Description
Natural Areas Planner
Location: Natural Resources Building - Olympia, WA
Work Hours and Partial Telework flexibility may be available and considered
Salary: $5,666.00 - $7,622.00 Monthly
Review of applications is ongoing. We reserve the right to make a hiring decision or close this recruitment at any time after 05/19/2026. It is in your best interest to submit materials as soon as possible.
The Natural Areas Program is part of DNR’s Recreation and Conservation Division that supports public use and conservation across 3 million acres of state-owned lands, implementing four DNR programs: Recreation, Natural Areas, Natural Heritage, and Conservation Acquisitions. The Natural Areas Program manages 39 natural resources conservation areas (NRCAs) and 58 natural area preserves (NAPs) for the protection and restoration, where necessary, of native ecosystems and rare plants and animals. The program coordinates and promotes educational and research access on natural areas, while offering low-impact recreation in NRCAs. The division’s Natural Heritage Program houses the state’s expertise and data on rare species and rare or high-quality ecological communities, with more than 7,000 data records of species and ecosystems statewide across all ownerships. The division’s Conservation Acquisitions Program secures grants and appropriations for transacting about $40 million in easements or land acquisitions at any given time under a number of state and federal conservation programs. The Recreation Program supports all types of public access to the department’s forested and other lands, including hiking, mountain biking, horse riding, motorcycling, ATV trail riding, camping, boating, and wildlife viewing, among others.
The Natural Areas Program planner works with DNR ecologists and land managers statewide to create or update site-specific or programmatic management plans. In partnership with other programs in DNR’s Recreation and Conservation Division, this position assesses planning needs, determines appropriate planning processes and timelines, oversees the work of interdisciplinary project teams, coordinates public involvement and review of draft products, and formulates recommendations to be incorporated into management plans approved by department managers and the Commissioner of Public Lands.
Requirements
Responsibilities:
- Coordination of multiple interdisciplinary, multi-location project teams to meet identified timelines
- Researching, or directing research, into conservation land management law and practices
- Assembling and summarizing or describing data, maps, laws and policies, and other written works for analysis by department staff and the public as part of the plan-writing process
- Creating the work-group and community-based environments that lead to scientifically sound and socially supported conservation and recreation management plans.
Required Qualifications:
- A Bachelor's degree in natural resources planning, natural resources management, restoration ecology, environmental sciences, biological sciences, or related field; OR an equivalent combination of education and/or experience.
- An additional 2 years of professionally related experience in natural resources planning, natural resources management, restoration ecology, environmental sciences, biological sciences, or a related field.
Desired Qualifications:
- Experience working collaboratively with ecologists or land managers, agency partners, public lands user groups, and the general public on natural resources or conservation issues.
- Experience working with natural resources-based land use, environmental policy, and recreation-use policy and practices, such as: NEPA, SEPA, NRCA, or NAP management plans, Natural Heritage plans, recreation plans, or landscape conservation plans.
