The Community Ecologist will work alongside the Wilder Communities Officers and local communities to co-produce projects that support local climate and nature action plans. 

The Community Ecologist will provide non-chargeable advice, field surveys and practical support to Community & Volunteer Groups, Parish Councils & Local Authorities, Schools, Youth and educational settings. They will provide advice, develop resources and training to people across Somerset who need support and expertise to take practical action for nature’s recovery in their local area. 

The Community Ecologist would be expected to spend approximately 50% of their week working within the community on people facing and outdoor tasks, and 50% of their week on desk-based tasks (this is an approximate breakdown and will vary week to week depending on the demands of the role). 

This work is made possible thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, as part of the Wilder Communities 30 x 30 fund which aims to equip local people to take action.

Responsibility 1: Community ecology support and advice 

• Support communities to deliver practical local wilding actions, creating new local “wilded” spaces, insect-friendly streetscapes, ponds, orchards and other nature recovery interventions.
• Using your specialist knowledge, provide support and advice to communities to enable the delivery of local nature recovery- including providing practical habitat creation advice and supporting the development of management plans.
• Offer initial free site visits and baseline assessments for settings such as schools and community sites, in collaboration with nature recovery colleagues, volunteers and SWTC.
• Using your specialist knowledge, survey species onsite and support communities to learn wildlife recording and surveying skills for ongoing monitoring.
• Work with other team members to ensure community enquiries are filtered through our established channels and act as a point of contact for community enquiries. In particular, support the management of the Team Wilder inbox, acting as Trust first point of contact for community and land management enquiries, triaging land advice enquiries to other colleagues, directing to resources and offering initial community and land management advice.
• Work proactively with SWT colleagues and other organisations who are delivering community engagement activity in the area, including environmental NGOs, Local Authorities, voluntary sector infrastructure bodies etc.

Responsibility 2: Training and resources  

• Work with other staff, volunteers and external experts, to create and deliver training resources including written advice, courses and webinars that meet the needs of Wilder Communities and Leaders, supporting their skills development and ability to take action and encourage advocacy.
• Support and train people to record wildlife on their local patch and understand the environments they are working in.
• Identify any training and development needs within the community and deliver formal and informal training to support targeted communities to deliver on their plans e.g. woodland management, butterfly recording, pond creation.
• Alongside colleagues develop key resources to add to our library to support community action for nature’s recovery countywide.
• Produce high quality and engaging content for various newsletters and other external communications to inform audiences of what we are doing and how they can take action for nature.
• Act as a strong advocate for the Trust and Team Wilder in external communications, highlighting the importance of nature for wildlife and people and promoting pro-environmental behaviours.

Responsibility 3: Project impact and reporting 

• Complete ongoing monitoring, reporting and evaluation of progress, recording activities and engagement using internal reporting procedures.
• Use journaling and reflective practice methods to measure and report against organisational impact measures on a quarterly basis.
• Regularly complete written project reports to contribute towards reporting and impact measures.
• Stay on top of emails and administrative tasks associated with the project, allowing time for this as a core part of the role.
• Be mindful of grant acknowledgement online, in comms and in all activities, and take opportunities to thank National Lottery players throughout project delivery.
• Working with our communications team, proactively provide specialist content for external communications to highlight our work, Team Wilder and the communities you work with. Promote both local and national campaigns through community networks, liaising with communications contacts to maximize their reach and impact.