Nature Recovery Officer - Westonbirt

Job summary

What you’ll do…

Forestry England’s vision is that the nation’s forests will provide the most valuable places for wildlife to thrive and expand in England. The Nature Recovery Officer – Westonbirt will play an important role in achieving this vision by providing evidence-based guidance to inform management on native tree species of conservation concern. Key responsibilities include producing guidance on habitat pruning (veteranisation) on native trees, working in collaboration with partners including Action Oak and the Ancient Tree Forum. The Nature Recovery Officer will also lead the production of guidance on woodland management to support the conservation of threatened native whitebeams, rowans and service trees (Sorbus spp.) as part of the Global Conservation Consortium for Whitebeams, Rowans and Services Trees, which Westonbirt leads. The role will also facilitate trialling of innovative ecological techniques in ancient woodland at Westonbirt.

Please see the job description below for more information and details about what we need from you.

Where you’ll work…

Westonbirt, The National Arboretum, Tetbury, Gloucestershire, GL8 8QS

We have an exciting opportunity for a Nature Recovery Officer to join the team at Westonbirt Arboretum. The arboretum is one of the largest pay-to-enter visitor attractions in the Southwest, welcoming over 550,000 visitors per year. The onsite businesses generate a turnover of more than £14m in which events contributes a large part.

Westonbirt, The National Arboretum is one of the most beautiful and important plant collections in the world. First laid out in the 1800s following Picturesque landscape principles, the collection contains more than 15,000 specimens representing 2,500 taxa from all over the temperate world. The arboretum plays an important role in tree research and conservation, and leads the Global Conservation Consortium for Whitebeams, Rowans and Service Trees.

Along with one of the most complete examples of a picturesque landscape, Westonbirt's Silk Wood is designated ancient woodland and home to numerous nationally important ancient woodland features.

Job description

Key responsibilities & accountabilities

Native tree conservation:

• Work in collaboration with industry partners including Action Oak and the Ancient Tree Forum to lead the production of guidance for informing management of native trees for habitat creation and conservation
• Work with partners within the Global Conservation Consortium for Whitebeams, Rowans and Service Trees (Sorbus spp.) to lead the production guidance to inform woodland management for trees belonging to this group
• Work with Forestry England colleagues to inform and support habitat conservation across the nation’s forests
• Represent Westonbirt and Forestry England at meetings and conferences both internally and externally
• Proactively liaise with communications and marketing colleagues so as to champion success and promote our work
• Contribute to publications for a range of audiences

Westonbirt ecology:

• Identify, develop and implement the trialing of innovative ecological techniques in the ancient woodland of Silk Wood, Westonbirt
• Provide ecological expertise and support at Westonbirt to facilitate efficient, effective and compliant forest operations as well as feed into forest plans, planning applications, event planning, building maintenance and development

And any other tasks, reasonably requested by your line manager.

Person specification

Skills, knowledge & experience

Essential professional and technical experience

• Strong knowledge and experience of arboricultural techniques, including habitat pruning
• Strong knowledge of identification of native tree species
• Organisational, communication and independent working skills
• Up-to-date knowledge of environmental legislation, particularly biodiversity, and experience of its application to land management
• Strong team and partnership working
• Experience balancing ecological requirements with commercial and social objectives
  

Desirable professional and technical experience

• Practical woodland conservation with a range of native tree species
• Ecological knowledge and understanding of the key ecosystems and species present in UK woodlands
• Able to analyze data and evaluate evidence to produce reports
• Experience of cross-sector collaboration

Qualifications

Essential

• Relevant degree or diploma (or equivalent) in woodland conservation, arboriculture, ecology or another relevant discipline

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• To be confirmed at invitation to interview

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £33,854, Forestry Commission contributes £9,807 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Technical skills.

You will be asked to write a 200 word statement on your relevant experience and career history, along with a personal statement of no more than 500 words. You will be assessed on both during sifting. More details about how to apply are listed on the application form.

You will be assessed on a technical skill and strength based questions during your interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Seeing the big picture

• Changing and improving

• Working together

• Making effective decisions

If candidates pass the interview but are not the leading candidate they can be placed on a reserve list. We may offer candidates on the reserve list for this role the opportunity to be considered for other roles at the same or lower pay bands.

Successful candidates will undergo a criminal record check and the government baseline personnel security standard check.

If you require any reasonable adjustments, please email fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk.

If you're planning to use AI to support your application, please ensure you've read our guidelines here first.

Read more about our application process and working with us on the Forestry England website.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : FC Recruitment Team
• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

Further information

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment on the basis of fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles.If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact FCE by email: englandhr.services@forestryengland.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment.

Attachments

Forestry England Job Description - Nature Recovery Officer - Westonbirt (PB5) Opens in new window (pdf, 182kB)