Start Date: May 2025 – October 2025 (26 weeks, start date is flexible).
Compensation: $680 per week, housing available (if needed), assistance with travel costs to site, and ability to qualify for Public Lands Corp non-competitive hiring authority upon completion of the internship.
Application Due: Applications reviewed as received
Environment for the Americas' Internship Program seeks to engage young professionals in natural resource careers. Additional requirements:
A valid driver’s license to drive a government vehicle.
Be authorized to work in the U.S
Be able to pass a federal background check.
*A personal vehicle is required for this position
Position Description:
This position will include supporting bat acoustic monitoring efforts on national wildlife refuges and other areas in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The intern will assist with bat acoustic data collection and data analysis, and will have the opportunity to participate in other field survey work.
The proposed duties of this position will include a variety of field and office work opportunities to provide the intern with a diverse breadth of experience that could be applied to future conservation-related positions. The intern will focus primarily on the study of bat acoustics. Bats navigate and find insect prey using echolocation and their echolocation calls are at frequencies above human hearing. The study of bat acoustic calls requires the use of specialized bat acoustic equipment with microphones capable of recording these high frequencies. This recorded acoustic call data can provide insight into where bat species are found, their behavior, distribution, and activity. This position will include bat acoustic data collection (deploying acoustic detectors at locations in Minnesota and Wisconsin), data analysis, review of previous years’ project data, learning about the North America Bat Monitoring Program (NABat), and review of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Bat Survey Guidelines. The intern will also have the opportunity to participate in other field survey work, including an annual survey of one of the largest known little brown bat maternity colonies at Plum Island (part of Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge), and endangered bumble bee surveys and monitoring efforts in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota area.
The supervisor/mentor will provide ongoing guidance and and support to the intern. The mentor will provide initial support in attaining housing (if needed). Throughout the internship, the mentor will provide advice, provide encouragement, provide constructive feedback, and continually be looking for resources to help the mentee in their future career.
Learning Goals:
Opportunity to learn more through online or in person trainings including (but not limited to), acoustic bat trainings, bumble bee identification, and other trainings pertinent to the internship or the individual's interests and career aspirations.
Work Products: The final work products will include:
Data files with collected and analyzed bat acoustic data
Report that includes a list of bat species found at each surveyed location
Development of template outreach product(s) (for example, a newsletter or story map) to facilitate conservation storytelling to diverse audiences
Qualifications:
Biology, Ecology, Zoology, Environmental Sciences, or other similar graduate school or undergraduate school majors. Prefer current graduate students, those with completed undergraduate degree or current upper classmen undergraduate students with more experience (see below).
Required qualifications:
Experience with collecting biological data in the field, data analysis, and potentially GIS experience.
Physical/Natural Environment:
Internship based primarily in Minneapolis/St.Paul (Twin Cities Area). Fieldwork will predominantly be in urban parks and other more remote refuge spaces (heavily forested). Also, bumble bee surveys may take place in prairies or grasslands (in addition to urban parks).
Work Environment:
The intern will be stationed at the MN/WI Ecological Services Field office, which is located at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge (refuge) Visitor Center in Bloomington, MN. The intern will have their own cubical space within an office of 8-9 people (not including refuge staff located on different levels of the building). There will be another intern stationed in our office at the time along with many interns employed with the refuge. It is estimated at least 30-40 percent (maybe more or less at times) of the intern’s time will be spent in the field and the remaining time will be in the office.
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.govand be 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.