Conservation Program Coordinator

Overview

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Save the Dunes Conservation Fund (Save the Dunes) is a non-profit environmental organization headquartered in Michigan City, serving the three counties of Northwest Indiana. Our mission is to protect and advocate for the Indiana Dunes, Lake Michigan, and the surrounding natural areas for the health and vitality of the environment and the people who live, work, and recreate in Northwest Indiana.

For over 70 years, Save the Dunes has been a leading force in protecting the unique natural heritage of Northwest Indiana. As an official partner of Indiana Dunes National Park, we work to advance shared goals in land preservation, habitat restoration, and public access ensuring the dunes are protected for future generations to enjoy. Save the Dunes protects the Indiana Dunes and surrounding natural areas from a variety of threats through our work in conservation, advocacy, and community engagement.

We are seeking a full-time Conservation Program Coordinator to serve as the point person on our current portfolio of conservation projects and to help shape and develop our conservation programs moving forward. Key duties include public outreach to inform conservation planning, managing and monitoring the organization's conservation easements and properties, and managing contracts and partner relationships to implement restoration, acquisition, and recreation projects.

A major portion of this position’s time will be dedicated to supporting a multi-partner regional project. The Coordinator will serve as a key administrative and logistical lead for this effort, ensuring successful implementation through partner communication, meeting facilitation, task tracking, and documentation management. This position reports directly to the Program Director. This is a term position lasting through February 2028 with the possibility of extension.

• Work in close collaboration with the Program Director to identify conservation opportunities and challenges and develop an organizational strategy around future conservation programs.
• Lead project management for multi-year federal grants, including partner communications and coordination, preparing agendas and meeting notes, developing engagement materials, grant reporting, and tracking of project budget, timelines, deliverables, and metrics.
• Lead inclusive community and stakeholder engagement across Northwest Indiana to support a regional planning project focused on nature-based solutions, resilience, and habitat connectivity.
• Build strong relationships through one-on-one meetings, public events, tabling, and direct collaboration with municipalities, agencies, land managers, and communities.
• Convene a diverse group of partners, ensuring productive collaboration, clear communication, and steady progress toward shared conservation goals and project milestones.
• Gather and synthesize input from diverse stakeholders to help co-create an adaptive, equity-focused regional resilience plan, ensuring community voices are centered in project outcomes.
• Produce accessible and engaging communication materials (e.g., surveys, presentations, fliers, online content) to support project engagement and outreach.
• Coordinate contracts and help develop a recreation strategy for the East Branch of the Little Calumet River, working with partners to improve public access and stewardship along the waterway.
• Manage Save the Dunes conservation easements and owned properties, including annual monitoring, landowner relations, and coordination of restoration projects and volunteer stewardship days.
• Support emerging conservation projects as assigned across a range of environmental topics and issue areas.
• Other duties as assigned, which may include general office tasks, attending and reporting on meetings, fundraising efforts, and networking events.

• Entry-level seniority (as indicated by the role).
• Full-time employment status.
• Experience or strong interest in conservation, land stewardship, project management, and stakeholder engagement is desirable.

• Full-time

• Other

• Non-profit Organizations

Note:

This description reflects the information available in the posting and does not include any non-essential boilerplate. For context, a term position is described as lasting through February 2028 with the possibility of extension.