Historic Environment Adviser (Area Support)

Brief job description/person specification: Never has there been a more important time for trees and forests to help tackle the climate emergency and provide a much-needed sanctuary for people and wildlife. Our government is committed to creating 75,000 acres of woodland a year across the UK by the end of this Parliament. This acceleration in current planting rates in England will contribute to meeting the net-zero by 2050 ambitions, and to government’s wider environmental targets. This was supported by the announcement in the 2021 budget of £640m for a new Nature for Climate Fund ‘to support natural habitats like woodland and peat’ and the publication of the England Tree Action Plan.

The Historic Environment Adviser (Area Support) role, as part of Forest Services, supports Area teams, the Historic Environment Adviser (national lead) and Policy & Advice team to enable the forestry sector to protect, improve, and expand England's woodland resource, through:

1. Providing technical expertise on historic environment issues relating to forestry and woodland protection, management and creation across several area teams.

2. To support Area teams in promoting the contribution of sustainable forestry and woodland management in protecting and enhancing the historic environment.

3. To build and maintain a network of area contacts across the statutory, NGO, and local authority historic environment sector to promote the work of the Forestry Commission and foster collaborative working.

This role also supports the England Tree Planting Programme (ETPP) and will help to ensure that the Forestry Commission’s commitments and responsibilities to historic environment protection and enhancement are met in delivering this programme.

Person Specification

Essential
Knowledge and skills:

• Knowledge of the law and national policy with regards to the historic environment

• Working knowledge of stakeholders with regard to the historic environment

• Working knowledge of archaeological survey techniques

• An understanding of risk-based approaches to the historic environment and/or land management

• Strong communication skills.

Experience:

• Degree or equivalent experience in archaeology or with a strong historic environment component

• Experience of advising on landscape-scale approaches to deliver land management change (e.g. Environmental Impact Assessment)

• Experience of forestry, woodland management, or woodland creation

• Experience of using GIS to inform land management decisions

• Experience of undertaking archaeological survey or using its results

• Experience of and confidence in communicating (written/verbal) to a wide range of audiences.


Desirable

Knowledge and skills:
• Technical understanding of sustainable forest management.

• Working knowledge of standards, regulations, incentives and agri-environment support for forestry

• Working knowledge of LIDAR as a tool to support decision making

• Awareness of historic landscape characterisation to support decision making.

Experience:

• Experience of negotiating through compromise and conflict resolution techniques

• Experience of applying a risk-based approach to land use planning

• Experience of successfully operating in a complex stakeholders’ landscape

• Associate Membership or above of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists.

• Membership of a relevant professional institute (e.g. CIfA membership).

Further contact details and/or application form link (if required): Historic Environment Adviser (Area Support) - Civil Service Jobs - GOV.UK

Interview date 26^th October 2022.