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East England Forest District, covers an area of 35,000 ha from North Norfolk to Brighton; including Thetford Forest and the outlying beats of Sandlings, Kent, East Sussex, Chilterns and Thames Chase Community Forest. The District has a varied landholding including the largest lowland pine forest in England at Thetford, community woodland on the outskirts of London at Thames Chase, and a range of mixed woodland, many of which are on sites of Ancient Woodland.

Forestry England have launched an exciting conservation project which aims to create an open habitat network within Thetford Forest. The open space will provide critical habitat for species of conservation interest, many of which are Breckland specialist species. These species are the reason that the majority of Thetford Forest is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The project is supported by DEFRA and is an essential part of the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan to improve the condition of protected sites.

Forestry England is seeking a Habitat Creation Forester to oversee tree harvesting and ground preparation operations to create the open habitat network. The project started in January 2023 and will run to March 2026, with operations beginning from early 2024. The Habitat Creation Forester will work closely with our Conservation and Harvesting teams and the Project Manager to ensure the project delivers for biodiversity.

As Habitat Creation Forester, you will oversee the work of contractors and Forestry England operational staff where required. You will be responsible for ensuring our operations achieve the highest health & safety and environmental standards. You will work together with East District’s Harvesting Forester as some products will be supplied by existing contracts. You’ll also need to build strong working relationships with a variety of customers to increase timber income.

We are looking for someone who is passionate about conservation with experience in operational contract management. For the right candidate we can offer a package of in-house training.

As Habitat Creation Forester you will plan, manage, and monitor in house and contractor harvesting within Thetford Forest for the Open Habitat project. This equates to a programme of approximately 50,000 m3 over 2 years. Once a site is harvested, you will be responsible for the subsequent ground preparation work to create the habitat for the conservation species of interest. You’ll be responsible for ensuring that safety and environmental standards are met, and work is completed to a high standard. A strong emphasis is placed on good planning, sound communication, and the ability to deliver challenging programmes whilst maintaining all relevant guidelines and standards.

Core elements of the role:

• Develop a works programme– Work with Open Habitat Project Manager and other district departments to plan the sequence of operations in line with available resource to deliver to time, cost and quality requirements. The programme of civil engineering preparation, harvesting, and ground preparation, should be planned with sensitivity to conservation, heritage, recreation, and land management considerations.

• Procurement – Follow Forestry England procurement process for the appointment of contractors to deliver harvesting and ground preparation contracts. This will involve procuring high-value contracts and using framework contracts. Where required, provide input to specification for machinery which will be purchased and used on the project.

• Contract Management – Professionally engage with contractors to ensure contract terms are met. Specifically, contracts will be harvesting contracts, stump grinding, soil excavation, and surveys (e.g., archaeology). Monitor contract progress and compliance via site checks, progress reports, and building good working relationships.

• Site specific operation planning – Consult other departments through Forestry England’s Operational Site Assessment process to develop operational plans for each individual site. Use GIS database and ground-truthing to identify hazards and constraints. Identify solutions to enable the operation to be completed safely and efficiently.

• Supervise Forestry England staff or contractors operating heavy machinery – Use FISA guides and Forestry England policies to ensure that staff and contractors are operating on site in a safe manner. The Habitat Creation Forester will not be directly line managing staff but will be responsible for overseeing machine operators on site. Likely equipment used: harvester, forwarder, front-end loader, tractors, chainsaws.

• Deliver harvesting, sale, and dispatch of approx. 50,000 m3 over 2 years utilising a mix of in house and contract resource depending on product mix. Use Direct Production in house team and contractors to maximise the value of products from the site. This will include standing sale contracts for brash collection and removal. Develop a positive working relationship with our timber customers, to fulfil our contract obligations.

• Project team – Attend project team meetings to update on progress and ensure that any risks, issues or opportunities are flagged as early as possible. Respond to prioritisation of tasks. Work in co-operation with project team and district teams to build good working relationships.

This post receives operational pay, with an expectation of averaging 44 hours a week. There will be a requirement within this to work flexibly to meet the needs of the team and occasionally be on call as part the out of hours emergency roster.

You will be based at the Santon Downham District Office near Brandon. There will be an occasional requirement for overnight stays to attend meetings and training events in other parts of the country.

You will need personal resilience, and a deep commitment to achieving results. Your skills, interests and experience will reflect the responsibilities of the role in delivering timber harvesting and ground preparation operations.

You will be interested in developing your existing technical skills and experience further and be willing to take on new and different tasks. Within this role there is particular opportunity to grow in understanding of conservation management and biodiversity.

Essential Professional and Technical experience:

• A degree or Higher National Diploma in Forestry / Environment and Land Management or significant equivalent experience in forestry or land management. Please clearly demonstrate how the above applies to you throughout your application. Failure to do so may mean that your application is automatically sifted out.
• Experience of planning, managing and supervising Forestry Operations and a good understanding of health and safety in forestry (UKFS, UKWAS, FISA).
• Experience of working in a small team and providing support to staff.
• A sound understanding of and experience in contract management.
• Accomplished IT skills, including competence in the use of MS 365 Office applications.

Desirable Professional and Technical experience:

• Competence and experience in the use of GIS software (Forester GIS, Arc GIS, QGIS, or other GIS platform).
• Experience of working on Conservation or Ecology projects.
• Membership of the Institute of Chartered Foresters (ICF) or working towards membership.

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

• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing

• 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 average employer contribution of 27%
• Generous annual leave allowance starting at 25 days per year (pro-rata for part time). After 5 years’ service, you'll receive an additional 5 days’ holiday. After 20 years’ service you will receive a one-off award of 5 extra days’ holiday. On top of this, you'll receive all public holidays plus an additional 2.5 ‘privilege’ days (pro-rata for part time)
• Ability to buy or sell 2 days holiday
• 5 dedicated learning days a year (from e-learning to traditional training, team activities to coaching and shadowing), to target the skills you need to take your career forward
• Civil Service Learning (CSL) online platform provides access to a host of high quality training courses on a variety of useful and relevant subjects
• Dedicated Technical Training in support of our operational functions, ensuring that keeping people safe is central to everything we do
• Continual Professional Development: support for individual learning plans and sponsored membership of professional bodies (such as the Institute of Chartered Foresters)
• Reimbursement of professional membership fees
• Three paid volunteering days per year (pro-rata for part time)
• Free parking at Forestry England sites and free entry to our National Arboretums
• A range of wellbeing benefits, including access to an Employee Assistance Programme 24/7 and Bike to Work Scheme
• Up to 15% discount at Forest Live Events and the chance to volunteer and attend for free
• 15% discount on Forest Holidays and 15% at Go Ape
• Retail discounts e.g. 20% at cycle surgery and Snow and Rock and 10% discount at Enterprise car hire
• 10% discount at Forestry Commission shops

Job contact :

Name :
East Forest District Reception
Email :
[email protected]
Telephone :
03000674500

Recruitment team

Email :
[email protected]