative work environment.

At MVC you will find a culture that supports and inspires conservation achievement and personal development.

To Apply

Please click below: "Apply Now Online!" to submit your letter of interest, resume and list of references by e-mail in Microsoft Word or
PDF format, or mail to:

Mississippi Valley Conservancy
P.O. Box 2611
La Crosse, WI 54602-2611

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.