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.
* Personal vehicle is recommended but not required for this position.
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:
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve will be expanding education and outreach programming in the summer of 2024 using Camp Brookside Environmental Education Center. The programming will have three components, creating authentic experiences, service-based learning, and STEAM activities while reaching underserved audiences in West Virginia and surrounding states.
The primary duties of the intern will be to assist the Education Program Manager in educational programming. The intern will lead educational programming in the areas of fishing, macroinvertebrate surveys, invasive species plots, and biodiversity inventories. There will be opportunities to create new programming by the end of the summer and to present that program to diverse audiences.
The tasks for this internship will provide support to a robust existing education program but work to expand the program to be more diverse and inclusive. The prospective intern will have many assigned duties to provide for the success of the program. This will include, keeping records of the program for statistics, contacts, and assistance with outreach efforts. Those tasks will be in addition to providing on-site and some off-site programming independently, organization of materials, documentation in the form of photos/videos for social media and web use.
This internship will work with many outside organizations including, The Friends of New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, National Youth Science Foundation, West Virginia Board of Education, local youth groups, YMCA of Southern West Virginia, Boy Scouts, and Girls Scouts, and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
The summation of the internship will be to create a two-page report on the success of the summer at Camp Brookside Environmental Education Center.
Interns in this program will receive 480 hours towards Public Land Corps (PLC) Hiring Authority. See below on information about PLC:
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 employment and 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.
This job is closed.