Fish and Feathers Internship - ONSITE - Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Start/End Dates: May 12, 2024 - August 2, 2024
Compensation: $600 per week + housing
Application Due: February 6, 2024

Fish and Feathers Internship Program seeks to engage ethnically and racially diverse young professionals in natural resource careers.
You must be (additional requirement):

• a U.S. citizen or legal resident

* Applicants must have a valid driver’s license and a good driving record. 

 * The intern will need to drive a park vehicle to accomplish work duties.

Position Description: 

Fish and Feathers is a program funded by the National Park Service (NPS) and administered by Environment for the Americas. Our goal is to provide our national park partners with talented interns who are eager to learn and to engage with local communities. The intern will focus on supporting, implementing, and leading community outreach programs that focus on fishing and birding activities. The overall goal is to increase diverse community engagement with NPS partners during the program and in years to come.

Responsibilities:

• Reach out to local communities through outreach and educational activities to increase engagement in fishing and birdwatching
• Create new materials (i.e., social media, educational games/activities, signage, etc.) to provide visitors with information about fish and birds at the NPS site
• Understand regulations regarding fishing and ethical birding and communicate this information to participants
• Establish or build upon fishing and birding programs at the NPS site
• Manage and maintain program equipment
• Meet deadlines for Environment for the Americas program requirements 

Qualifications:

• Ability to hike and conduct field operations as part of a team and/or independently in an outdoor setting.
• Experience giving presentations and ability to learn new skills and transfer the knowledge to participants.
• Interest in learning fishing regulations and bird identification for program development and implementation.
• Ability to learn methods employed in fish and wildlife management.
• Strong interpersonal, oral, listening, and written communication skills.
• Interest in learning new skills such as rafting, canoeing, and kayaking.

Major studies relevant to this position: 

Successful candidates will have a background and/or coursework in the following areas or a strong interest in the outdoors with experience fishing and/or birdwatching.

• Biology
• Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences
• Ecology
• Aquaculture
• Communications/Marketing
• Environmental Science
• Recreation
• Interpretation/Education

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About this Site:

We have a successful and engaging “Surf Fishing” program at the seashore that provides visitors with the opportunity to try their hand at the popular activity of surf fishing. Surf fishing can be a difficult activity for new seashore visitors to start with due to challenges with the specialized equipment and knowledge of the resource needed. The intern will work with park staff and community partners to support the delivery of this program during the summer season. Through collaboration with these other staff members and partners, the intern will evaluate the effectiveness of the program and explore ways to adapt and improve the program to enhance the overall visitor experience. 

Birding is also a popular activity for visitors to Cape Hatteras due to the abundance of diverse species of coastal and migratory birds that frequent the area. The intern will learn about nesting shorebirds and the park’s resource management practices. The learning will be done both independently through the intern’s own research and through working closely with park staff from different divisions on a regular basis. The intern will then develop a new dynamic birding program that will be designed to be delivered to park visitors in a variety of settings. The program will lead visitors on an exploration of the habitat of shorebirds that frequent the area and raise their young in the protected habitat, seeking out birds to view with appropriate equipment such as a spotting scope or binoculars. The program will also provide opportunities for participants to gain information on resource threats and human behaviors that can minimize those threats. A goal of developing this program will be that once it is complete, future staff members will have the framework needed to deliver this or similar programs to park visitors in the future after the intern has departed. 

These programs will be designed so that they can be delivered during any season at the seashore and will be given regularly during the summer season. The intern will have ample opportunities to work with a diverse workforce of NPS staff and community partners in developing and delivering these programs. 

Interns in this program will receive 480 hours towards Public Land Corps (PLC) Hiring Authority. See below on information about:

Public Land Corps Non-Competitive Hiring Authority (PLC)
The Public Land Corps Non-Competitive Hiring Authority is a special hiring authority available to qualifying interns. The intern must be between the ages of 18 and 30 years old, inclusive, or a veteran up to age 35 and complete 640 hours of work on an appropriate conservation project to be eligible for this hiring authority. Upon successful completion of the PLC project(s), the intern is eligible for two years to be hired non-competitively into a federal seasonal, term, or permanent position. The applicant must apply to a PLC-eligible position advertised on USAJobs.gov and selected off a non-competitive certificate of eligibility. For more information, see DOI Personnel Bulletins 11-02 , 12-13, and 17-03.

EEO Statement

Environment for the Americas provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employmentand prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.