Forest Liaison Officer

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 279480**Salary**:

- £30,427 - £32,615**Job grade**:

- Other**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- FLS - Land Management**Type of role**:

- Other**Working pattern**:

- Full-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 3Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- South Region - Straiton, Dumfries, Ae or Newton Stewart (These locations are preferred, but other offices within South Region will be considered.)About the job

**Job summary**:

- Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is looking for enthusiastic, practical, creative people to join our planning and environment team in South Region. The South Region team of FLS manage and care for 170,000 ha of public land, extending from the eastern Scottish Borders to the Isle of Arran. In South Region we:
- produce over one million m³ of sustainable timber every year
- replant hundreds of hectares each year to create tomorrow’s forests
- support large scale renewables projects that supply energy to thousands of homes
- provide world-class facilities for mountain bikers, walkers and outdoor enthusiasts
- restore peatlands, sometimes on a pretty large scale
- create new woodlands on former opencast sites
- manage open land and woodland habitats to benefit a diverse range of wildlife

The planning and environment teams work closely with other teams and specialists to design sustainable forests of the future, protect and restore semi-natural habitats, respond to climate change and enhance our landscapes. We facilitate and integrate responsible renewable energy and infrastructure on Scotland’s
forests and land to support the nations’ climate goals. We live and work in iconic - or sometimes spectacular but lesser known - landscapes, often with great
access to outdoor activities, but never that far from major towns either. See more about where we live and work. A map showing the location and extent of each region can be found within our Corporate Plan.

**Job description**:
We accommodate a significant number of renewable energy developments (particularly wind farms), utility projects and other third party developments on the land we manage. They often involve associated infrastructure such as access tracks, grid connections and ancillary equipment.

In South Region there are six operational wind farms, several large scale interconnectors and a complex network of overhead and underground services. There are also other developments accessed over FLS land and over 30 projects at scoping, planning and construction stage.

As a Forest Liaison Officer (FLO), you will be the main point of contact between an FLS Regional team, and developers and their contractors on day-to-day issues regarding these projects. You will also work closely with the national renewables team and regional estates team.

You will liaise with colleagues to consider the impacts of the projects on the management of the forest and other land uses; help to support and integrate the projects into FLS wider land management, within the context of our Land Management Plans and organisational objectives; and ensure that development is
compliant and sustainable.

In addition, you will engage with colleagues and external stakeholders to ensure third party activities are fully communicated and, as a result, integrated into our core activities.

Main Duties
- Build and maintain excellent working relationships with stakeholders such as community groups, neighbours, statutory consultees, and agreement holders.
- Support and assist national renewables team and other regional staff in general liaison with third parties including agreement holders, such as facilitating permissions for surveys and work to be carried out by them on national forests and land.
- Prepare and provide developers with relevant information held by FLS, and support others in assessing proposals, testing options and revising Land Management Plans.
- Provide support to third parties and internal teams, including gathering relevant forest related information and mapping, environmental mitigation and details of Land Management Plans.
- Liaise with third parties over management of sites, ensuring the interests of FLS are protected in relation to tree felling, quarrying and roading operations.
- Carry out regular site supervision to ensure no breaches of health and safety or environmental guidelines, and that the project remains within the terms of plans and agreements.

**Person specification**:
Experience

Essential:
- Relevant knowledge and experience of forest operations, forest management, land management, renewables or construction;
- Experience of building strong working relationships with colleagues and a wide range of external stakeholders and regulators;
- Good facilitation, communication and engagement skills; and
- Demonstrate experience of working in operational forestry and/or renewables/construction projects.

Desirable:

- Experience of working wi