Marine Habitat Protection Specialist

Overview/ Job Responsibilities

Entarian is seeking a Marine Habitat Protection Specialist to provide technical, environmental compliance, restoration planning, data management, programmatic, and outreach support for the NOAA Office of Habitat Conservation, Restoration Center. This position will support the evaluation of complex development projects and their potential impacts on coastal and marine habitats and fisheries resources and assist in developing conservation recommendations to avoid, reduce, or offset those impacts.

The position will also support habitat restoration projects and related NOAA programs and initiatives.

Duties include:

• Evaluate complex development projects and their potential impacts on coastal and marine habitats and fisheries resources and assist in developing effective conservation recommendations to avoid, reduce, or offset those impacts.
• Support environmental review and compliance activities, with particular emphasis on the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) and Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) provisions, as well as the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Clean Water Act (CWA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.
• Develop and support NEPA environmental compliance documentation, including Environmental Assessments and documentation tiered to Programmatic Environmental Impact Statements, using established NOAA and CEQ methods, procedures, and guidance.
• Coordinate with NOAA staff, NOAA General Counsel for Natural Resources, and applicable regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state agencies, and other partners, to support appropriate permits and consultation requests and ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, and local regulations.
• Support the technical development of environmental compliance and consultation documentation under the MSA and ESA, including requests for EFH and ESA consultations.
• Support fishery habitat restoration planning and implementation, including the evaluation, identification, prioritization, implementation, and monitoring of habitat restoration projects.
• Provide technical and programmatic support for CRP and DARRP restoration projects, including coordination with NOAA staff, local partners, responsible parties, technical professionals, and other stakeholders to support project development, implementation, monitoring, and reporting.
• Provide geospatial and data support for restoration planning and DARRP cases, including tools and analyses used to identify and prioritize restoration actions.
• Support project solicitation, review, and tracking activities, including distribution of requests for proposals, review and scoring of proposals, participation in technical review discussions, development of monitoring plans, participation in implementation planning, review of progress reports, and tracking of project accomplishments.
• Provide programmatic management support by coordinating and inspecting field activities and contract deliverables; supporting subcontractor oversight; identifying potential contract deviations; and providing technical input to the NOAA Project Lead and COR without exercising technical direction or final contract acceptance authority.
• Develop outreach and communication products, including draft press releases, project fact sheets, briefing packets, maps, story maps, and other materials; and support public meetings and other outreach activities as needed.
• Perform data management and reporting activities, including compiling and inputting project data into RCDB, DARRTS, SharePoint, RIBITS, and other reporting databases and systems; coordinating information requests; and working with…