Contract Remote Ecologist Jobs (NOW HIRING)

The Forest Stewards Guild, a national organization of foresters and allied natural resource professionals, is dedicated to practicing and promoting responsible forestry as a means of sustaining the integrity of forest ecosystems and the people dependent upon them. We use innovative, science-based solutions to meet the challenges of forest conservation and management. The Guild has over 700 members, over half of whom are professionals who manage over 42 million acres of forestland in the United States and Canada. The Guild maintains regional offices in New Mexico, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Colorado, Washington, and Wisconsin. The Southwest office has a history of working alongside place-based communities and Tribes for 30 years, including some longstanding programs related to youth education and workforce development, fire adapted communities, and collaborative forestry.  

The Forest Stewards Guild is hiring a full-time Forestry and Fuels Coordinator to support forest contractors and implement forest resilience projects on private and federal lands. This role builds upon the 2-3-2 Cohesive Strategy Partnership and the Rio Chama Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) to promote forestry projects for small acreage and underserved landowners and build local contractor capacity. 

We seek a dynamic and collaborative leader who is outgoing, personable, and skilled at connecting with individuals and groups. This role requires excellent listening skills and the ability to foster relationships with diverse partners and the public. The successful candidate will demonstrate a proactive approach and a genuine enthusiasm for working collaboratively to achieve shared goals. 

The successful candidate will use their experience in project coordination, science communication, and ecological forestry to work with Guild staff, partners, and landowners to evaluate project needs, implement resilient forestry projects, conduct educational outreach, and facilitate contractor trainings, among other activities as project needs are identified. The Forestry and Fuels Coordinator will help fulfill the Guild's mission of ecological forestry in the Southwest United States through landowner outreach, field surveys and project design, forest prescription and plan writing, and implementation oversight. Candidates should have strong project coordination skills, communication abilities, budget tracking experience, knowledge of dry fire-adapted forests, forestry training, and strategic thinking capabilities. 

Interested applicants should review the full position description and email a one-page cover letter, resume, one-page writing sample, three professional references, and earliest available start date to 
jmarshall at forestguild dot org by 5PM on March 30th, 2026. Incomplete applications will not be considered. 

What You'll Bring 

• Certificate or degree in forestry, ecology, natural resource management, or other applicable field, or three years equivalent experience of professional work mapping and marking timber or fuels units for treatment  

• Forestry and fuels knowledge and related field experience  

• Experience using Geographic Information Systems and field-based applications such as Avenza or Survey123 

• Project coordination experience working with multiple contracts and deliverables at one time. 

• Experience with disseminating scientific and complex project information to the public 

• Proficiency in tracking deliverables and report writing 

• Clear verbal and written communication skills, with an emphasis on concise, technical writing 

• Ability to work both independently and with a team 

• Leadership skills and self-direction 

• Strong interpersonal and organizational skills 

• Effective knowledge of common software applications 

• Valid driver's license 

Additional Desired Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's degree in forestry, land or natural resource management, ecology, or other applicable field, or five years of relevant work experience 

• FFT2 Fire qualification, Basic Faller (FAL3) chainsaw certification  

• Experience using partnerships to leverage resources and funding to accomplish cross boundary projects 

• Experience writing proposals and building budgets 

• Proficiency in project budget tracking 

• Forestry experience in Southwest forest ecosystems 

• Certificate or professional experience with Geographic Information Systems, including database creation and maintenance, data analysis, and creation of online interactive maps. 

• Conversational Spanish 

Position Description 

The successful candidate will have a certificate or degree in forestry, ecology, natural resource management, or three years equivalent experience of professional work mapping and marking timber or fuels units for treatment. This individual will have excellent organizational, communication, and written skills, the ability to work outdoors in remote locations, and a desire to support ecological forestry and forest dependent communities in the Southwest. The Guild has been expanding in the Southwest, and the ideal candidate will possess the desire and leadership skills to sustain and strengthen the Guild's regional presence and impact. Previous experience in field forestry management and working collaboratively with diverse partners in the Southwest, coupled with project coordination experience, is highly desirable.The SW Forestry and Fuels Coordinator will work closely with directors and staff based out of the Santa Fe, NM office.  

The successful individual will: 

• Advance resilient forestry by working with a team to develop strategies and build partnerships that benefit underserved and small-acreage forest landowners 

• Support the delivery of technical forest and fire management services with other Guild staff and/or contractors.  

• Seek opportunities to increase treatments on non-federal lands by identifying linkages between the federally funded CFLRP, federally managed lands, and non-federally managed lands.  

• Address challenges such as limited contractors, information access, and lack of partnerships that hinder climate-adaptive stewardship efforts.  

• Build trust, improve forest health, and increase landowner participation in resilient forestry practices through one-on-one conversations, deep listening, and follow through. 

• Engage with small-acreage and underserved landowners to foster emerging markets. 

• Work with the Senior Forester to identify and prepare forestry treatments on privately and federally managed lands. 

• Lead outreach to perspective land stewards. 

• Work with New Mexico State Forestry Division, Colorado State Forest Service, and US Forest Service to find willing landowners as well as look for opportunities to develop opportunities to work across boundaries.  

• Conduct site visits to discuss resilient forestry practices, in line with the Guild's principles, and project funding. 

• Develop site maps, forest management plans, and site-specific treatment prescriptions. 

• Support office-based project management work such as cost estimating, budgeting, issuing Requests for Proposals, preparing agreements, reporting, and general correspondence with partners. 

• Perform project layout and tree marking.  

• Coordinate with private landowners and federal land managers, and contractors, to implement treatments. Provide regular oversight of contractors and inspect completed work.  

• Facilitate meetings, trainings, field tours, and other opportunities to support local contractor capacity in line with existing partnerships. 

• Coordinate with New Mexico State Forestry Division, Colorado State Forest Service, Northern New Mexico College, America's Job Center, New Mexico Workforce Solutions, and the Santa Fe, Carson, Rio Grande, and San Juan National Forests, and other interested partners. 

• Maintain relationships with partners and funders across New Mexico and Colorado, often in-person with some travel required. 

• Lead and facilitate education and outreach activities for private landowners and forest contractors. 

• Support grant proposals to build and maintain local contractor and mill capacity, and their participation in emerging markets that promote efficiency and climate-smart forest practices. 

• Support Forest Stewards Guild work in the region. 

• Maintain and grow partnerships for Southwest programs. 

• As needed and desired, support Guild prescribed fire operations. 

• Represent the Guild at professional conferences or events and perform public speaking, such as PowerPoint presentations or panel discussions to share on project deliverables 

• Collaborate as a team using software such as Asana, Slack, and Microsoft Teams. 

• Track budgets, match, metrics, and deliverables for projects. 

• Perform grant writing, administration, and reporting to a variety of different funders, including private foundations and government grants.  

Compensation and Benefits Package 

• The Forest Stewards Guild offers a competitive compensation and benefits package that reflects our total rewards strategy. The starting salary is $27.50 - $30.75 per hour, with the ability to grow based on performance outcomes over time assessed annually. 

• Full-time, exempt. 

• Paid and sick leave is accrued hourly from the first day of employment 

• 12 paid holidays per year 

• Employer-sponsored comprehensive health and dental care coverage paid at 80%, 40% for spouse, partner, and dependents of regular, full-time employees on Guild health insurance plan. 

• Short and long-term disability policies, accidental death/dismemberment, life insurance, and family leave are paid by the Guild. 

• Flexible Spending Accounts. 

• 403(b) retirement plan with a 5% employer match is available. 

Location 

This position is based at the Forest Stewards Guild's office in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Other locations in northern NM and southern CO (i.e., Chama, Taos, Alamosa, Pagosa, etc.) will be considered. A hybrid schedule is acceptable, and remote work is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. This position requires travel throughout northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. The expectation is that travel to Santa Fe will be required for meetings and field coordination. Some overnight travel is required when distances make it necessary. All travel costs from the Guild office in Santa Fe are covered, including the use of a Guild vehicle.  

How to Apply 

Interested applicants should review the full position description and email a one-page cover letter, resume, one-page writing sample, three professional references, and earliest available start date to jmarshall at forestguild dot org by 5PM on March 30th, 2026. Incomplete applications will not be considered. 

The one-page writing sample format is flexible. It can be on a natural resource subject of your choice; it can be a forest prescription, press release, newsletter article, research brief, or other sample of your writing capabilities.  

________

The Guild is dedicated to providing an open, transparent, and just organization and workplace. We strive for clear, open, and kind communication and are committed to recruiting, hiring, mentoring, and supporting staff from underrepresented communities. We are dedicated to building a work culture that recognizes the inherent value of our employees, supports a healthy work-life balance, and provides an environment that supports personal and job growth. 

We believe that a diverse workforce reflects the strengths of all members of our community. The Forest Stewards Guild strives to create a collaborative, supportive, and respectful setting for all employees and partners. To meet this goal, we recognize and celebrate the wide range of differences that characterize our members, employees, partners, and collaborators. Indeed, it is those differences that enhance our organization and help us to meet our mission and vision. The Guild values diverse forests because they are more productive, more resilient, more adaptable, and better able to recover from disturbances. Similarly, our community is healthier when we are inclusive of a diversity of people and perspectives.