Our Staff
Rim to Rim is a small organization with a Director, Seed Coordinator, Project Coordinator and Seed Farm Manager and periodic seasonal positons. RRR also has an Intern program, with Interns working on vegetation propagation, monitoring and maintaining restoration sites, and community outreach.
Our staff will be expanding in later 2024 and in early 2025 — see OPEN POSITIONS section at the bottom of this page for more information!
Kara Dohrenwend, Director
Kara moved to SE Utah in 1993 to serve as a caretaker at nearby Horsethief Ranch. After moving into town and working with other organizations in Moab, she started Wildland Scapes, a landscape contracting company. Around that same time, over lunch at Honest Ozzies Café, Kara and some friends were discussing ways to engage local youth and community members in land management through hands on mapping, invasive removal and planting projects in Moab’s watershed. That discussion eventually led to the creation of Rim to Rim Restoration. Over the years, Wildland Scapes has supported Rim to Rim Restoration’s work of removing invasive plants from sensitive areas and facilitate native plant regeneration in many ways.
Kara holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley in Landscape Architecture with an emphasis on urban stream restoration, and a minor in City Planning. Additionally, she has been a licensed landscape contractors, holds a Utah water rights certification, and was a certified Natural Resource and Conservation Service Technical Service Provider for Conservation Action Planning for Pollinators. Kara serves the local community in many ways that relate to the work of Rim to Rim Restoration. She is a Grand Conservation District Supervisor and previously served on the City of Moab Planning Commission and on the Youth Garden Project board. Kara is passionate about finding ways to regenerate native plant communities in challenging settings found in the Upper Colorado Plateau through collaborations and partnerships with other organizations and efforts. When not working to help facilitate native plant regeneration near Moab Kara can be found in her garden or on the River.
Ray Williams, Mayberry Property Manager
Ray Williams has lived in Moab off and on since 1976 when he spent the summers working for his Uncle Mitch at Tag-A-Long Tours for many years running shuttles, providing kitchen packing support and many other tasks including as a jet boat captain for shuttles to Spanish Bottom. He moved here permanently in 1986 and recently restored his great grandfathers home on 100 N as his residence. He is the propagation center manager at Mayberry and the general repair man, logistics coordinator and all round troubleshooter. His time in Moab has also included driving for Sysco, working as the frozen food manager at Moonflower, and a season with Western Rivers. He can often be found at Mayberry enjoying the time away from people, and figuring out how to meet our most recent challenge.
When not at Mayberry Ray can be found doing all manner of fix-it things, or cooking amazing food.
Gavin Belfry, Project Manager Native Plant Propagation
Gavin moved to Moab in the Summer of 2021, after graduating from University of Tennessee with a B.S. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, focusing his studies on Plant Community Ecology. His experience includes conducting forest health surveys across 5 watersheds within the West Elks Range of the Rockies, leading field crews for the USGS surveying restoration efforts across the Colorado Plateau, and studying fungal pathogens that infest common crops in East Tennessee. Gavin joined the Rim to Rim team early in 2023. He coordinates field crews working on restoration projects, manages native plant materials collection and propagation for future projects, and only occasionally bores his coworkers with too many plant facts. In his free time, you can find him lecturing his dog Moose about native plants, weaving baskets, and dangling his wife off of cliffs (at the end of a climbing rope).
OPEN POSITION, Project Coordinator/Ecologist
Your Bio could be here!
OPEN POSITION, Fire & Flood Outreach Specialist
Your Bio could be here!
Open Positions
FIRE AND FLOOD OUTREACH SPECIALIST POSTION OPEN – Applications Close October 25th
Pay: $25-32 per hour, DOE
Hours: Part to Full Time. Schedule can be flexible. Position will be ¾ time unless R2R partners with Science Moab.
Benefits: Full time includes health insurance
This is a relationship-focused position, requiring you to have strong interpersonal skills, the ability to empathize with people of greatly varied experiences, and an appreciation for community-centered solutions. Our ideal candidate has lived experience in the community we serve, as well as an understanding of hazardous fire fuels and flood management options, and strong written and verbal communication skills.
This position will work closely with Grand County Office of Emergency Management, Moab Valley Fire District, Science Moab, the City of Moab and Grand County to ensure that messaging is consistent, correct and engaging. You will work directly with Moab and Spanish Valley residents one on one and in other settings to provide information and inspiration regarding fire fuels reduction, defensible space and flood flow management.
As a Rim to Rim Restoration employee, the majority of position responsibilities will be dedicated to R2R outreach objectives. As a unique dimension, this role will include approximately 20 hours a month (on average) dedicated to supporting outreach tasks for local partner non profit, Science Moab (sciencemoab.org).
Outreach Specialist Duties and Responsibilities
- Identify and foster relationships with existing community leaders and organizers
- Support ongoing community programs with logistical and material coordination
- Recognize emerging issues and leaders, and create frameworks for community organizers to disseminate correct information about revegetation, invasive fuels removal and ways community members can help
- Develop and lead educational programs designed to improve community leadership capacity
Outreach Specialist Requirements and Qualifications
- Lived experience in the community we serve
- Strong interpersonal and communications skills
- Strong writing skills and the ability to compile information from reliable sources in a compelling manner
- Interest in adapting existing outreach materials to the Colorado Plateau, SE Utah and Grand County Conditions
- Experience facilitating large groups and seminars
- Ability to foster emerging leadership
About Us: Rim to Rim Restoration’s mission is to foster motivation for ecological responsibility in SE Utah and reestablish native vegetation for the benefit of wildlife, people and sustainable watersheds.
We work with collaborators in all our projects from planning through project implementation, assessment and reporting.
To Apply: Send cover letter, resume/CV, references, and writing sample to info@revegetation.org. Position will be open until filled.
Questions: info@revegetation.org
OPEN POSITIONS
PROJECT COORDINATOR POSITION OPEN – Applications Closed
PAY: $24 – 33 per hour, DOE
Hours: Part to Full Time. Schedule can be flexible.
Benefits: Full time includes health insurance
Location: Work from our office in Moab with periodic field work in SE Utah.
Start date: October 2024, or once position is filled.
The Position:
The Project Coordinator facilitates collaboration between project partners. Work includes developing project plans with Rim to Rim staff, project partners and land owners, and local and regional government. Project work is located along the Colorado River and its side drainages, in upland areas of public land with a strong focus on work through the Moab Valley. Some project locations are farther afield in SE Utah. Work includes scheduling and facilitating meetings, deliverable tracking, budget tracking; editing, proofreading and formatting reports, proposals, contracts, permits and other documents; and collecting project data for project reporting and community outreach needs.
Essential Functions and Responsibilities:
Proposal Development
- Work with project partners (land management agency staff, city or county staff, private land owners and others) to compile required materials, writing, researching, editing, and preparing scopes and budgets for project proposals.
- Draft grant and contract proposals from funding agencies including natural resource agencies, land managers, and local governments.
- Assist in preparation of proposal submittals, routing documents, contracts, subcontracts and other agreements for review, approval and signatures.
- Develop complex budgets, track expenses and coordinate with other partners on funding needs.
Project Coordination
- Coordinate communication between RRR and project partners – track and monitor project deliverables, timelines and budgets and work with colleagues and partners to anticipate and adapt to project changes during the project period.
- Create, update and maintain project data files to provide accurate and relevant information regarding project financial planning, metrics and impact reporting and inform external communications.
- Collaborate with RRR staff to schedule and budget for resources to implement restoration projects along Mill and Pack Creeks, the Colorado River and other side drainages and upland areas.
- Verify project invoices and expenses are in line with budgets and create progress reports as per grant agreements or contract terms
- Attend meetings as needed, internally and with project partners.
- Lead project teams as needed in a collaborative manner. This includes time in the field helping lay out projects, evaluate on progress and assess site conditions as project work progresses so that appropriate field adjustments can be made.
- Respond to inquiries in a timely manner using effective interpersonal communication, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Ability, vision, and energy to collaborate with all Rim to Rim’s staff as well as with external partners to secure and manage complex fire fuels mitigation projects, native plant regeneration projects and maintenance of these projects in SE Utah in collaboration with project partners.
- Capability to track and monitor project deliverables, managing multiple deadlines with accuracy.
- Enthusiasm and ability for collaborative communication with project partners, funders and community members
- Strong writing and analytical skills – able to read detailed documents and synthesize relevant information rapidly and communicate via written or verbal media.
- Able to work independently and collaboratively.
- Able to remain dedicated and focused on multiple, time-sensitive tasks and remain flexible as project needs change.
- Able to adapt to changes in schedule and project needs.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree, or associates degree and a minimum 3 years’ experience in a professional office, or equivalent combination of education and experience. Botany, Horticulture, Biological or Wildlife Sciences, or Geology background preferred.
- Proficiency with Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Teams. GIS experience not essential, but useful.
- Experience with project implementation as well as project planning.
- Strong communication skills, both verbal and written.
- Excellent organizational skills, time management and attention to detail with an ability to retain information for extended periods.
- Commitment and enthusiasm to carry out Rim to Rim’s mission.
- Proven experience with collaborative processes applicable to working with public agencies and the general public.
About Us: Rim to Rim Restoration’s mission is to foster motivation for ecological responsibility in SE Utah and reestablish native vegetation for the benefit of wildlife, people and sustainable watersheds.
We work with collaborators in all our projects from planning through project implementation, assessment and reporting.
To Apply: Send cover letter, resume/CV, references, and writing sample to info@revegetation.org. Position will be open until filled.
Questions: info@revegetation.org
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Our Board
From its inception until now, Rim to Rim has intentionally operated with a small focused group of board members building the organizational foundation. With established groundwork, organizational success, and looking to the future, we are currently looking to expand our Board of Directors. If you are interested in serving in this capacity, please contact us.
Rusty Wheaton, Chair
Rhonda Gotway – Clyde
Delite Primus