U.S. Virgin Islands Watershed Resilience Fellow 

This position is part of the NOAA Coastal Resilience Fellowship Program, supporting the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge (CRRC) projects. The fellow will support the project: Climate Resilience and Risk Reduction in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Host Organization: Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR)
Location of Position: U.S. Virgin Islands
Duration of Position: Two years
Annual Salary: $54,121
Benefits: Medical insurance, 11 paid federal holidays per year, 15 paid personal days per year, professional development training, travel funding, relocation allowance

Work Environment:

This position will be full-time and involve primarily in-office and field work, with some teleworking flexibility. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources has offices on St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix, and the fellow will be able to select which office works best for them. The fellow will be able to spend time at any of these locations based on current project goals and deliverables. The fellowship position will be splitting time between office and field work. This full-time position provides many opportunities to learn about the U.S. Virgin Islands, its natural resources, and the workings of a territorial government. The fellow will be joining a large and well-established department in the Government of the Virgin Islands which offers an office environment with the support needed for somebody stepping into a new role. The mentors will communicate with the fellow daily through in-person interaction allowing for thoughtful collaboration on goals and plans and online workshare platforms through the government email system. Basic needs required for this position such as a laptop, camera, office space, and official department email address will be provided with opportunities to upgrade based on the project's evolving needs.

 Fellowship Project Description:

The watershed resilience fellow will work with the Coastal Zone Management (CZM) program to support the four strategies and objectives of the USVI Resilience Pillar’s Implementation of Watershed and Coastal Improvement Plans, with particular focus on watershed projects in St. John and those with private landowner stakeholders. The scope of work is to assemble, prioritize, and advance project portfolios for identified watershed interventions in St. John and those with construction on private property across the USVI and create a roadmap to implementation for St. John watershed improvements. The projects of interest all have community benefits and concept designs; however, the projects are more complicated to advance through traditional government programs, because they have right-of-way and other land ownership issues that must be resolved. Examples include projects from the 2021 Coral Bay Watershed Management Plan, Plan Cruz Bay, and several flood mitigation and resilience projects already on the Department of Public Works’ (DPW) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) project list.

The fellow may support the Watershed Pillar as follows:

The fellow will work closely with the program coordinator and the construction coordinator hired under the Watershed Pillar; staff from the department’s divisions of Coastal Zone Management and Territorial Parks and Protected Areas, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law–federal grants coordinator, as well as agency partners in the Departments of Public Works and Property and Procurement, the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) Caribbean Green Technology Center (CGTC), and community partners at the Coral Bay Community Council, St. Thomas and St. John Long-Term Recovery Groups, State Historic Preservation Commission, Coastal Zone Commission, and others. This fellow will also work with the Territorial Parks and Protected Areas fellow to ensure consistent data collection and monitoring standards.

The fellow will be required to report on their work as part of grant reporting. Interim and final program evaluation will include reporting on metrics, accomplishments, lessons learned, recommended improvements, and insights gained through the work with the Watershed Pillar. The fellow will also be responsible for developing reference materials and case studies to be shared with department staff, partners, stakeholders and the public through webinars, meetings, the department’s website, workshops, and conferences. 

The fellow will be asked to participate in and contribute to USVI Climate Resilience Regional Challenge–Watershed Pillar team meetings (biweekly to monthly), collaborative departmental grant team meetings (frequency to be determined), and all relevant NOAA–CRRC meetings and events (as scheduled). Participation in other local and regional meetings related to professional fields of interest will be encouraged to help build the fellow’s professional network within the U.S. Virgin Islands. The fellow will also support the other community projects in the Virgin Islands grant. Anticipated activities include coordinating with grant partners on projects, research, meetings and workshops, technical assistance, consultants, project materials, quarterly reporting, and tracking program evaluation metrics.

An estimated timeline and list of projected work products is provided below. The timeline assumes a July 1, 2025, start date and will be adjusted as needed. 

Anticipated Travel:

The fellow is expected to travel to St. John to visit partners and project sites for in-person meetings and workshops. Other work will be completed in the Department of Planning and Natural Resources’ office, the Department of Public Works’ office, or through remote work. Travel support is provided for several visits by ferry from St. Thomas to St. John over the course of the two-year fellowship. The fellow will periodically have access to government motor pool vehicles for travel. Additional travel related to the fellow’s work with communities and professional development will be encouraged and supported as funding allows. 

Desired Qualifications:

Minimum education: bachelor’s degree

Subject matter expertise can vary. Subject matter expertise in climate adaptation and resilience, green infrastructure, or small tropical island geographies is preferred but not required. Other potential areas of expertise could include environmental science, environmental or public policy, sustainability, coastal management, climate science (atmospheric sciences), engineering, urban planning, environmental education and communications, and ecological management and restoration.

Local or regional knowledge: Familiarity with the U.S. Virgin Islands or the Caribbean region and climate change impacts affecting the Caribbean region is a bonus but not required. 

Other desired experience or attributes: 

• Experience with construction or supply chains in the Virgin Islands
• Experience with ArcGIS, remote sensing, other mapping techniques
• Experience with organizing and facilitating discussions of focus groups, workshops, collaborative governance processes, and community-driven policy development
• Experience building relationships and working collaboratively with a range of stakeholder groups, including work with/in limited English-speaking populations, immigrant and refugee communities, Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities, and culturally diverse communities
• Excellent oral and written communications skills, including a demonstrated ability to develop and deliver multimode communications tailored to the unique needs of different audiences
• Demonstrated success managing projects and resources
• Demonstrated understanding and commitment to equity and social justice and uplifting community voices 
• Functional and technical knowledge and experience in one or more climate-related topics such as transportation, food systems, energy, green building, consumption and materials, forests, climate impacts and preparedness, and climate and environmental justice
• Knowledge of landscaping, design, construction, or permitting desired

Fellow Mentoring:

The fellow will be hosted by the department’s Coastal Zone Management division and supervised and mentored by Hilary Lohmann, coastal resilience coordinator. Hilary coauthored the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge grant proposal and is managing the Watershed Pillar, including the staff, projects, and partners relevant to the fellow’s work. Hilary works closely with project partners at the Department of Public Works and University of the Virgin Islands and coordinates with St. John community partners, which ensures efficient onboarding and project support. Hilary first arrived in the Virgin Islands in 2016 as a NOAA Coral Management Fellow, was a Fulbright Fellow in Barbados, and later supervised a NOAA Coastal Management Fellow in St. Thomas. Hilary has been the coastal resilience coordinator since 2019, overseeing the development of the territory’s watershed plans in 2022, which are now being implemented under NOAA’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge. Additional supervisory support will be provided by the project coordinator and construction coordinator. These grant-supported positions will be hired in 2025 and supervised by Hilary Lohmann.  Further department support will be provided by the Territorial Parks  and Protected Areas division and colleagues in partner agencies and institutions.

To apply, please upload the following materials in one PDF file:

• Resume (two-page limit)
• Statement of interest, where the candidate describes what they hope to gain from the fellowship experience and what they can contribute. Candidates should also highlight any connections to or special interests in the region, including Indigenous or local knowledge and relevant life experiences. (500-word limit)
• Unofficial academic transcripts to show coursework (or joint services transcript for veterans)
• Two professional or academic references (names and contact information)