Wildlife Program Coordinator

Compensation: $3,500/month; Includes seasonal housing, vehicle use, field and office equipment, horse pasture/hay, and farrier costs.
 
Time Period: May 18th – October 31st, 2026. There is potential for the position to be permanent, year-round. Position may require odd hours, including nights, weekends, and work weeks >40 hours. Position may be up to ¾-time in the off-season (November-April) as a permanent, year-round position.

Position description: The Centennial Valley Association (CVA) is seeking a dedicated and driven individual to join our Team as the Wildlife Program Coordinator in 2026. This position leads CVA’s Wildlife and Range Rider Program, and is responsible for growing and coordinating this community-driven program that is beneficial to ranchers, wildlife, partner organizations, and other Centennial Valley residents and visitors. The Wildlife Program Coordinator reports directly to the CVA Executive Coordinator and CVA Wildlife & Conflict Mitigation Committee, and supervises a team of Range Riders to work as a team to reduce the number of unconfirmed cattle losses in the Centennial Valley and mitigate conflicts with predators so that humans, livestock, and wildlife may thrive together on a shared landscape.

Specifically, the Wildlife Program Coordinator will:

• Establish and maintain relationships with ranchers, local community members, and agency and NGO partners to strategically enhance CVA’s mission and goals.
• Coordinate wildlife-conflict mitigation practices, such as range riding and carcass pick-up, to ensure people, livestock, and wildlife may thrive together on a shared landscape.
• Administer effective data collection and assesses program effort and effectiveness, as well as support informed and sustainable land management and/or safety decisions.
• Conduct education/outreach to the community, recreationists, visitors, and partner organizations.
• Support programmatic administration, including grant writing/reporting, financial management, policy and protocol management, and internal/external programmatic communications.

Position responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Effectively communicating with partners, stakeholders, staff, CVA Board of Directors, and Team Members.
• Supervising a team of Range Riders, while ensuring organizational goals, policies/protocols, and safety measures are met.
• Contributing to range riding duties, including:
  • Riding on horseback through cattle herds and adjacent areas 3-4 days a week, often in remote and rugged areas with recent grizzly bear and wolf activity.
  • Monitoring and reporting on cattle health, infrastructure (i.e. fences, water, salt), and other observations of concern (i.e. forage conditions, theft, predators, etc.).
  • Finding, reporting, and removal/relocation of carcasses around cattle. Staff are never required to approach a carcass area, allowing individual discretion in determining safety of a situation.
  • Assisting Wildlife Services to locate and investigate carcasses when requested by livestock owner.
  • Placing and monitoring game cameras in areas of high predator use, carcass locations, or other areas of interest, as well as tracking wildlife, through sign and visual observation, in areas used by cattle to determine wildlife presence and how that presence may be affecting cattle.
• Accurate data management for the Wildlife and Range Rider Program through daily data entry forms, daily time logs, and uploading pictures, GPS points, and GPS tracks to a CVA shared drive weekly.
• Entering/analyzing data in spreadsheets, databases, and/or ArcGIS.
• Providing community outreach via phone calls, emails, informational meetings, Wildlife Program Reports, and online presence (website blog, social media, etc.).
• Identifying potential grant opportunities, and assist/coordinate grant writing and reporting, programmatic and organizational fundraisers, and budget development and implementation.
• Equipment, camper, and vehicle maintenance.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Range Science, Agriculture, Wildlife Biology/Management, or related field, OR >3 years applicable job experience working with ranching communities and wildlife management, OR a combination of both.
• 5+ years of horseback experience, preferably with cattle and in remote, backcountry locations, or verifiable horsemanship qualifications via references or training experiences, or a combination of the two. Preference will be given to applicants with more years of experience related to this job description and with the ability to ride long distances on horseback (15+ miles/day) in inclement conditions.
• Strong communication, organization, and problem-solving skills, including the ability to assess risk and take appropriate safety precautions.
• Effective field data collection, entry, and analysis skills.
• Efficient with Microsoft Office programs, GPS/OnX, and ArcGIS.
• Self-motivated, flexible, safety-oriented, and can remain neutral on whether predators are good or bad.
• Willing to take direction from the Executive Coordinator and/or CVA’s Wildlife & Conflict Mitigation Committee, as well as from participating ranches and the community.
• Must have a current driver’s license and bring tack/items needed to care for horses (i.e. saddle, halters, etc.).

 Desired Qualifications:

• Experience working in a nonprofit setting.
• Experience working and/or living in a rural, remote landscape with small communities.
• Experience working in grizzly bear country.
• Experience with ranching operations, cattle handling/monitoring, and the ability to accurately assess sickness and stressed behavior in cattle.
• Familiarity with predator behavior and movements, particularly wolves and grizzly bears.
• Experience managing and/or supervising a team of employees.
• Experience with grant writing, fundraising, and/or program budgeting and management.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team in a small organization where your co-workers are possibly your roommates in a field camp setting.
• Experience operating an ATV/UTV (training course will be provided, and is required by CVA).
• Familiarity operating manual transmissions, hauling trailers, and operating ATV/UTVs especially on rough dirt roads.
  • Note: A required ATV/UTV training is provided.
• Familiarity with basic vehicle and equipment maintenance.
• Verizon cell phone service (this is the only carrier that works reliably in the Centennial Valley).
• Although not required, preference will be given to applicants with 1-3 broke working horses.

About the Organization: CVA is a locally based, landowner-driven nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve traditional ranching as a way of life in the Centennial Valley, and to maintain quality open space, wildlife habitat, water quality, and wildlife migration corridors as they exist today for future generations. CVA unites local ranchers, community members, agencies, NGOs, and other groups to collaborate on local conservation issues, such as invasive weed management, maintaining and monitoring migration corridors, drought awareness, mitigating wildlife conflict, and providing outreach and education opportunities for the community and visitors.

Location: Centennial Valley, Montana. Nearest towns with amenities: Lima, MT and West Yellowstone, MT. The Centennial Valley is an extremely remote, high-elevation valley in southwestern Montana. Access to work sites may require up to 1 hour of travel on marginal dirt roads. Residence in provided seasonal housing is required for the position.