Catchment Officer

Contract: Full time; two years
Hours: 35 hours per week, including occasional evening and weekend working
Holidays: 27 days plus bank holidays
Flexibility: The post requires a mix of home, online, and site working. The successful applicant will need to account for their working hours, but providing the needs of the organisation are met, RLCP will aim to meet the flexible working needs of the employee
Competitive pension
Deadline for applications: 23.59 on 4 July
Interview process: A 10 minute presentation to trustees and volunteers on a topic to be announced, 17.00-19.00 on 10 July. Formal interview on 14 July.

RLCP seeks to employ a Catchment Officer who will work with our partners (including Anglian Water, with whom we are the community partner on the upcoming Lark Flagship Chalk Stream Restoration Project), our stakeholders, our volunteers, and other riverine organisations in the CamEO region (Cam, Ely, Ouse Catchment Partnership) to:

• Help plan and deliver the major evidence-based, CaBA Flagship restoration programme across the whole Lark catchment
• Help identify and apply for funding opportunities that will both contribute to the Flagship programme and put RLCP on a sustainable footing
• Evaluate the success of our restoration projects
• Work with the Chair of RLCP to inspire and motivate our River Restoration and CS volunteers with understanding of the value of their work, 
• Disseminate knowledge and good practice amongst other organisations in the CamEO region
• Contribute to a programme of public engagement and education in water resources management, sustainable flood mitigation, and environmental restoration.

We can offer a supportive environment with good networking opportunities across river catchments and wildlife trusts across Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.

The River Lark is the Flagship chalk stream for East Anglia. With a catchment covering most of West Suffolk, it traverses four National Characteristic Landscape areas. The headwaters and principal tributaries rise in the clay farmlands south of Bury St Edmunds, and in the chalk grasslands towards Cambridge; it flows through Brecklands, and fens, and past historic and prehistoric sites of cultural, industrial, and agricultural importance. All these features pose different challenges for the river today. The area is one of the most water-stressed in the UK, and the underlying aquifer is heavily over-abstracted. The river, which has been canalised and confined, rerouted and polluted for hundreds of years, is now in urgent need of restoration, although parts of it still retain beautiful stretches of meandering gravel beds, characteristic of chalk streams. 

Founded in 2015, RLCP has been a registered incorporated charity since 2018. We work closely with a wide range of partners and stakeholders including several Rivers Trusts, the National Trust, Suffolk and Norfolk Wildlife Trusts, the Environment Agency, Natural England, West Suffolk District and Suffolk County Councils. We are Anglian Water’s community partner on the River Lark Flagship Chalk Stream Restoration project, and were recently selected to host the CamEO Catchment Partnership (comprising the Cam, Lark, Little Ouse and Thet, Wissey, and Ouse Lower Level catchments). RLCP has established a sound reputation for delivering citizen science and river restoration projects. We are engaged on a Fluvial Audit with the University of Southampton, while two CaSTCo-funded water-quality monitoring projects are about to come onstream. We are now embarking on a programme of rapid organisational growth and change in order to promote ecological improvements to the river and surrounding habitats.

What you will bring:

You have a scientific background in a relevant subject area, and are passionate about conserving, restoring, and, where possible, rewilding the watery inland habitats of East Anglia. Committed to the Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) to river management, you are keen to spread your enthusiasm and to engage with a range of local people from farm and other business owners to school and college students, as well as corporate bodies, and both local and national government. 

You are numerate, and computer literate (including Office 365, and ideally GIS Software). You have experience and knowledge of freshwater species and conservation. You bring a critical, evidence-based approach to your work, and are willing to learn new skills; training and CPD will be offered. You are an excellent communicator, both orally and in writing, and have strong inter-personal skills that you will use to help develop partnerships with stakeholders, and inspire our Citizen Science and River Restoration volunteers. You understand the variety of reasons that bring people to want to volunteer or just spend time in ‘blue’ environments, and will help to diversify our community appeal through varied forms of public engagement.

Job Description

The priority for this role (on average 4 days per week) is to enable RLCP to play its full part as the nominated community partner with Anglian Water (AW) in the Lark Flagship Chalk Stream Restoration project. This CaBA project is evidence-based and evidence gathering. It is hoped that its different elements will be used as ‘proof of concept’ by other individual catchments in the region, and nationally. The second priority (on average 1 day per week) is to share good practice in catchment planning and river restoration across the CamEO catchment 

The post requires an ability to understand, store, and use data, combined with excellent interpersonal skills both in person and in writing, a passion for a diversity of natural, watery environments, and for water in the landscape. The post holder will work closely with the RLCP Chair and trustees, with our part-time restoration volunteer manager, and with contacts in the Environment Agency, Norfolk Rivers Trust, the CamEO Catchment Partnership, and Anglian Water in order to:

1. Work with partners to develop the current River Lark Catchment Plan into a succession of projects ready for delivery
2. Interpret the mass of data from RLCP Citizen Science and other monitoring activities to inform restoration decisions
3. Maintain and develop RLCP’s GIS capability (any necessary training will be provided)
4. Gather baseline data, including biodiversity surveys and invertebrate sampling to inform proposed works, and monitor the effectiveness of completed work
5. Oversee the delivery of larger projects
6. Work with RLCP volunteers to deliver river restoration works
7. Help build productive relationships with stakeholders and riparian owners
8. Encourage regenerative or catchment friendly farming practices in the region
9. Help ensure RLCP’s medium to long term stability by identifying grant opportunities:
   a. Apply for small grants
   b. Assist in the preparation of larger grants
10. Develop RLCP as an effective CamEO host and acknowledged leader in the delivery of BNG
11. Disseminate information and good practice amongst the wider CamEO catchment organisations
12. Contribute to a programme of public engagement and education
13. Develop your own knowledge and skills through attendance at relevant conferences and meetings, both online and in person.

To talk to someone further about this role please phone 07825 831541.

RLCP is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from people of all backgrounds.

If successful for the role, you will be required to undergo pre-employment checks that will include an enhanced Disclosure Check (DBS), carried out through a Third-Party Company, prior to commencing employment.