Deer Officer - London, United Kingdom - Forestry Commission

Forestry Commission

Verified Company

London, United Kingdom

9 minutes ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

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Description

Details:

Reference number:

Salary:

- £35,870 - £38,842

A Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Job grade:
Higher Executive Officer
Contract type:
Fixed term
Loan
Secondment
Length of employment:
Fixed Term Appointment ending 31 March 2025
Business area:

Forest Services
The Forestry Commission are the Government's forestry experts, and our role is to protect, improve, expand and connect England's trees, woodlands and forestry sector

Type of role:

Environment and Sustainability
Working pattern:
Flexible working, Fulltime
Number of jobs available:
2Contents

Location

About the job

Benefits:

Things you need to know

Location

London (region), South East England, South West EnglandAbout the job

Job summary:

Never has there been a more important time for trees and forests to help tackle the climate emergency and provide a much-needed sanctuary for people and wildlife.

Our Prime Minister and our government are committed to creating 30,000 hectares of woodland a year across the UK, of which 7,500 ha per year are anticipated to be in England, by the end of this Parliament.

This acceleration in current planting rates in England will contribute to meeting the net-zero by 2050 ambitions, and to government's wider environmental targets.

This was supported by the announcement in the 2021 budget of £640m for a new Nature for Climate Fund 'to support natural habitats like woodland and peat' and the publication of the England Tree Action Plan.

The Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Forestry Commission have set up a joint tree planting programme for England to support the forestry sector, landowners and communities in the delivery of these ambitions.

The Forestry Commission wants wild deer to be part of sustainable forestry in England.

However, wild deer have a negative impact on woods and forests, preventing young trees from establishing by eating growing shoots and damaging older trees by stripping and fraying bark.

High densities of deer can have negative impacts on woodland biodiversity by significantly changing the structure of the understory and by overgrazing on ground flora.

A range of Government policies state that there is a need to increase tree cover and the quality of our existing woodlands in England; insufficient deer management risks these targets being realised.

Deer browsing also has major implications for woodland resilience in the face of climate change and tree disease (Tree Heath & Resilience Strategy).

Natural regeneration will not happen without management of deer browsing.

By joining the Forestry Commission, you will become part of a team of passionate, committed colleagues, and be able to build on a wealth of expertise to take this ambitious work forward.

You will be able to make your mark by helping the Forestry Commission to revolutionise how we work together and reach new stakeholders.

Our staff engagement levels are consistently well above the Civil Service average and staff turnover is well below. We value our people, we look after them, and we will look after you. We hope you will join us for the challenge.

Job description:

You will be part of either the SEL or SW Area team and line managed by their Partnerships & Expertise Manager, with the Deer Advisor (part of the national Policy Advice team) as your countersigning officer.

As such, your work will be directed and delivered locally but with national oversight and strategic steer.

The Deer Officer plays a critical role as the interface between Forest Services and landowners, land managers and forestry agents in providing advice and facilitation for the management of wild deer to reduce their impacts on woodland condition and establishment.

The Deer Officer role involves engaging with woodland owners, agents and stakeholders to provide guidance and advice on deer impacts on woodlands and how they can be managed, with an aim of encouraging and enabling collaborative, landscape scale deer management activities.

The role will also look to share best practice among the deer community to ensure the sustainable management of deer populations in a safe, humane manner.

You will be expected to have strong experience and understanding of the issues regarding deer management, and be able to demonstrate an existing or be able to gain a rapid understanding of how these issues impact on the objectives and activities of the Forestry Commission (both Forest Services and Forestry England - managers of the public forest estate), Natural England, Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), and wider government.

You will be expected to show initiative and to work autonomously, and to establish excellent working relationships with colleagues.

You will work with the Area Team, Policy team colleagues (specifically natural environment specialists), woodland owners and managers,