Community Woodland Communication and Interpretation Officer

Job Introduction

We are Forestry England.

We live and breathe forests.

Job title – Community Woodland Communication and Interpretation Officer

Salary- £29,171 per annum (pro rata for part time applicants)

Contract type – Full time and part time hours available 

Fixed Term - 10 months

Hours – Monday – Friday, 22-37 hours

Vacancy closes - 14th September 23:58

Join us. We're foresters, professionals and experts. We are a passionate team who love to share our enthusiasm and want to make a positive difference for you and the environment.

Together, we’re using our scale and expertise to grow the nation’s forests for everyone. We’re already adapting our landscapes for tomorrow, and getting stuff done today, like creating amazing places and experiences for you to enjoy. We're providing vital homes for wildlife, making our air cleaner to breathe and producing sustainable timber.

What you’ll do…

You will work alongside the Project Manager and the Engagement Officer to support the Silk Wood Community Planting Project. There will also be support from the Marketing and Communications Team to increase your skills and knowledge, as well as opportunities to contribute to other engagement projects in development at the arboretum.

This role delivers the communications and interpretation-based outcomes of the project, which is focused on regenerating 5 hectares of clear-felled woodland in Silk Wood due to an ash dieback outbreak. You will be responsible for informing visitors about the threats our trees face, how Westonbirt is working to make Silk Wood more resilient, and how people can get involved and support the activity.

You will tell the story of the Community Woodland through signage, managing photography and videography, producing blogs and video content and liaising with the local press. You will work closely with volunteers to capture stories and experiences, and with the Marketing Team to ensure consistent communications with all stakeholders. The Project Team will also support report writing and communication to funders.

This role will involve some year-round outdoor work in all weathers and on rough ground. An enhanced DBS check is required as this role will involve working with schools and community groups, including those with vulnerable adults. This may also include leading 

Where you’ll work…

Westonbirt, the National Arboretum (www.forestryengland.uk/westonbirt-the-nationalarboretum) is one of the UK’s most famous botanical tree collections and is internationally renowned both for its tree collection and historic landscape. It was founded in 1829 by Robert Holford and is classed as Grade 1 on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens and is one of the world’s greatest examples of an arboretum laid out in the ‘picturesque’ style. As well as holding five National Collections the site has over 130 champion trees - the largest of their kind in Britain. It’s home to some of the rarest trees in the world with trees from Australia, China as well as native trees and a semi-ancient woodland.  

It’s an exciting time as we progress our ten-year vision to become a world leader in trees, inspiring people through education, participation and conservation. It is now more crucial than ever with climate change that we ensure we achieve our net zero ambitions and we engage our visitors with the importance of trees and caring for the environment.

Since 1956 the arboretum has been managed by the Forestry Commission and is one of the six districts managed by Forestry England who manages the nation’s forests. Our mission is to connect everyone with them, by creating and caring for our forests for people to enjoy, wildlife to flourish and businesses to grow. We look after more land and more trees than any other organisation in the country cared for by around 1,000 staff and volunteers and enjoyed by over 226 million visits each year.

The team are supported by the Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum, an-onsite fundraising and membership charity with over 36,000 members. The arboretum now attracts over 500,000 visitors per year and is the largest pay to enter visitor attraction in Gloucestershire.

As part of our ten-year vision, we are regenerating an area of Silk Wood as a community woodland. We want to engage school groups, community groups, volunteers, and others with the lifecycle of tree planting at the Arboretum.

Benefits…

Alongside your salary, Forestry England contributes an average of 28.97% towards your pension. You will become a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension Scheme.

• 25 days holiday a year, raising by one day every year’s service, up to 30 days (pro-rated for part time employees) plus additional days off such as bank holidays.
• STaR is our employee benefits scheme offering discounts on everyday supermarket shopping, as well as other things such as hotel stays clothes, mobile phones, other electrical items, medical and car insurance, holidays, gym discounts, household bills, Headspace wellbeing app.
• free parking at Forestry England sites and free entry to our National Arboretums at Westonbirt and Bedgebury.
• a commitment to lifelong learning through career development. Forestry England will support your career development in a variety of ways, including continual professional development, support for individual learning plans and sponsored membership of professional bodies.

Read more about the benefits on the Forestry England website.

How to apply…

You will be asked to write a 200 word statement on your relevant experience and career history, along with a personal statement of no more than 500 words. You will be assessed on both during sifting. More details about how to apply are listed on the application form. 

You will be assessed on an experience based task and strength based questions during your interview. 

 The Behaviours being assessed at interview are – 

Successful candidates will undergo a criminal record check and the government baseline personnel security standard check.

If you require any reasonable adjustments, please email fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk.

If you're planning to use AI to support your application, please ensure you've read our guidelines here first. 

Read more about our application process and working with us on the Forestry England website. 

Nationality requirements…

Read more about nationality requirements here. 

Working for the Civil Service…

Forestry England is part of the Civil Service. The Civil Service has a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS). This means candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria during the application process will be guaranteed an interview. We also offer a Redeployment Interview Scheme to current civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the role. This role is also part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans and Prison Leaver Recruitment initiative. 

Within Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016, it is essential that applicants should have the ability to provide conversation in accurate spoken English.

Our recruitment process makes appointments based on fair and open competition and merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in in line with/according to these principles and you wish to make a complaint, please email: englandhr.services@forestryengland.uk.