JOB POSTING: Stewardship Trust Manager

CLOSING DATE: 9/4/2025 at 5:00 PM MST

LOCATION: Denver

Apply now!

Does the opportunity to travel across the magnificent state of Colorado to steward 300,000 acres of land thrill you? Do you want to affect statewide stewardship policy to safeguard natural values found in Colorado? Look no further. This is your dream job.  

The Colorado State Land Board -- a state agency that manages a $6 billion endowment of financial, land, and mineral assets for the benefit of K-12 schoolchildren -- is looking for a Stewardship Trust Manager to join our conservation services team. On any given day you might be presenting to our Governor-appointed Commissioners, inventorying ecological data, liaising with agriculture communities, or hiking mountainous terrain to inspect our Stewardship Trust properties. 

What is the State Land Board?

The State Land Board is a constitutionally created agency that manages a $6 billion endowment of assets for the intergenerational benefit of Colorado’s K-12 schoolchildren and public institutions.  The agency is the second-largest landowner in Colorado and generates revenue on behalf of beneficiaries by leasing nearly three million surface acres and four million subsurface acres for assorted purposes, including agriculture. Unlike public lands, trust lands are not open to the public unless a property has been leased for public access. We are entirely self-funded and receive no tax dollars. 

We are a 150-year old, constitutionally chartered agency, and we take pride in being entrepreneurial and business-savvy. We compete in private sector markets daily and generate more than $200 million in revenue annually.

What is the Stewardship Trust?

The Stewardship Trust is a special management designation for state trust lands containing the highest natural values of beauty, open space, wildlife habitat, rare plants, geologic features and/or paleontological and historic features. The Stewardship Trust was created in 1996 through voter approval of Colorado Amendment 16. Among other things, this amendment established that 10% of the state’s three million acres of surface trust lands be designated into the Stewardship Trust “to preserve the long-term benefits and returns to the state” through sound stewardship of the natural values of these special lands. State trust lands designated into the Stewardship Trust are subject to a higher standard of care, planning, and management. 

The job opportunity

This isn’t your typical government job. We want you to share in our excitement over intergenerational stewardship of natural assets and share in our pride of providing significant financial support to Colorado’s public schools. Your work will be a model across the country for massive-scale (2.8 million acres) of land management. 

As the manager of the Stewardship Trust, you’ll be responsible for our agency’s compliance with Amendment 16 as described above. Your work is important and will have intergenerational outcomes. 

Your duties include: 

• Get your boots dirty. Regularly visit properties throughout the state to provide on-site staff presence and perform property condition assessments; properties within the Stewardship Trust must be inspected no less than once every three years. You get to explore the beautiful state of Colorado and get paid to do it. 
  • Determine when a property should be recommended for designation into or out of the Stewardship Trust. 
  • Provide recommendations and support for the management of the remaining 2.5 million acres of trust lands not included in the Stewardship Trust. ○ Work with other staff to evaluate whether other uses may occur on Stewardship Trust lands, including grazing, recreation, solid and liquid mineral development, renewable energy, and rights of ways. 
  • Develop leasing recommendations for Board actions, including timing and spatial stipulations. 
• Produce a lot of reports. You’ll be indoors typing at a computer as often as you’ll be in the field. (You’ll be part of an office that supports each other, but be prepared to make your own photocopies.)  
  • Based on your property inspections, create baseline documentation of current conditions, prepare written monitoring reports, and maintain document files according to agency policies. 
  • Inventory critical biological and natural values resources on each property. And determine how data will be stored in our agency’s cool GIS and database systems to create digital records. 
  • Decide when third party consultant expertise is necessary, what budget is appropriate for the required services, and which consultants will be selected to do the work. 
• Do outreach. Land management is as much about people as it is about the land. 
  • Partner with our district staff (who are located in 6 offices throughout the state) and our administrative staff (who are located in our Denver headquarters) to achieve the desired resource management outcomes on a particular property.  
  • Take the lead on negotiating complex and controversial issues with landowners, lessees, agencies and/or other jurisdictional entities. And conduct outreach and communication with key partners and other state agencies. 
  • Serve as the point of contact for all inquiries and issues associated with land designated into the Stewardship Trust. 
  • Speak at the podium. You’ll present your recommendations/findings/etc. somewhat regularly to senior staff, our Board, and external groups. 

What can you expect from us in return for your hard work?

We are a lean team of 55 staff members that places significant emphasis on promoting and maintaining a positive work environment. We get our work done, and we have fun doing it. The qualities of our environment include transparent and open communication, work-life balance (we mean it), and a focus on training and development. You’ll explore and travel our state on day trips or multi-day trips, but minimal out-of-state travel is required. As a state employee, you have access to a suite of HR benefits and holidays. 

What attributes are we looking for?

You’re the type of person who knows the difference between blue grama grass and cheatgrass without looking it up. You respect the agriculture community. And presumably you love the outdoors. While we value your hard-earned education credentials and admire your impressive professional titles, we care the most about your hands-on track record for land management. 

To be successful (and we know you strive to do everything very well), we think you need to have the following traits and skills. 

• Current or former State experience relevant to this position
• Three (3) years of experience in stewardship and/or natural resources work addressing the conditions and functions of the ecosystems found in Colorado.
• A working knowledge of, and ability to identify, the flora and fauna of Colorado.
• Three (3) years of experience in the planning and implementation of restoration and mitigation projects for disturbed or degraded landscapes.
• Two (2) years of experience working with a variety of stakeholders from diverse backgrounds to enhance and restore degraded sites and ecosystems including wetlands, streams, and wildlife habitat.
• Knowledge of federal and state policies and programs related to the federal Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, wetlands and streams, the Colorado State Wildlife Action Plan, Colorado Parks & Wildlife high priority habitat, Colorado Natural Heritage Program, etc.
• Experience with GIS (ArcPro), field data collection using handheld devices, and use of GIS data to evaluate sites and projects and prepare management plans and reports.
• Experience in grant writing and in managing a grant including documenting outcomes and reporting results.
• Experience with photographic documentation of landscape features and conditions.
• Good written and oral communication with the ability to convey information to others effectively and efficiently.
• Ability to work independently, yet also as a team player, proactively helps others.
• Confidence working alone in the outdoors, ability to navigate to and around remote properties.
• Comfortable driving on two track roads, ranch roads, and 4WD roads.
• Project management skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills. 
• Customer-service mindset, respectful, helpful 
• Proactive, takes initiative, self motivated 
• Possesses good problem solving skills, seeks to understand alternatives, employs logic and good judgment 
• Self-confident and self-aware 
• Great work ethic: results oriented, disciplined, conscientious, thorough and diligent 
• Honest, trustworthy, dependable 
• Enthusiastic, energetic, optimistic, positive attitude 
• Organized and professional 
• Adaptable and open to change 

At a minimum, you need the following: 

• Eight (8) years of relevant experience in land stewardship or management, natural resource management, ecological restoration, plant ecology, wildlife biology, or related field.
  - OR  
• A combination of education and relevant experience equal to eight (8) years in natural resources and/or land management, wetlands and riparian management, restoration, pollinator habitat enhancement, wildlife management and/or ecology.  Acceptable degrees include Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degrees in biology, restoration ecology, natural resources management, wildlife, environmental studies, or similar field of study. 
• Colorado resident 

We hope this sounds like you. Tell us why. Apply online through the state portal. 

PS: We compete in the private-sector markets every day and operate largely independently from state government. But not from HR. So please follow the lengthy prompts to apply for this position through the state hiring portal. Only candidates who apply through the state portal will be considered. Think of it as an endurance test. We hope to see you at the finish line.