Wildlife internships with the Bureau of Land Management multiple locations

Summary: American Conservation Experience, a Non-Profit Conservation Corps, in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management is seeking Wildlife - Direct Hire Authority Interns interested in dedicating 11 weeks in support of BLM. This internship opportunity is intended to provide individuals from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds professional experience and exposure to public service and lands management.

A Direct-Hire Authority (DHA) internship is perhaps the most effective tool currently available to agencies seeking to expedite the hiring of qualified people in positions. It is a competitive and rigorous project based internship that sets the foundation toward finding a full position directly with a government agency. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and ACE EPIC are looking to engage the next generation of conservation stewards. The program will raise awareness of our public lands, their accessibility, and the need for the community's involvement in their preservation.

Please apply ASAP! The deadline for applications is March 15th. That said, if you are just seeing this and it's already past, or very close to the 15th, please reach out to Josh Haussler at jhaussler@usaconservation.org.

For more information about BLM DHA internships, please visit https://www.blm.gov/careers/students-and-grads/direct-hire-program

**Please note: Direct Hire Authority must be utilized within two years of graduation. I.E. If you are due to graduate in May 2022, then you must utilize your DHA before May 2024, even though the internship ends September 2021.

Start Date: June

End Date: August (11 weeks after start date)

Compensation: $600-$700/wk. Compensation is dependent on education level (Undergraduate/Graduate). Relocation funds are available to those who qualify.

Positions and Locations: (These locations / descriptions may have changed, so please double check the descriptions posted in our application portal listed below)

Yuma, AZ

Inventory all facilities within restoration and range projects and verify they are within the FAMS database, collect missing data, and work with or input any missing data

Kingman, AZ

Intern would scan all wildlife files and save them under the share drive. Projects would be digitized onto Geographic Information System (GIS) for location access. Field verification of some projects to update project status.

Yuma, AZ

monitoring of the Flat-tailed horned lizard and the production of educational materials would be an asset to helping to protect this wildlife species. The YFO would be able to provide the intern field work and administrative work associated with typical BLM wildlife projects. This gives the intern the opportunity to learn the BLM process and gain in-field experience to prepare them for future BLM careers within resource programs. This is a rigorous and structured project that is in critical need for the YFO and will allow the chance for the intern to develop their skills and work ethic. The project will be very structured with well established policies and procedures that lay out a clear path for individual success and management assessment. The intern must demonstrate a high degree of personal responsibility and complete most projects independently. Deliverables for the project are clearly defined as producing an educational brochure regarding Flat-tail horned lizard habitat and conservation efforts. Having the educational literature will improve public knowledge of this critical species and assist in spreading awareness to recreational enthusiasts. It would be the interns responsibility to personally oversee these projects and meet the demand of the deliverables by the end of the internship. This project would be in cooperation with other BLM field offices and with Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD, state agency) and it will be the interns responsibility to contact and work together with AZGFD on field visits and project verification.

El Centro, CA

The BLM El Centro Field Office (ECFO), California has an opportunity to introduce youth to careers in the BLM, specifically wildlife biology and habitat management. This opportunity will be focused around demography surveys of the Flat-tailed Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma mcalli) (FTHL). The purpose of FTHL demographic surveys is to gather information on population dynamics that can be used to characterize local populations through time. These surveys can aid in the detection of year-to-year trends in abundance, recruitment, and survivorship. ECFO needs demographic surveys conducted on 4 plots located in Imperial County, CA. Each of the 4 plots is surveyed for 10 days. All surveys are completed on one plot before moving to the next plot. Surveys are conducted with a crew of 4 to 8 people that start before sunrise and end before the temperature reaches ~40 ̊C (this can be as early as 10:00 am). Surveys can be conducted from late April through September. Earlier in the season is better, as it more closely aligns to the timing of previous years' surveys. Plots are surveyed following an interagency standard protocol. FTHLs are captured, PIT tagged or toe-clipped, marked, measured, tail clipped for genetic sampling, and data sheets are filled out. This project would be especially appropriate for a student studying wildlife biology, land management, ecology, and/or population genetics and will provide opportunities to enhance basic career skills such as organization, writing, detail, and communication, well as field skills like assessing and documenting site usage, wildlife identification and handling, use of GPS equipment and maps, field note methods, and data collection and preparation techniques. Previous experience with any or all of these skills would significantly enhance the student experience.

El Centro, CA

The BLM El Centro Field Office (ECFO), California has an opportunity to introduce youth to careers in the BLM, specifically wildlife biology and habitat management. This opportunity will be focused around the deployment of acoustic detectors, which record audio that can be analyzed to determine which bat species are present in a given area. They can be deployed at Abandoned Mine Land (AML) features, as well as other priority areas, such as proposed project sites and North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) priority grid cells. Detectors would be deployed at a height of roughly 12 feet, with a microphone deliberately angled to collect the best audio from the busiest areas of bat activity. Detectors would be programed to begin collecting data just before sunset and finish collection at sunrise. Data can then be analyzed using software such as Insight and Sonobat Parser to provide a list of bat species. Those data can then be saved into a georeferenced database showing location and date of survey for those species. When applicable, data will be submitted to the NABat program. Additionally, the intern would complete bat outflight surveys at several AML features to determine which shafts, adits, etc. actively provide habitat for bat populations. Gathering a robust set of data on bat species presence and locations provides a great deal of useful information that the ECFO can use to inform management decisions on public lands, evaluate the health of bat populations, and characterize threats to bat populations and habitat. This inventory and monitoring effort would allow BLM wildlife biologists to determine and evaluate habitat use by specific bat species. This project would be especially appropriate for a student studying wildlife biology, land management, ecology, and/or population ecology and will provide opportunities to enhance basic career skills such as organization, writing, detail, and communication. They will develop field skills like assessing and documenting site usage, wildlife identification, use of GPS equipment and maps, field note methods, and data collection and preparation techniques. Previous experience with any or all of these skills would significantly enhance the student experience.

El Centro, CA

The BLM El Centro Field Office (ECFO), California has an opportunity to introduce youth to careers in the BLM, specifically wildlife biology and habitat management. This opportunity will be focused around occupancy surveys of the Flat-tailed Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma mcalli) (FTHL). The purpose of conducting occupancy surveys for FTHL is to detect long-term changes in their spatial distribution. Regular monitoring allows managers working towards interagency coordination on FTHL conservation to detect when and where range expansions and contractions occur. If the managers have access to additional information (i.e. environmental conditions) they may be capable of determining the causes of change, thereby making it easier for them to resolve and evaluate any reductions to the range of the FTHL and avoid any action that may ultimately result in endangering this species further. Occupancy surveys consist of repeated visits to plots located throughout a larger management area. Each individual survey entails a maximum of one-hour of visual searching on a two-hectare plot (100m x 200m). Surveys are conducted while the temperature remains between 20 and 45 °C at one cm above the surface between the months of April and September. Two observers begin the survey on a plot corner walking transects oriented north to south, spaced 10m from each other until a FTHL is detected or they reach a one-hour time limit. Once an individual FTHL is observed the survey is over and the site is recorded as occupied. All appropriate data are recorded on the data sheets. The single observed FTHL is captured, and sex, weight, and snout to vent length are recorded on the data sheets and a genetic sample is collected. This project would be especially appropriate for a student studying wildlife biology, land management, ecology, and/or population genetics and will provide opportunities to enhance basic career skills such as organization, writing, detail, and communication, well as field skills like assessing and documenting site usage, wildlife identification and handling, use of GPS equipment and maps, field note methods, and data collection and preparation techniques. Previous experience with any or all of these skills would significantly enhance the student experience.

Idaho Falls, ID

The Upper Snake Field Office (USFO) manages approximately 1.8 million acres of public land in 12 southeastern Idaho counties and one adjoining county in Wyoming. The field office has extensive and diverse natural resource programs to meet the complex needs across this variable landscape. Several programs with inter-related or inter-connected resource goals and objectives across the USFO have participated in the development of project described below. Over the past several years an effort to identify and replace woven wire fences on public lands within big game migration corridors has progressed, with several projects implemented to replace fences with wildlife friendly designs. As more big game telemetry data has become available through cooperation with IDFG, a need to expand the effort has been identified. The primary benefit of the project would be to document potential impediments to big game seasonal movements and focus future project implementation to reduce risk of wildlife injury and/or entanglement in woven wire or other poorly designed fences. Deer, elk, moose, and pronghorn are all capable of jumping fences, but barbed-wire can snag animals and tangle legs, especially if wires are loose or spaced too closely together. The potential for mortalities increases in migration routes simply because of the increased volume of crossing attempts. Woven sheep wire when topped with one or more strands of barbed-wire becomes a complete barrier, especially for fawns, calves, pronghorn and other animals that are incapable or unwilling to jump over such a fence. Separated from their mothers, young could starve, or be more susceptible to predation. Animals trying to leap a woven-wire fence topped 2 strand with barbed-wire are even more likely to tangle a leg between the top barbed-wire and the stiff woven net-wire. A re-emphasis has been identified through natural resource managers in western states to improve permeability especially for big game species that travel large distances between summer and winter ranges. The intern would navigate to public lands within migration route areas of concern identified by staff wildlife biologist. They would locate and document impediments, primarily fence construction and condition, with accompanying notes and photographs. Appropriate field gear would be provided. Upon completion of the inventory, the intern will consolidate field data into a specialist report and provide a sound and reasoned prioritization of implementation for replacement or reconstruction that will be used by staff wildlife biologist in competing for future funding opportunities. Further, the USFO has developed a collaborative working group in a portion of the field office locally known as the Sand Creek Desert (north of Idaho Falls and east of Interstate 15). This area is one of the focal areas of the project and the intern would present their findings and recommendations to the Sand Creek Collaborative at its fall meeting, if feasible. The collaborative is composed of local, state, and other federal agencies as well as several non-government organizations in the resource conservation realm and a large group of private landowners within the focal area. Long term, these efforts will further reduce hazards faced by migrating ungulates across the landscape, aiding in the health and sustainability of our wildlife resources. On a career development level, the intern would have opportunities to gain experience, learn about public lands, and further their understanding and appreciation of natural resource management. The USFO had the pleasure of hosting a DHA intern last year under a similar project description. USFO was an alternate location for an intern originally proposed in the adjacent Pocatello Field Office, but due to a change in staff personnel and the lack of a biologist to facilitate the internship, they request the transfer. USFO and the intern benefitted from the experience as it was both positive and productive. Through participation in the program, USFO gained insights to improve the rigorous project focus of the intern program. There remains significant work to be accomplished to complete the project begun last season, therefor USFO is excited for the opportunity to participate again this year.

Flowood, MS

The Southeastern States District Office hosts approximately 11 Wild Horse and Burro Adoption/Sales event each year within an 11-state jurisdiction. These adoption/sales events are critical lo the overall success of the BLM's WUd Horse and Burro program as approximately 15% of an wild horses and burros are adopted in our jurisdiction. The District is in need of an updated marketing strategy to help market/advertise Wild Horse and Burro events. The more successful the marketing/advertising, the more successful the event should be. By having an intern work on a new marketing/advertising strategy, the District hopes lo see an increase in successful placement of wild horses and burros into private care. A fresh set of eyes and skills will help to create a successful strategy that can be utilized for each upcoming event by the communications staff. The strategy should identify potential target markets for high profile areas of interest, have suggestions on where/how lo advertise (radio/TV/newspaper/social media), when to advertise (how far in advance to be useful), and new marketing tools such as educational videos targeted for social media distribution. The intern will have the opportunity to attend several WHB events, interact/interview staff, volunteers and members of the public to gather necessary information to draft a comprehensive new strategy.

Mandatory Requirements:

• Must be a Currently Enrolled Student. Recent graduates are not eligible for DHA positions. I.e. if you are graduating this year, before August 2023, you unfortunately do not qualify
• At least 17 years of Age.
• A valid driver's license, Driving Record check will be completed during on-boarding process. (Interns must be 21+ to drive agency vehicles).
• Ability to undergo a federal criminal history check
• ACE Members must verify that they are fully vaccinated for Covid-19 or have requested and been granted a medical or religious exemption to vaccination by the time they start their term.

Selection Criteria: Please note that this specific program is intended as opportunities for those who identify as individuals from diverse and underrepresented communities. All applications will be reviewed and rated according to the following criteria: relevant educational and work experience, oral and written communication skills, maturity, professionalism, technical knowledge and expertise, evidence of adaptability and adventurousness, and ability to work effectively with diverse audiences. Selected candidates will undergo a background check before beginning their assignment. The intern must be willing to represent ACE and the BLM in a professional, positive, and enthusiastic manner.

SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION

To Apply:

Please submit your application using the APPLY NOW section located on the upper right hand corner of the position listing on our website here: https://usaconservation.applicantpool.com/jobs/607964.html

To be considered, we require ALL the items listed below. Applications will be reviewed as we receive them, so we recommend applying immediately.

1. Cover letter
2. Resume
3. Copy of unofficial transcripts

If you have any questions regarding this position, please feel free to contact the Program Manager, Josh Haussler, at 385-226-0080 or jhaussler@usaconservation.org

EEO: American Conservation Experience provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, American Conservation Experience complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities.

Current Openings for Wildlife internships with the Bureau of Land Management multiple locations Jobs at American Conservation Experience - EPIC