Hybrid Weed Warrior Volunteer Coordinator (15279, Grade 18) bei The Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission, MD

About the Department

The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), a six time National Recreation and Parks Association Gold Medal Award Winner, has a career staff complement of nearly 800 employees and serves a diverse population of more than one million residents in the Washington, DC area. We manage over 400 parks on more than 37,000 acres of parkland. Go to the website to learn more: https://www.montgomeryparks.org/ ; 

Do you have a desire to help protect Montgomery Parks’ natural resources by engaging the community? Want to put your organizational talents and attention-to-detail to good use? Have experience with native habitats and nonnative, invasive plants? If this sounds like a good fit for you, then Montgomery Parks welcomes you to apply to become one of the team.  

Montgomery Parks is seeking a capable and people-oriented person to assist in the management of a corps of passionate and engaged volunteers who combat nonnative, invasive plants and restore degraded habitats. In addition to being willing and able to learn new things, the candidate should be flexible, friendly, and approachable as most of this work will include interaction with the public. Most of this position is computer-work, with some time outside in the parks. 

Under the supervision of the Department’s Weed Warrior Volunteer Program Manager, the incumbent will support day-to-day administration of volunteers and associated projects, including database management, responding to existing/interested volunteer inquiries, organizing training materials, running group events, and assisting with trainings. This employee will work with staff, train volunteers, and work with organized groups, including corporate and student teams. This position may require occasional weekend and evening work.

The Weed Warrior Volunteer Coordinator will go through all the steps to become a Certified Weed Warrior and Weed Warrior Supervisor, so they will be able to appropriately answer volunteers’ questions and lead groups of volunteers. This entails learning about (and being able to explain) non-native, invasive plants, including how to identify them in the field and how to use approved manual plant removal techniques. 

Position Duties

• Maintain and update detailed volunteer records using computer software, including Excel and the Montgomery Parks Volunteer Services Office’s Samaritan database. 
• Stay up to date on Montgomery Parks Volunteer and Non-Native, Invasive Plant Management protocols. 
• Manage and add events to the internal Weed Warrior Outlook calendar to ensure all relevant Parks departments are aware of Weed Warrior events. 
• Maintain and grow partnerships to continue to increase our natural resources work within the diverse communities and demographics of the county, including youth. 
• Translate training and outreach materials to aid outreach and Spanish volunteer programming.  
• Assist volunteers with the online training e-courses. 
• Help volunteers register for Weed Warrior Workdays and events, using the Samaritan database.  
• Answer questions about the Weed Warrior Certification program and assist volunteers with certification requirements. 
• Correspond with the public regarding natural resources related issues via email, phone, and Microsoft Teams. 
• Assist with the Quarterly Weed Warrior Newsletter. 
• Maintain and update the tool inventory spreadsheet. 

• Train volunteers how to identify native and non-native, invasive plants. 
• Train volunteers how to safely control target plant species via manual methods. 
• Coordinate and fully lead volunteer Weed Warrior events in parks throughout the county, especially bilingual events in M-NCPPC Equity Focus Areas. 
• Partner with minority-focused groups and conduct outreach to Spanish speaking communities through speaking engagements, presentations, tabling events, festivals, volunteer events, etc.  
• Prep for, attend, and assist during and after Weed Warrior in-person trainings and appreciation events. 
• Drive a Montgomery Parks vehicle and help with plant and tool delivery.  
• Help volunteers with the new GIS-based vegetation monitoring phone app.  
• Properly and safely control non-native, invasive plants in parks throughout the county, as needed. 
• Assist with vegetation management surveys and inventories, as needed, using handheld GIS applications. 
  

• Familiarity with non-native, invasive plant impact, identification, and/or management. 
•  Ability to speak and write fluently in both English and Spanish. 
•  Experience running outdoor volunteer group events. 
•  Experience educating, coordinating, and supervising eager volunteers or community members. 
•  Excellent writing, organization, word processing, and computer skills. 
•  General competency for personal computer use, including the Microsoft Office suite and advanced familiarity of Office Outlook. 
•  Ability to work with computer programs for multiple hours at a time. 
•  Ability to complete tasks both independently and under minimum supervision as part of a team, while following direction. 
• Ability to pay close attention to detail and work within deadlines. 
•  Excellent people skills. 
•  Experience with databases and program management. 
• Basic familiarity with handheld GIS applications. 
  

Minimum Qualifications

Other Qualifications

Classification Specification Natural Resources Specialist I

May be subject to medical, drug and alcohol testing.

The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate a workplace culture of diversity, equity and inclusion without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, gender identity, or any other non-merit factor.

Applicants with Disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

If you require accommodations or special arrangements due to a qualifying disability, please notify the Recruitment & Selections Services Unit at the time of applications at or301-454-1411(Maryland Relay 7-1-1)

M-NCPPC will make all efforts to reasonably accommodate you.