Conservation Implementation Specialist

Job Purpose 

The Conservation Implementation Specialist (Specialist) provide technical assistance to farmers, ranchers and other landowners through implementation of conservation practices, acting in partnership and support of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).  
 

Position Summary 

The Conservation Implementation Specialist provides technical assistance to support a wide range of agronomic and engineering practices, including but not limited to assistance with finding additional funding, referring farmers to and/or consulting other technical experts, researching and providing recommendations for appropriate contractors, finding supplies or specialized equipment, coordinating with other government entities ,certifying practices and facilitating communication between contractors, farmers and NRCS staff.   

Duties and Responsibilities  

• Communications: using a variety of methods (e-mail, phone, or traveling to the farm) establish direct contact with farmers with existing financial assistance contracts with NRCS. 
  • Collaborate with the farmers to identify barriers to project completion, including ensuring producers understand their contract requirements.  
  • Where possible, furnish technical assistance directly.  
  • Identify any additional sources of assistance and connect the farmer with those external sources.  
    • Curate the contact list of service providers and contractors across the state for reference in aiding farmers with contract completion.  
• Identify areas where practice implementation within the existing contract requirements is not possible and communicate the situation and need for contract modifications to NRCS.  
  • Aid in the interpretation and layout of practices, assisting with and checking on projects in progress and certification assistance of completed practices (as needed and directed by NRCS staff). 
• NRCS records management: Maintain extensive notes on all interactions with farmers to properly document support and progress towards contract completion. 
  • Work with farmers to compile necessary data (records required for practice certification) to move towards contract completion. 
• Precontract Consultation and Planning assistance: Support NRCS staff and farmers with assessments,  planning, data collection, and communications. 
  • Including but not limited to initial site visits and producer interviews, resource concerns assessments, mapping, photo documentation, and other surveys. 
  • Planning assistance such as Environmental Compliance, contract reviews and CART- as directed by NRCS 
  • Recommendations as needed for conservation practices, systems design et al.  
• AFT deliverables: Assist in maintaining workload metrics with information from contracts for needed follow-up, and in conducting some basic functions of the follow-up schedule.  
  • Maintain records of work accomplishments for reports related to all agricultural programs. 
  • Establish and maintain program and contract files and documents for program delivery and documentation. 
• Attend relevant AFT and NRCS meetings and training courses to learn, gather data and share information where appropriate.  

This is not necessarily an all-inclusive list of job-related responsibilities. Management reserves the right to revise the job or to request other or different duties be performed as assigned.