Land, Water, Conservation & Stewardship

Role: Volunteer Lead — Storytelling & Video Editing
Organization: Save Our Slopes / Land Lovers Network
Location: Alberta-based preferred; some travel within Alberta may be helpful

• Type: Volunteer Lead, with potential for paid contract work as funding develops
• Term: Initial 3- to 6-month incubation period
• Commitment: Approximately 3–5 hours per week, with flexibility around filming and projects
• Compensation: Volunteer initially, with potential to transition into paid project work

About Save Our Slopes & Land Lovers Network

Save Our Slopes is building the next phase of its work to protect Alberta’s Eastern Slopes and headwaters.

The Eastern Slopes are where many of Alberta’s major rivers begin. Decisions about forests, coal development, wildfire, recreation, wildlife, restoration and land use ultimately connect back to the health of these landscapes and the water that flows from them.

Our goal is to help Albertans see these connections.

Rather than communicating about one threat or development at a time, Save Our Slopes is developing a visual storytelling platform that helps people understand the Eastern Slopes as a connected living landscape. We want to tell compelling stories about the places, people, ecosystems and decisions shaping their future — and invite Albertans into a larger conversation about what these landscapes should be for.

Save Our Slopes works alongside Land Lovers Network, which builds relationships and convenes community conversations and watershed assemblies across Alberta’s Eastern Slopes.

Position summary

We are seeking a creative, curious and self-directed Volunteer Lead — Video & Narrative to help shape and produce the next phase of Save Our Slopes storytelling.

This person will work with the project team to identify compelling stories, people and places and translate complex environmental and policy issues into accessible visual narratives.

A major focus will be developing short-form video content for social media. These stories might take viewers to a headwater stream, clearcut, restoration project, ranch, community, wildlife corridor or proposed development and use that place to explain a larger issue.

The landscape itself should often be the protagonist.

We are particularly interested in storytelling that is curious rather than cynical, urgent without being alarmist, evidence-based without being overly technical, and oriented toward possibilities and solutions rather than only threats.

Core responsibilities

The Video & Narrative Lead will help:

• Develop the overarching narrative for the next phase of Save Our Slopes.
• Identify compelling stories, people, landscapes and communities to feature.
• Research and develop story concepts with the editorial and project teams.
• Plan, film and/or produce short-form videos for social media and digital campaigns.
• Conduct or support interviews with community members, experts and interest-holders.
• Translate complex environmental, scientific and policy issues into clear public stories.
• Connect individual issues—including water, forests, coal, wildfire, wildlife, recreation and restoration—to the larger Eastern Slopes landscape.
• Help develop maps, archival material, field footage, interviews and other visual elements that strengthen storytelling.
• Develop consistent calls to action that move audiences from watching a story toward meaningful participation.
• Work with the Digital Deliberation & Data Lead so emerging public questions and insights can inform future stories.
• Work with Land Lovers Network organizers to identify stories emerging from communities and watershed gatherings.
• Help maintain consistent editorial, visual and narrative standards across SOS content.
• Experiment with formats and storytelling approaches and evaluate what resonates with different audiences.

Preferred qualifications

We are open to candidates from a wide range of creative and professional backgrounds.

Relevant experience or interests could include:

• Filmmaking or videography
• Documentary storytelling
• Journalism
• Photography
• Social media content creation
• Communications
• Environmental storytelling
• Interviewing
• Campaign communications
• Editing and post-production
• Writing or script development
• Outdoor and adventure media

Experience producing video is a strong asset, but we are also interested in emerging filmmakers and storytellers who want an opportunity to develop their skills through meaningful, place-based work.

You do not need to be an expert on the Eastern Slopes or Alberta environmental policy. Curiosity, good storytelling instincts and the ability to listen are more important.

Ideal candidate profile

The ideal candidate is someone who can look at a complicated issue and ask:

Where is the human story? Where is the landscape story? And how do we help someone who knows very little about this issue understand why it matters?

They should be curious about people with different perspectives and comfortable interviewing community members, researchers, land users, advocates and others without assuming they already know what the story will be.

They should also understand that effective environmental communication is about more than explaining what is wrong. We want to tell stories about what is possible: restoration, stewardship, collaboration, better land management and communities imagining different futures for the Eastern Slopes.

Above all, we are looking for someone who wants to help make the Eastern Slopes visible, understandable and worth protecting.

Our storytelling approach

Most SOS stories will follow a simple narrative structure:

Hook → Place → Explain → Connect → Future → Participate

Start with something that makes people curious.

Take them somewhere real.

Explain what is happening in accessible language.

Connect that story to the larger watershed or Eastern Slopes system.

Show what a different future could look like.

Then invite people into the conversation.

The goal is not simply to produce content. It is to use storytelling as the beginning of meaningful public participation.

Early deliverables during the first 6 to 8 weeks

Working with the project team, early priorities could include:

• Review and help refine the existing Save Our Slopes editorial and narrative strategy.
• Develop an initial 3- to 6-month video and storytelling plan.
• Identify an initial shortlist of approximately 6–10 potential stories, locations and interview subjects.
• Develop repeatable formats for short-form SOS videos.
• Establish a practical workflow for research, scripting, filming, editing, review and publishing.
• Produce or support an initial series of pilot videos.
• Develop a consistent approach to calls to action such as “What do you think? Have your say.”
• Build an organized footage, interview and visual-asset library.
• Coordinate with editorial, deliberation and community-organizing leads so stories connect with the broader engagement strategy.
• Help evaluate audience response and refine future storytelling accordingly.

Reporting and collaboration

This role will work closely with the Project Lead and collaborate with the editorial, communications, digital deliberation, events and partnerships team.

Save Our Slopes is intentionally being developed as a collaborative storytelling platform rather than a traditional top-down campaign. The Video & Narrative Lead will have considerable opportunity to influence how the project looks, sounds and tells stories.

Some work can be done remotely, but opportunities to travel, film landscapes, attend gatherings and meet people across Alberta’s Eastern Slopes will be an important part of the work as the project develops.

Commitment and opportunity

We anticipate approximately 3–5 hours per week for an initial 3- to 6-month commitment, with flexibility depending on filming schedules and individual projects.

The position is initially volunteer-based. As Save Our Slopes develops additional funding, we hope to create opportunities for this role—or specific video-production projects—to transition into paid contract or staff work.

Why this matters

We want to move beyond reacting to one development at a time and help Albertans see the bigger picture.

What should Alberta’s Eastern Slopes be for?

What happens to the water when these landscapes change?

What would it look like to protect, restore and care for these places for future generations?

And importantly:

How can we invite Albertans into that conversation rather than simply telling them what to think?

You’ll help us tell those stories—and help turn storytelling into participation.

To apply

Please send to codeblue@bowbioregion.ca :

• A short note explaining your interest.
• A resume or summary of relevant experience.
• Links to 2–3 examples of video, photography, journalism, social media, writing or other storytelling work, if available.

In your note, please also tell us:

• What interests you about storytelling and Alberta’s Eastern Slopes?
• What kinds of stories do you think make people care about a place?
• What experience do you have with filming, editing, interviewing, writing or digital storytelling?
• Are you comfortable committing approximately 3–5 hours per week for an initial 3–6 month period?

You don’t need to arrive as an Eastern Slopes expert. We are looking for someone who is curious about the landscape, interested in people, and excited to help tell a bigger story about the future of Alberta’s headwaters.

Please mention you saw this at GoodWork.ca.