Executive Director of Wolf Creek Operating Foundation

Wolf Creek Operating Foundation(2018), sister foundation to Wolf Creek Charitable Foundation (1994) is seeking an Executive Director to oversee, manage, and conduct research on lands in Wyoming and Belize. The foundation’s mission is “to acquire and maintain ecologically significant land in the US and in foreign countries, and to conduct research and implement sustainable management and restoration programs to preserve and protect the natural state and biological diversity of the properties for the public benefit.” The foundation will partner with a variety of institutions, NGOs, and government agencies such as the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and The Peregrine Fund, Inc. and the University of Belize’s Environmental Research Institute.

Properties include: (1) Wolf Creek Ranch, a ~20,000 acre ecologically significant cattle ranch managed for conservation located in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains about 10 miles west of Sheridan, Wyoming. The ranch consists of 10 nearly contiguous properties purchased by its founder beginning in 1992. The land is bisected by riparian corridors with a wide diversity of habitats and wildlife from montane to prairie. (2) Bull Run Ltd., is a ~12,000 acre oak/pine savannah ecosystem with extensive hardwood canyons, part of a unique ~20,000 acre physiographic subregion in the Mountain Pine Ridge located on the northern escarpment of Belize’s Maya Mountains - habitat for unusual flora and fauna, including Stygian Owls, Orange-breasted Falcons, jaguars, and tapirs, was purchased by WCOF in March of 2019.

Qualifications

The Executive Director must be an administrator and natural resource manager with a strong science background. An undergraduate degree with experience and an advanced degree are preferred. Most of all he/she must have an appreciation of and a passion for birds and a commitment to habitat protection and restoration of the foundation’s flagship species, the Orange-breasted Falcon, a critically endangered species in Central America.

Responsibilities

The Executive Director may reside at Wolf Creek Ranch with considerable travel to Belize. He/she may oversee science in both countries with an initial emphasis on the newly acquired property in Belize or share the responsibility with a co-director, designing and participating in research projects to help find solutions to resource management issues such as invasive weeds, ungulate damage, and fisheries in Wyoming and forestry issues in Belize including fire management, controlled burns, tree thinning and harvest, and bark beetle control to improve habitat for biodiversity. Initial priorities in Belize will include a baseline inventory of the properties’ unique biota, building upon Bruce Mean’s 1990s Natural History of the Mountain Pine Ridge, and planning for an Environmental Research Institute with public education programs and guided tourism. The director will develop and implement management strategies, staffing, and scientific programs to fulfill these and other goals of the foundation.

Submittal Package

Send submittal to: Robert B. Berry, Founding Director, Wolf Creek Operating Foundation and The Peregrine Fund, Inc., 1122 Soldier Creek Road, Wolf Wyoming 82844 to include:

• Cover letter
• CV
• Contact information for three references
• Salary requirements

Compensation Package

Competitive salary commensurate with experience.

Relocation Expenses