Organization Background

Artist Boat is a nonprofit organization located on Galveston Island serving the Texas coast with nationally recognized place-based, service learning, and experiential learning; nationally and locally supported conservation initiative to protect up to 1,400 acres on West Galveston Island; and regionally significant efforts to beautify campuses and public spaces with public art and restoration of native landscapes.  Artist Boat provides meaningful programs and conservation efforts for citizens to engage in actions that change attitudes and behaviors resulting in better stewardship and environmental quality of the Gulf of Mexico, Galveston Island, and our estuaries.   Artist Boat’s mission is to promote awareness and preservation of coastal margins and the marine environment through the disciplines of the sciences and the arts.

Reports To: Executive Director

Classification: Full-time, exempt

Pay Rate: Commensurate with experience.  Health insurance, long-term and short-term disability insurance, retirement savings, and paid-time off accrual. 

Job Purpose: The Habitat and Stewardship Program Manager is a senior level position and is primarily responsible for fostering, designing, managing, maintaining, and growing Artist Boat’s Coastal Heritage Preserve (690 acre preserve with a potential growth to 1,400 acres), Habitat Restoration Adventure Program, on-campus Native-Scaping Program, and volunteer stewardship program at the Coastal Heritage Preserve. A large focus of this program is on land management and restoration of the Coastal Heritage Preserve, maintaining and fostering partnerships with a variety of entities to develop and implement habitat management and public access plans at the Coastal Heritage Preserve, restoring habitats on barrier islands and Galveston Bay, and bringing K-Grey learners to the coastal environment for stewardship experiences. The goal of the Habitat and Stewardship Program is to deliver place-based and experiential learning to K-Grey learners and partners in order to build a stewardship ethic that results in restored, enhanced, and conserved lands that benefit the public and wildlife in the coastal zone.

Personality: The Program Manager must be a highly motivated individual who is a natural and highly organized leader that fosters collaboration and partnership; is able to utilize and adopt technology readily for communication of spatial knowledge; is competent at land management and application of science for monitoring and restoration of coastal prairies and wetlands; is deadline driven seeking to gain a high level of performance in the field of conservation; is competent with grant management, grant writing, and grant reporting; and must be able to enjoy working with people and being in the field as much as documenting and reporting on program achievements and/or data. This person must prioritize working with partners face to face or on the telephone.

Essential Function: It will be essential for the Program Manager to assure all components of grant contracts, habitat management and public access plans, partnership agreements and contracts, and teacher agreements for adventure programs are met to the standard agreed on and delivered on time. A vital role will be modeling for Eco-Art Educators and Habitat Specialists professional standards of program delivery, delegating to Eco-Art Educators and Habitat Specialists clearly and concisely so they are accountable and responsible for various program goals, and assuring a high level of standard is met for all components of the program that maintains and fosters Artist Boat’s reputation.

Key Responsibilities:

Program Visioning, Planning, and Development

• Identify monthly, quarterly, and annual program goals and strategies to achieve them.
• Develop and track clear plans, budgets, timelines, and task lists aligned with grant deliverables to achieve annual management goals for the Coastal Heritage Preserve and programs.
• Communicate through a wide variety of tools to recruit volunteers, foster partnerships, and convey success stories.
• Evaluate effectiveness of programs and grants to adaptively manage the Coastal Heritage Preserve and ensure goals are met.

Program and Plan Implementation

Work with Technical Advisory Committee, Grant Officers, Artist Boat program managers and crew members, and Sea Citizen Volunteer Leaders to manage and restore the Coastal Heritage Preserve, deliver off-site restoration programs, and develop further engagement in service learning.

Budgeting, Fundraising, and Grant Management

• Develop and Apply for grants with state, federal, and local agencies or foundations to directly support the habitat management and restoration of the Coastal Heritage Preserve and Habitat Restoration Programs.
• Assure grant reports and monitoring reports are written and delivered on time.
• Ensure deliverables and grant goals are met on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis
• Develop and actively manage program budgets.
• Assure the Habitat Management Committee is meeting quarterly and assisting with the goals in the Habitat Management Plan and current grants.

Communications

• Utilize website and other marketing tools to recruit volunteers, inform the public, and create a high profile for the Coastal Heritage Preserve.
• Supply current and quality content for the creation of newsletters, press release, and social media.
• Assure timely, accurate, and direct communications with grant officers, Sea Citizens, Habitat Management Committee, the Executive Director and partners.

Supervisory

• Assures compliance with USACE and other permitting agencies for all projects requiring permits.
• Assures monitoring and reporting for USACE mitigation properties of Artist Boat.
• Establish mechanisms for volunteers to participate in leadership roles to foster stewardship of coastal ecosystems.
• Foster, maintain, and grow relationships with partners of Artist Boat, including other non-profit organizations, schools and school districts, funding agencies, local businesses, consultants, legislators, city and county governments, property owner associations, parks departments and boards, federal agencies, property owner associations, and others.
• Directly supervises the design, implementation, and delivery of Habitat Restoration and Stewardship programming.
• Directly supervises Eco-Art Educators working on Habitat Restoration and Stewardship.
• Responsible for all components of safety as it relates to OSHA standards and act as Safety Officer.
• Reviews and evaluate the results of the Habitat Restoration and Stewardship Programs’ activities and program staff; assists and recommends allocation of resources for program effectiveness and efficiency, supervises Habitat Coordinator and assigned educator’s daily tasks and time management goals; and assists in development of organizational and program policies regarding the Habitat Restoration and Stewardship Programs.
• Assures collection and record keeping of statistical data on demographics of the Habitat Restorations and Stewardship Programs.

Other

• Is willing and able to drive own vehicle to destinations through out the Galveston Bay region if needed.
• Is able to drive a standard truck and tow habitat trailers and training others to do so.
• Is able to be comfortable in the field alone leading groups of 10 -15 participants.
• Is able to utilize personal cell phone to communicate with co-workers, partners, volunteers, teachers, and some participants in the field.
• Assist with land acquisition tasks as needed and as opportunities occur

Requirements

Minimum Bachelors of Science.

• 5 years experience land or range management, managing volunteer programs, and supervising small to medium-sized teams, coordinating land management projects with various stakeholders, and leading environmental education programs.
• Advanced skills Arc GIS, Microsoft Office Suite and database management.
• Exceptional writing and interpersonal skills.
• Grant writing and grant management