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Conservation Communication Specialist
The Utah Rivers Council is looking for a hard-working communicator with strong writing skills to help engage audiences and supporters in our conservation advocacy work throughout the American West. The Conservation Communication Specialist takes the lead in devising and distributing a range of important written communications to decision makers, the public and supporters to move our campaigns forward to protect some of the West’s most important aquatic landscapes.
We are looking for an excellent writer with a strong work ethic, willing to help recruit the public to our conservation advocacy work. This advocacy position requires someone comfortable working with and writing to engage people from a wide variety of backgrounds, political ideologies and world perspectives. The applicant must be comfortable writing on a daily basis without the use of any artificial intelligence tools and understands how to address a variety of audiences. The position will require both long-form written content and short form channels including social media. A demonstrated experience in conservation marketing practices is highly-desired.
The ideal candidate is highly organized, knows what hard work looks like and has strong writing skills able to compel audiences to action in a variety of formats. This position requires someone with a contemporary perspective on the global environmental crisis who is courageous and willing to advocate clearly about what is needed in our system of governance. The position requires the candidate to take complicated source material – which may include published science, agency meeting minutes, or oral communications – and condense them into compelling, well-structured communiques structured from good storytelling principles.
Minimum qualifications include a bachelor’s degree and at least two years paid experience in a professional office setting, preferably in nonprofit advocacy. Preference will be given to applicants with a professional background in environmental nonprofit work. Applicants will be asked to perform an impromptu writing exercise.
Candidates should demonstrate in their application materials that they have a basic working knowledge of the challenges faced in Utah’s water sector and an understanding of the global environmental crisis. We strongly encourage you to visit our website, utahrivers.org, before applying and include this exercise in your cover letter.
Compensation, Benefits and Leave
This is a full-time position with compensation dependent upon experience. The Utah Rivers Council is a grassroots water advocacy organization that represents the entire economic and political spectrum in our work to implement a sustainable water future in Utah. We strive to maintain a fun, informal work environment where progress and accomplishments are measured by real success. Work-life balance and time off are a regular part of our work.
To apply send a resume, a full cover letter, and a short writing sample to hiring@utahrivers.org Please, no phone calls or follow up emails after your application has been submitted. The position will remain open until filled.
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Additional Info
Job Type : Full-time
Education Level : Bachelors Degree
Experience Level : Entry Level, Mid Level
Organization Mission : The Utah Rivers Council is a grassroots organization dedicated to the conservation and stewardship of Utah’s rivers and sustainable clean water sources for Utah’s people and wildlife. Founded in 1994, we work to protect Utah’s rivers and clean water sources for today’s citizens, future generations and healthy, sustainable natural ecosystems. We implement our mission through grassroots organizing, direct advocacy, research, education, community leadership and litigation.
DEI/Nondiscrimination Statement : Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Philosophy
The URC believes that the right to affordable water is an essential human right for every person, regardless of ethnicity, income, sexual orientation or preference, or ideology. Our mission enables future generations to access sustainable clean water sources as a right to life. Our work ensures that all residents, especially low-income and working families, have access to clean and affordable water, despite climate change’s impacts to our water supplies and aquatic landscapes.
The URC has been committed to serving diverse communities to ensure that access to clean water supplies are equitable for everyone. We work to represent all people in our campaigns and are particularly sensitive to communities that have not been well-represented in water governance and environmental policies. Whether it was when we protected a 3,000-year-old Native American village on the Jordan River or educated policy makers on the chronic problems of raising water rates 520% on working families to pay for the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline. Our work focuses on how we can keep water affordable for all people.
Since water is essential to human life, and all life on Earth, we work to ensure our programs meet the diverse needs of our communities. We understand that the success of our work is not limited to just one group, but is actually bolstered when diverse groups of people come together.
Creating a coalition of diverse groups is the underlying foundation for success when organizing a grassroots campaign and it is the underpinning of our victories as an organization. Many of the URC past successes can be hung on this belief, including stopping two proposed dams on the Bear River by building a diverse coalition of farmers, hunters, fishermen, environmentalists and Shoshone Nation tribemembers. Water is the common ground between different groups of people, which the URC is proud to represent, at our core, inside and out.
Water has and will always be a priceless resource. So essential to all, but not always accessible to everyone. Water economics has been critical to our work and has laid the groundwork for many of our successes. It is where we have found the biggest disparity in water equity. Property taxes for water subsidize low water rates, usually helping the largest water users abuse this precious resource. Working families suffer from these regressive property taxes and studies demonstrate that lower income residents pay a higher proportion of these taxes than do wealthier residents. For years the URC has worked to phase out these burdensome taxes, running five separate pieces of legislation in attempt to create a fairer water policy for all Utahns. Despite these bills failing to pass, we have led the discussion on phasing out these property taxes to seek equitable solutions for water access for all Utahns.
Taking care of our rivers and streams is synonymous with taking care of each and one another. We understand the importance of creating a system in which every person in the organization is on the same page. We must ensure we practice DEI externally as well as internally, so that all may feel they have an equal opportunity to contribute, helping the organization reach its full potential.
Job Location : Salt Lake City
Work Model : On-site
Closing Date : 4/30/2025
Compensation Type : Salary
Job Status : Exempt
Benefits Offered : Health Insurance, Dental Insurance, Paid Holidays, Paid Time Off, Paid Sick Time
Pay Range : $40,000 to $80,000 DOE