Outdoor Recreation Planner

DOES THIS DESCRIBE YOU?

You’re passionate about equitable public access to nature-based parks, open space, and public lands and their sound stewardship. You bring experience planning for the management of public lands, nature-based parks, trail systems, or environmentally sensitive open spaces in California. Your academic background is in landscape architecture, outdoor recreation management, public lands planning, or a related field. You are technologically savvy and enjoy using GIS and graphics software to produce visually informative plans, maps, and public engagement materials.

You possess strong public outreach skills and are comfortable with both in-person and online engagement techniques. You understand outdoor recreation planning processes, including site analysis, identifying opportunities and constraints, alternatives evaluation, policy planning, and conceptual site planning. You are a strong writer who can research, organize information, and produce clear written products for a variety of audiences. Assisting communities and government agencies in making informed, equitable decisions about public land management is important to you.

You are curious, collegial, caring, collaborative, and committed to quality and continued learning to keep up with changing requirements.

Ascent is seeking an Outdoor Recreation Planner to join our conservation and recreation planning sector based in our Lake Tahoe, Sacramento, Berkeley, Irvine, or San Diego offices. In a typical week in this role, you might:

• Work as part of an interdisciplinary team of planners, biologists, outreach specialists, and environmental professionals to plan for the management and stewardship of public lands and open spaces.
• Prepare written planning documents describing existing conditions; planning issues; opportunities and constraints analyses; and goal, policy, and management recommendations.
• Research, evaluate, and document existing conditions such as visitation patterns, land uses, facilities, trail conditions, demographics, natural and cultural resources, and access and transportation systems.
• Produce maps, diagrams, and infographics to convey public access or land management issues, planning alternatives, and recommendations.
• Collaborate with biologists, botanists, scientists, climate adaptation specialists, and environmental planners to develop environmentally sustainable plans.
• Be responsible for and lead field and GIS desktop data collection and review for the purposes of preparing park, trail, and land management plans.
• Assist with organizing and facilitating stakeholder meetings, community workshops, client charrettes, and other outreach activities, including seeking authentic participation by disadvantaged and non-English-speaking communities.
• Incorporate creative insights and high-quality design into nature-based park, trail, and public lands plans.
• Coordinate with environmental planning leaders and staff in joint planning and environmental review processes for parks, trails, or open spaces.
• Serve as an outdoor recreation topic specialist in support of CEQA, NEPA analysis, or land use plans.
• Team up with interdisciplinary project managers, principals, and other expert colleagues on all your projects.
• Advance equity and inclusion in public access to public lands.
• Interface with clients at state agencies, regional districts and agencies, cities and counties, and NGOs.
• Stay up to date on the current state of the art and practice by reviewing resources from expert organizations and attending conferences, training sessions, and webinars.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

• Bachelor’s and/or master’s degree in landscape architecture, outdoor recreation management, public lands planning, or a related field.
• Minimum of 3 years of relevant professional experience; 3–6 years preferred, supporting communities and/or public agencies with planning efforts.
• Demonstrated experience preparing graphically rich…