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:
The duties of this position will include a variety of field and office work opportunities to provide the intern with a breadth of experience that could be applied to future conservation and outreach positions. The intern will focus primarily on bumble bee conservation including bumble bee surveys and monitoring in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, rare bumble bee literature reviews, and development of outreach products that highlight bumble bee conservation projects. The intern could also participate in bat monitoring locally and at one of the largest known little brown bat maternity colonies (part of the Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge).
The intern will participate in at-risk bumble bee summertime field monitoring and compile data in a standardized format. Before fieldwork, the intern will participate in a Midwest bumble bee identification course. The intern will also analyze 6 -7 years of “Backyard Bumble Bee Count (BYBBC)” data and develop an outreach product (for example, a story map) to highlight that collaborative bumble bee conservation work. Additionally, the intern will develop an outreach product template (such as an external newsletter or story map) to facilitate delivering conservation success stories pertaining to rusty patched bumble bee recovery, including communicating our progress toward answering key science questions and highlighting important conservation and research needs. The intern will also conduct a literature review of articles pertaining to several at-risk bumble bee species that occur in the Midwest region and compile information in a format (e.g., table of traits) to easily compare key life history traits, threats, and key uncertainties to inform future status assessments and conservation activities. This position will support bumble bee conservation efforts in Minnesota. The intern will assist with bumble bee data collection and analysis, creating outreach products, and literature review, and will have the opportunity to participate in other field survey work (e.g., bat acoustic work). The intern will be involved in pollinator conservation work that will help them build important and necessary skills in fieldwork, communications and outreach, literature review, data analysis, and project management.
The supervisor/mentor will provide ongoing guidance 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 training including (but not limited to), bumble bee identification, acoustic bat training, and other trainings pertinent to the internship or the individual's interests and career aspirations.
Work Products: The final work products will include:
Template outreach product (for example, a newsletter or story map) to facilitate conservation storytelling to diverse audiences. In coordination with the national species recovery lead, prepares the first edition of the newsletter/story map.
Standardized dataset resulting from summer bumble bee field surveys.
Outreach product providing the results of Back Yard Bumble Bee data analysis to share with public participants.
Compilation table(s) of several at-risk bumble bee species life history traits, threats, and uncertainties, including citations and a bibliography.
Qualifications:
Applicants must have a degree in Biology, Ecology, Zoology, Environmental Science, or other similar graduate school or undergraduate school majors. Prefer graduate students or those with a completed undergraduate degree. Current upperclassmen undergraduate students with relevant experience will also be considered.
Required qualifications: Experience with collecting biological data in the field, data analysis
familiarity with scientific literature review.
Applicants should be able to use word processing and spreadsheet software (i.e., Word, Excel
Familiar with Arc GIS.
Physical/Natural Environment:
Internship based primarily in Minneapolis/St.Paul (Twin Cities Area). Bumble bee field work will predominantly be in urban prairies or grasslands (e.g., urban parks). Also, bat acoustic monitoring field work may also occur in urban parks and other more remote refuge spaces (heavily forested).
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 level/areas of building). There will be another intern stationed in the field office at the time along with many interns employed with the refuge. It is estimated at least 20-40 percent (may be 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.