Wildlife Ranger - Ringwood Beat

Ashley Heath, South West England, BH24 2EJ

Job Summary

What you’ll do…

You will work as part of the district\’s wildlife management team, protecting forests and supporting conservation priorities, including mammal management. You will be a champion for our health and safety culture by demonstrating our value of ‘look out and look after’.

You will deliver forest protection and habitat conservation objectives through:

• Controlling deer and other mammals to protect forest regeneration and biodiversity in line with wider district plans and objectives.
• Undertaking regular liaison with Forest District staff and assisting with beat and recreational planning, monitoring and delivery.
• Building and maintaining relationships with Forestry Commission (FC) and external contacts, where this benefits collaborative wildlife management and the functioning of the wider South Forest District.

Please see the job description below for more information and details about what we need from you.

Where you’ll work…

We are Forestry England. We are the country’s largest land manager, caring for the nation’s forests for people, nature and the economy. The foundation of our organisation is our world-class sustainable management of the nation’s forests.

Our South England Forest District team is made up of around 170 people with a diverse range of roles – from foresters and wildlife rangers to civil engineers, and ecologists to marketing professionals. We all contribute towards the management of 46,000 hectares of public forest estate that stretch from Sussex to Dorset, and from Berkshire to the Isle of Wight. Nearly all of our forests are within either a National Park or Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Much of this forest is of high national importance for nature conservation and wildlife, and of international importance for biodiversity. South England Forest District is therefore responsible for land that includes Special Areas of Conservation (for habitats), Special Protection Areas (for birds) and Ramsar sites (for wetlands). We also provide public access and recreation in our forests, with nearly 50 million visits every year to South England Forest District.

If the post you are applying for is PB5 or above, you will be asked to join the District duty roster, after a suitable period of time.

Job Description

Operational Responsibility

• undertake monitoring and control of deer populations within beat following guidance from national and district policies and achieving cull targets as specified in the South England Forest District Deer Strategy
• keep and train a dog for deer carcass follow up as outlined in the current dog policy
• undertake inspection and preparation of deer carcasses in line with national Deer Management Wild Venison Standard
• provide a reliable prompt response to emergency call outs involving RTA’s, fire, travellers, trespass etc and follow up incident by completing any administrative actions as required
• undertake humane and safe despatch of wild animals involved in road traffic collisions (RTCs) on or adjacent to the Forestry England (FE) estate
• monitor and control of mammals to protect restock sites, natural regeneration and sites of high conservation importance as per approved Forest Design Plans
• support beat team with dangerous tree inspections and/or operations as directed by Wildlife Manager or Beat Manager

Wider District Support Responsibility

• support the beat team with planning of forest operations
• participate in the Operational Site Assessment (OSA) process, giving written guidance and advice to deliver conservation benefits – complete OSA paperwork to agreed deadlines
• review and amend GIS information as required
• attend and participate in site meetings, proactively identifying opportunities and constraints
• work within the beat team to assist in the delivery of forest operations and fulfil necessary requirements for contract management – attending pre-commencement meetings, providing advice and support
• support the Planning and Environment team to deliver conservation and habitat management, undertaking practical conservation tasks and putting forward larger improvement and maintenance programmes to the Beat Forester
• regularly check and update conservation data for your beat and report edits where necessary
• carry out prompt and thorough inspection of restock and/or stock fences as directed by Beat Manager and provide a comprehensive fence line inspection report within given timeframe

Stakeholder Engagement, Representation and Communications

• work with external stakeholders and organisations to deliver wildlife and habitat management on a landscape scale
• maintain positive relationships with neighbours and partners, always promoting FE and its work within local communities
• deal with problems in a professional manner and seek advice from support staff when required
• participate in events that take place on the estate and represent FE values, sharing knowledge and experiences in a manner that is suitable for the audience
• monitor your beat for encroachments using local procedures to deal with minor encroachments yourself and working through complex cases with the Estates team to bring about a solution

Health and Safety

• ensure that all work programmes undertaken meet Forestry England’s and regulatory standards of health and safety, operational efficiency and quality of output
• ensure compliance with lone working policies and use Forestry England’s lone working system when working alone
• ensure that equipment and facilities used in the delivery of duties are clean and maintained to a high standard

And any other tasks reasonably requested by your line manager.

Operational Responsibility

• undertake monitoring and control of deer populations within beat following guidance from national and district policies and achieving cull targets as specified in the South England Forest District Deer Strategy
• keep and train a dog for deer carcass follow up as outlined in the current dog policy
• undertake inspection and preparation of deer carcasses in line with national Deer Management Wild Venison Standard
• provide a reliable prompt response to emergency call outs involving RTA’s, fire, travellers, trespass etc and follow up incident by completing any administrative actions as required
• undertake humane and safe despatch of wild animals involved in road traffic collisions (RTCs) on or adjacent to the Forestry England (FE) estate
• monitor and control of mammals to protect restock sites, natural regeneration and sites of high conservation importance as per approved Forest Design Plans
• support beat team with dangerous tree inspections and/or operations as directed by Wildlife Manager or Beat Manager

Wider District Support Responsibility

• support the beat team with planning of forest operations
• participate in the Operational Site Assessment (OSA) process, giving written guidance and advice to deliver conservation benefits – complete OSA paperwork to agreed deadlines
• review and amend GIS information as required
• attend and participate in site meetings, proactively identifying opportunities and constraints
• work within the beat team to assist in the delivery of forest operations and fulfil necessary requirements for contract management – attending pre-commencement meetings, providing advice and support
• support the Planning and Environment team to deliver conservation and habitat management, undertaking practical conservation tasks and putting forward larger improvement and maintenance programmes to the Beat Forester
• regularly check and update conservation data for your beat and report edits where necessary
• carry out prompt and thorough inspection of restock and/or stock fences as directed by Beat Manager and provide a comprehensive fence line inspection report within given timeframe

Stakeholder Engagement, Representation and Communications

• work with external stakeholders and organisations to deliver wildlife and habitat management on a landscape scale
• maintain positive relationships with neighbours and partners, always promoting FE and its work within local communities
• deal with problems in a professional manner and seek advice from support staff when required
• participate in events that take place on the estate and represent FE values, sharing knowledge and experiences in a manner that is suitable for the audience
• monitor your beat for encroachments using local procedures to deal with minor encroachments yourself and working through complex cases with the Estates team to bring about a solution

Health and Safety

• ensure that all work programmes undertaken meet Forestry England’s and regulatory standards of health and safety, operational efficiency and quality of output
• ensure compliance with lone working policies and use Forestry England’s lone working system when working alone
• ensure that equipment and facilities used in the delivery of duties are clean and maintained to a high standard

And any other tasks reasonably requested by your line manager.

Person specification

Essential Professional And Technical Experience

• extensive experience of firearms use, deer management including delivering large culls and carcass preparation
• experience of using effective communication skills to convey messages to a variety of audiences
• an understanding of woodland management and the ecology of woodlands and heath
• competent user of IT including Microsoft Office applications
• the ability to train a suitable dog breed as an aid for deer management
• a full UK driving licence

Desirable professional and technical experience

• experience in a wildlife or conservation land management role demonstrating a keen interest in nature conservation
• an EPS handling license or equivalent

Essential Qualifications

• hold a higher-level deer stalking certificate
• a current Police Firearms Certificate

Desirable

• qualification in wildlife or conservation land management, such as BTEC National Diploma, BTEC HND or BSc degree

Behaviours

We\’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

We\’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• We would like applicants to to prepare a 5 minute presentation. There will be no digital aids available. Further details will be provided to candidates invited to interview.
• A firearms skills test. You will be observed at all times and all your actions will be taken into account whilst handling a firearm. The firearm skills test will follow the DSC level 1 shooting test.

Alongside your salary of £32,547, Forestry Commission contributes £9,428 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

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.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

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 two technical skills and strength based questions during your interview.

The Behaviours being assessed at interview are –

• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions
• Seeing the Bigger Picture
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical Skills

We\’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

We would like applicants to to prepare a 5 minute presentation. There will be no digital aids available. Further details will be provided to candidates invited to interview.

A firearms skills test. You will be observed at all times and all your actions will be taken into account whilst handling a firearm. The firearm skills test will follow the DSC level 1 shooting test.

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

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

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

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission\’s recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission\’s recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact

• Name : FC Recruitment Team
• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : fcrecruitmentteam@forestryengland.uk

Further information

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment on the basis of fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles.If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact FCE by email: englandhr.services@forestryengland.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment. #J-18808-Ljbffr