We are seeking a motivated individual who is passionate about expanding, protecting, improving and connecting England’s trees, woods and forests.
You will join the National Grants and Regulations team which supports the design and delivery of grants and incentives and regulation related to agroforestry, woodland creation, forest management and tree health. Specifically, you will become part of the Environmental Land Management (ELM) team, which focuses on the design and delivery of the agroforestry and woodland elements of three schemes, launched by DEFRA, that provide an incentive for land managers to manage their land in a way that boosts nature. These schemes are Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Landscape Recovery (LR).
There are 5 ELM Officers across England, one for each of the Forest Services area teams and internal National ELMS teams. The advertised post is for an ELM Officer for the Agroforestry team and imbedded in the Northwest and West Midlands area.
The ELM officer role will be supporting the agroforestry team, and particularly the Agroforestry Adviser (AA) with their work and objectives. These include supporting on upskilling of both the forestry & farming sectors in England by developing training, guidance and educational resources to facilitate agroforestry understanding, creation and management. You will also support the AA on working with Defra, Natural England & RPA in refining the ELMS Agroforestry grants and feeding into the associated regulations & policy.
Although part of the National ELM Team, ELM Officers are imbedded into the regional teams and work hard to build relationships with Forest Service Area Team staff who are delivering the Forestry Commissions incentives and regulations.
You will regularly attend meetings and events based within your regional area, virtually and in person throughout the year. If area teams have questions / require support on ELM grants, ELM Officers act as a conduit to the national team ensuring area teams have access to the resources they need. Your role may require you to support area teams in internal or external meetings with stakeholders either virtually or in person in your area. You may also be asked to attend shows and events in your area.
Working with area teams and their network of local stakeholders to understand regional challenges and opportunities, gives ELM Officers insight that can be used to support the ELM team in the design and delivery of the forestry elements of DEFRA’s ELM schemes.
You should take an active interest in developing a broad knowledge base on what is going on in the ELM grant space as well as in the wider farming and forestry sectors.
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