L-A-D Foundation - Land Stewardship in the Missouri Ozark Highlands Since 1962
L-A-D Foundation - Land Stewardship in the Missouri Ozark Highlands Since 1962
Employment and Volunteer Opportunities at L-A-D Foundation
Chief Ecologist
The Chief Ecologist position, headquartered at the Pioneer Forest office in Salem, Missouri, is responsible for the ecological stewardship program on all L-A-D Foundation lands. This includes formulating strategic and annual stewardship plans, implementing and maintaining a natural features inventory on Pioneer Forest, implementing on the ground conservation for defined ecological outcomes, monitoring the results, and partnering with a wide variety of federal, state, and local entities to achieve our goals. An essential aspect of the position is to communicate closely in ongoing fashion with the foundation’s forestry program in planning and implementation of ecological management on Pioneer Forest, particularly with the parallel position of Chief Forester. The Chief Ecologist will work with foundation leadership to define the position’s role and its desired outcomes in cultivating partnerships for conservation results with key stakeholders surrounding L-A-D lands. The position directly supervises a Fire and Stewardship Manager and an Ecologist, maintains close ongoing communication with the Forest and Stewardship Director and the Chief Forester, assists the Stewardship Committee of the Board of Directors in concert with the Chief Forester, and works with a variety of partners and contractors as needed to accomplish the mission. The position requires an approximate 50/50 split of field and office time.
Seasonal Stewardship Crew
Stewardship Crew, Fall, 2021
(Land Stewardship Coordinator Neal Humke at left)
Each fall and winter, the L-A-D Foundation hires a seasonal stewardship crew to assist with ongoing shortleaf pine and glade restoration efforts. Stewardship crews prepare for and conduct prescribed burns in a variety of landscapes. In addition to preparing firelines and participating in wildland fire operations, crew members may also assist with other conservation activities, such as clearing brush, constructing or repairing signs, marking boundary lines, maintaining trails, conducting mapping of forest areas, and treating invasive species.
Crew members have the opportunity to learn about local flora and native wildlife, Pioneer Forest's method of forest management, and the fire ecology of the Ozarks. They also gain field experience in wildland fire operations and natural resource management.
Internships
Former Intern Dustin Smith
Pioneer Forest hosts an internship for college students or recent graduates looking to enter the field of forestry. Designed to provide beyond-the-classroom experience, interns follow day-to-day operations and management of a working forest. Interns work closely with the Pioneer Forest Manager, Chief Forester, and Forest Technicians, and learn the application of uneven-aged single tree selection method of timber harvest, basic tree inventory skills, basic map reading and orienteering skills, and basic timber sale administration.
Applicants must be enrolled in a college or university with a specified degree program in forestry or a closely related field, or be a recent college graduate. Basic knowledge of forest inventory and mensuration, dendrology or plant taxonomy, silviculture, and forest management are required.
Internships are full-time, paid positions. Transportation for work purposes is provided. Some assistance for housing or temporary relocation may be available.
Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteers at the Virgin Pine Area
Prescribed Fire Volunteer Crewmembers
The L-A-D Foundation seeks volunteers to assist with individual prescribed burns on Pioneer Forest. Volunteers help with the day's wildland fire operations, including line construction, ignition, mop-up, suppression, and monitoring.
Volunteers must be trained in wildland firefighting and pass an annual physical fitness test, both of which we can offer. All tools and personal protective equipment are provided. Primary work location is northern Shannon County, MO, and the fire season is November – March. We have had people assist us for a single day on an on-call basis or arrange to stay for a week or more at a time.
Volunteers have the opportunity to gain field experience in wildland fire operations, learn about fire ecology, connect with professional staff from many agencies, and help further our ecological management goals.
For more information, or to volunteer, please contact Land Stewardship Coordinator Neal Humke at neal.humke@ladfoundation.org.
Other Volunteer Opportunities
The L-A-D Foundation has other opportunities to volunteer at our office in St. Louis or on our lands throughout Missouri. Past opportunities include sinkhole cleanup days in Perry County, trail maintenance and construction in the Roger Pryor Pioneer Backcountry, and biological monitoring such as conducting plant, insect, or bird inventories.
For more information on upcoming volunteer opportunities, please email us at info@ladfoundation.org.
Volunteers from Grand Center Arts Academy High School in St. Louis help clean up sinkholes in Perry County, 2016.
Volunteers from the Middle Mississippi Valley Grotto remove trash from a sinkhole in Perry county, 2015. PHOTO BY: Denise Vaughn
Volunteers work on the Ozark Trail through the Roger Pryor Pioneer Backcountry
© 2013-2023 L-A-D FOUNDATION ♦ 725 KINGSLAND AVE., SUITE 100, ST. LOUIS, MO 63130 ♦ 314-621-0230 ♦ EMAIL: INFO@LADFOUNDATION.ORG
PIONEER FOREST ♦ PO BOX 497, SALEM, MO 65560 ♦ 573-729-4641
♦ SEE PRIVACY POLICY
This site maintained by Craig Technology Consulting • 201 E. 4th St. • Salem, Missouri 65560 • PH 573.453.2322