About the Department

Mount Royal University’s Facilities Management department is responsible for the planning, development, construction, design, operation, maintenance, safety, security and stewardship of all the buildings, infrastructure, sites and services within Mount Royal's campus community. Through efficient and environmentally sustainable operation, we offer grounds, custodial, building operations, facilities planning, security services and engineering professional services to provide a physical environment that supports and enhances our academic space for students and staff. Our team of professionals are dedicated to providing customer service excellence. Our staff respond to daily service requests and emergency/ priority situations as needed.

About the Role

This role will be part of the Facilities Management Grounds Department, working on the Natural Asset Inventory and Digital Mapping Project. Related job site safety training will be provided at the beginning of the position. Collaborative project learnings will be provided ongoing, as needed throughout the role.

The Geographic Information System (GIS) Forester (Natural and Recreational Asset Analyst) incumbent will work closely with MRUs Facility Management Grounds team to locate, evaluate, and map campus grounds for educational, communications, and maintenance uses. Evaluating campus greenery including but not limited to trees, plants, natural assets (bodies of water, fields) and recreational areas/ features (fields, bike/ walking paths, benches/ rest areas, stairs, permanent signage and lighting poles). 

Goals of this project are to collect data for natural assets including species type, plant demography of natural assets on campus, along with recreation assets defining location and noting lifecycle phasing (general item health) excluding building, roadway, and parking lot assets. 

Working within the Grounds, this is a flexible position whose work schedule is variable and may include an irregular schedule of not less than three (3) hours per shift and up to thirty-five (35) hours per week. 

Responsibilities

Field Work & Operational Support (45%): 

• Define campus boundaries and eligible assessment areas.
• Lead the systematic collection of field data for all eligible campus natural and recreational assets. 
• Evaluate, rank and note condition assessment information of natural asset and recreational assets. 
  • Include species identification, health, size, estimated age, and additional benefits/ drawbacks of species for future planning and management. 
  • Assessment evaluations will be completed with the Horticultural Specialist to ensure accuracy and validity of evaluations. 
• Evaluate and track benefits and/or drawbacks of campus species- such as edible plants, culturally significant plants, native plants, invasive/ aggressive species, ecosystem services provided and more, where applicable. 

Digitization & Geospatial Database Management (45%):

• Consolidate data assessment information into comprehensive maps (geodatabases). 
• Create clear, accurate, and aesthetically effective maps and data visualizations for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Develop a front-end (public-facing, MRU Community) map for communication and education of campus assets (i.e. edible food forest tour). 
• Develop back-end (private) geospatial maps detailing demographic and health information of natural and recreational assets (age, heath, size, etc.) for record-keeping, accounting, and operational planning purposes. 
• When requested, tie information to management platforms for ongoing operational management (i.e. maintenance records, age and health based replacement prioritization).
  • Populate data collected into MRUs Asset Management module (Archibus).
  • Work with the Horticulturalist to determine and populate a management and maintenance database.

Collaboration and Teamwork (10%):

• Work with Grounds Horticultural Specialists to asset species demographic information.
• Present completed data and affiliated mapping to relevant parties in the Facilities Management team.
• Lead a seminar with relevant parties training employees on benefits, and how-tos for mapping and maintenance tracking usage, updating, etc. 
• Prepare a summary report outlining a summary of findings, trends, and highlights from the assessment and digitization.  

Qualifications

• Three to four years Bachelor Degree program (currently enrolled, or completed), preferably in Environmental Science, Ecology, Biology, Spatial Data, or Geographic Systems (Geomatics, Geographic Information Systems, etc.), or a related field. 
• Reliable transportation to MRUs Lincoln Park Campus. 
• Substantial knowledge of plant and tree species, qualities, notable benefits, risks, and/or drawbacks. 
• Strong usage and experience of Microsoft Excel and/or Google Sheets for data collection and preliminary aggregation. 
• Significant experience of geospatial software will be considered an asset (e.g., ArcGIS Pro, QGIS).
• Self-motivated individual with strong communication skills.
• Exceptional organizational and time-management skills; ability to meet deadlines.

Salary:              $ 21.23 - $ 26.81 per hour 

Closing Date:   May 15, 2026

A resume should be submitted in one .pdf document. Please title your .pdf document as follows: [Last Name]_[Requisition Number]_[Document Title].pdf (ex. Smith_1234_CV.pdf).