Regulatory Specialist (Ecology)
RES is accepting applications for an Ecological Regulatory Specialist to provide broad environmental support to a team of environmental restoration and mitigation professionals in our Midwest Region, with special emphasis on permitting experience with the US Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis, Kansas City District, and/or Rock Island Districts (i.e. Illinois and Missouri). This position will coordination with the land team, project managers, and ecologists to produce regulatory and permitting deliverables.
What your day-to-day might look like?
- Coordinate with federal, state, and local agencies to obtain project permits and approvals, including wetlands, streams, rare, threatened, and endangered species, and cultural clearances.
- Coordinate with ecology team to incorporate scientific field data into regulatory documents
- Prepare reports, maps, permit applications, mitigation site plans and designs, comment response documents, and other regulatory deliverables
- Compile field data into word documents and excel spreadsheets, provide basic QA/QC, and write technical reports.
- Lead or support meetings with regulatory agencies
- Support field ecology efforts (i.e. mitigation site monitoring, site assessments, wetland/stream delineations, bat surveys).
- Provide occasional sales support and assistance with proposal preparation
Qualifications
Minimum:
- BA/BS in Biology, Environmental Science, Geology, Hydrology, Botany or similar science and at least three years of experience
- Knowledge of environmental regulations (i.e. CWA, 404/401, NWP/IP, NPDES, ESA)
- Direct work experience in developing prospectus and wetland Mitigation Banking Instruments and Work Plans, Permittee-Responsible Mitigation Plans, Nation-Wide Permits, habitat mitigation plans, which includes, but is not limited to site assessments (desktop and field), impact analysis, credit yield determination, and project design.
- Basic wetland knowledge and plant identification skills
- Understanding of ecological restoration design principles
- Experience in supporting a team of environmental restoration and mitigation professionals
- Superior writing, communication, data analysis and computer skills (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
- Ability to coordinate with multiple parties internally/externally and produce/package regulatory documents
- Superior attention to detail and handle multiple deadlines
- Outstanding written and verbal communication skills in a dynamic environment
- Strong organizational, time management, attention to detail, and analytical skills
- Ability to work independently as well as in a team environment; offer constructive feedback and direction to support project goals
- Ability to travel as needed for meetings and field visits
- Positive attitude and team-centered approach to problem solving
Preferred:
- Experience complying with state specific mitigation requirements (e.g. Missouri Wetland Mitigation Method).
- 5+ years of wetland permitting experience in the Midwest, especially Illinois and Missouri
- Strong wetland ecology knowledge and plant identification skills
- Experience with wetland/stream delineations and jurisdictional determinations
- Arc GIS proficiency to support mapping deliverables
- Strong understanding of ecological restoration design principles
- Basic understanding stream assessment methods and Natural Stream Channel Design restoration principles
- Strong record of communicating with/developing relationships with regulatory agency personnel