Employment & Volunteer Opportunities

Join the NepRWA team and help make a difference in your community!

Employment and Job Opportunities

Posted 11/5/21 — River Restoration Director

Applications on or before 11/29 are encouraged

Background
The Neponset River Watershed Association (NepRWA) seeks a candidate for the full-time, permanent position of River Restoration Director to begin in December 2021.

NepRWA is a nonprofit conservation group (www.neponset.org) working to protect and restore the Neponset River, its tributaries and surrounding watershed lands located south and west of Boston. NepRWA pursues its goals through advocacy, education, technical assistance, environmental monitoring, and hands on restoration projects. The organization presently has ten staff (nine FTE).

Position Description
The River Restoration Director is a key member of NepRWA’s senior program staff. They plan and implement programs to restore the physical, chemical and biological integrity of local waterways and wetlands. They also provide scientific expertise to complement the legal, policy and communications expertise of other staff.

Key responsibilities:

  • Project leader for assessment and/or implementation projects aimed at restoring aquatic, wetland and riparian habitats and/or increasing ecosystem resilience, including: dam removal, culvert replacement, riparian corridor and floodplain restoration, salt marsh restoration, brook trout habitat restoration, invasive species management, and remediation of contaminated sediments.
  • Plan and supervise NepRWA’s volunteer-based water quality monitoring program including regular monitoring, “hotspot” monitoring, data analysis, reporting to technical and non-nontechnical audiences, and working with relevant authorities to secure remediation of pollution sources.
  • Hire and supervise NepRWA’s Environmental Science Fellow, seasonal interns, and project subcontractors.
    Prepare project plans, recruit key partners and prepare funding applications.
  • Manage grant contract reporting, budgets, and compliance.
  • Organize events for volunteers and community members around ongoing projects and studies.
    Provide technical support to colleagues.
  • Build partnerships with municipal staff, state and federal agencies, academic institutions, private consultants and volunteers.
  • Assist communication and development staff to document results through writing, presentations, photography and social media.

Qualifications
The successful candidate will have an unusual combination of technical, project management, communication, and leadership skills. A master’s degree in ecological restoration, aquatic biology, ecology, hydrology, civil or environmental engineering, landscape architecture or a related field, plus at least two years of relevant work experience, or a relevant bachelor’s degree and five years of work experience is required. It is unlikely that any one candidate will have formal training in all disciplines touched by this position, but they must have a strong foundation in at least one area and must be a lifelong learner who enjoys stepping outside their areas of expertise.

They should be enthusiastic about the mission of the organization, motivated to achieve tangible results, and intrigued by the technical, social and political challenges of restoring an urban river. They must be self-motivated, have excellent writing, presentation and interpersonal skills, and be effective with both technical and non-technical audiences. They must be able to translate data into effective action plans. They should be a capable project manager, who works well in a fast-paced team environment. They should be comfortable working independently, including in the field on uneven terrain, in a canoe and wading.

The candidate should have experience with ecological assessment and restoration methods including dam removal, salt marsh restoration, and/or floodplain and riparian corridor restoration. They should be familiar with water quality monitoring, basic laboratory and data analysis, and be proficient with GIS and statistical analysis. Experience with grant contract management is a beneficial, as is demonstrated success collaborating with municipalities and volunteers, and supervising junior staff and interns.

Schedule, Compensation and DEI
This is a full-time, permanent position, available to commence work immediately. It requires occasional early morning or weekend sampling, and occasional participation in evening meetings or weekend events. Compensation is commensurate with experience and includes paid time off and health insurance plan. NepRWA is an equal opportunity employer committed to DEI goals. Applications from under-represented communities and communities of color are encouraged.

COVID Considerations
The NepRWA office is open, but due to ongoing COVID challenges, most staff are working partially from home. The position requires regular outdoor field work with colleagues and/or volunteers, weekly in-person staff meetings, and regular face-to-face interaction with interns, project partners or trainees. All members of the staff must be vaccinated and mask wearing is required inside the office.

Application Procedure
To apply, send a resume, along with a cover letter explaining how the position would complement your career goals and how your talents and experience would help advance NepRWA’s efforts. Resumes will be accepted until the position is filled. The most recent posting will be maintained at neponset.org/about/employment and a notice will be posted promptly there when the position has been filled. Responses should be directed via email to:

Ian Cooke, Executive Director
Neponset River Watershed Association
2173 Washington Street, Canton, MA 02021
cooke@neponset.org

Internship Opportunities

There are no internship opportunities at this time.

Volunteer Positions

Water Samplers Needed, May-Oct 2022

Join the Citizen Water Monitoring Network (CWMN) Team! Volunteers are needed annually to collect water quality samples at various sites throughout the watershed, as part of the CWMN program. Sampling occurs once a month, on the second Thursday, from May through Oct. Training is provided.

We always need backup or fill-in volunteers to sample on days when our regular volunteers aren’t able to.

If you or anyone you know might be interested in helping us out, please email Meghan Slocombe at Slocombe@neponset.org.

Learn more about the CWMN Program.

 

We have many additional volunteer opportunities throughout the year, so be sure to sign up for our emails to stay up to date.

 

As a volunteer, you might:

  • sample water at streams around the watershed
  • work with other volunteers on a river cleanup
  • staff an event table on behalf of the Watershed Association
  • take photo’s of sites around the watershed for use in publications
  • survey dams and culverts
  • assist with office projects

Click here to register as a volunteer or email our Volunteer Coordinator, Andres Ripley, at ripley@neponset.org

volunteer-group-photo-for-web

Descriptions of Volunteer Opportunities

Citizen Water Monitoring Network

The Citizen Water Monitoring Network (“CWMN” – pronounced “swimmin”) is a volunteer-based monitoring program that assesses water quality in Neponset waterways. Each year, roughly 50 volunteers take water samples, monitor dissolved oxygen levels, and transport samples from 41 locations around the watershed, six times throughout the spring, summer and fall.

For the monitoring season, we seek volunteers to fill the following CWMN positions:

  • water samplers
  • dissolved oxygen samplers
  • sample coordinators
  • sample transporters

Each position plays a vital role in helping the Watershed Association to monitor water quality throughout the watershed. In addition to filling those positions, we also seek “Fill-In Samplers” whose duty it is to help cover sampling locations when a station’s regular volunteer is unable to sample. We provide training and equipment, and you provide a few hours of your time. The result is a comprehensive look at water quality around the Neponset River Watershed, which helps the Watershed Association to monitor the river and prioritize clean-up and restoration efforts

Photographers

We are looking for folks who like to take photos! We could use pictures of beautiful landscapes, wildlife, watershed association events, and even pollution, flooding, and drought. Most of all we need pictures of people (and faces) who are out enjoying or working on the watershed.

Please keep photographs focused on the geographic area of the watershed, which includes Canton, Dedham, Dorchester, Dover, Foxborough, Hyde Park, Mattapan, Medfield, Milton, Norwood, Randolph, Quincy, Sharon, Stoughton, Walpole, and Westwood.

To email photos:

Share photos via social media @neprwa:

Advocate for Watershed Protection

Advocate for watershed protection! Join the watershed association’s e-mail list to receive advocacy updates, and then act according to your own schedule.

“On-Call” Helpers

These volunteers have their names added to the “on-call” volunteer email list and agree to “help when they can” with short-term group efforts to prepare mailings, provide an extra set of hands on the day of a special event, or assist with other miscellaneous tasks as they come up.

The location varies depending on the need – e.g., sometimes at the office and sometimes at a special event location. Time and schedule also depend on need. Generally, short-term projects are 1 to 2 hours in duration. Commitment is determined by the volunteer.

Volunteer today!