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Internship - ACE EPIC USFWS Olympic Peninsula, WA: TWO Fisheries Field and Outreach - AmeriCorps

Summary: American Conservation Experience, a nationwide Non-Profit Conservation Corps based in Flagstaff, AZ and Salt Lake City, Utah in partnership with the USFWS Puget Sound & Olympic Peninsula Complex in Lacey Washington is seeking TWO Fisheries Field and Outreach Interns to dedicate 6 months to the monitoring of fisheries resources as well as disseminating this science to the public and promoting outdoor recreational activities on public lands. The fisheries monitoring includes providing field, lab and hatchery support for a diversity of projects. Roughly 60% of the intern's time will be allocated for these efforts, with field sampling being the primary role. The outreach activities (40%) will require strong interpersonal skills to effectively engage the public in a diversity of settings. This opportunity is intended for enthusiastic young professionals with a deep interest in advancing their career goals in fisheries conservation.
Start Date: early June  
  • Possible late August for one of the two positions. 
End Date: 6 months later
Location: Lacey, WA
Project Partner Website: For more information about Puget Sound & Olympia Peninsula Complex, please visit: 
Complex Web Site is under construction. The following are the four complex facilities:
For more information and ACE, please visit: www.usaconservation.org 
Compensation:  Interns will receive a Living Allowance of $400 /week, paid bi-weekly. 
PLC Competitive Hiring Authority: This position is authorized by the Public Land Corps (PLC) Act of 1993 and expanded by the Public Lands Service Corps Act of 2013. Interns who meet basic requirements during their term of service may be eligible to receive their Noncompetitive Hiring Eligibility Certificate to be used when applying to future federal jobs. Requirements are: (1) Intern must be between the ages of 18 to 30 and (2) Intern must complete at least 640 hours on a federally approved PLC Project. More information can be provided upon request. 
AmeriCorps: This 26 week position may be eligible for a 900 hour AmeriCorps Education Award ($2,960 each) upon successful completion of internship service hours.  
Position Description:
Safety in the Field:
  • The work involves regular and recurring moderate risks or discomforts which require special safety precautions. This includes the inherent risk of working around water and watercraft, as well as the risks associated with the operation of electrofishing units. FWS specific trainings will be held at the beginning of the position. 
  • Internship requires an understanding of the communication plan, and a basic level of comfort using both the radio and inReach devices. 
  • Interns are required to use protective clothing or gear such as hard hats, masks, gowns, earplugs, coats, boots, goggles, gloves, or shields to moderate risks, or to follow procedures for minimizing risk.
  • Interns should be proficient in operating a 4-wheel drive vehicle on rugged roads and able to navigate using topo maps, compass and GPS. Applicants should be willing and able to camp in remote locations, and to work independently.
Communication:
  • Relay daily mission, technical skills and safety concerns to interns and others
Physical Demands:
  • The work requires some physical exertion, such as regular and recurring running, walking, or bending, walking or climbing ladders or scaffolds to observe, collect, or record research data. 
  • In many situations, the duration of the activity (such as most of a workday) contributes to the arduous nature of the job.
  • The selected intern must be fit enough to hike in mountainous and swampy terrain over long distances in various weather while carrying equipment (40lb+) and should expect to hike and/or wade 10 miles or more per day in mountain streams.
Preferred Experience:
In support of research, conservation, production, and management of fishes, or fishery resource:
  • Collects and analyzes data from samples, conducts tests and assists in the identification of any problems. 
  • Compiles and summarizes data from survey, biological evaluations, and pilot tests. 
  • Runs routine computer programs and checks resulting data for inconsistencies. 
  • Provides results to professional personnel for refinement, adjustment, and analysis and may assist in the preparation of reports.
  • Experience in public engagement and speaking. Particularly explaining scientific information to non-scientists. 
  • Experience providing hands-on instruction to others.
Potential responsibilities:
  • Field biological sampling, including minnow traps, electrofishing, seins, gill nets, and screw trapping.
  • Fish identification and data collection (length, weight, scale samples, tag scans, etc)
  • Abiotic data collection such as substrate sampling and water salinity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen and temperature.
  • Hatchery fish spawning, fish transfers and biosampling.
  • Keeps records of all data and develops these into statistical reports. 
  • Laboratory processing and data collection, including coded wire tag retrieval from hatchery salmon samples, fish stomach sample identification and sediment sample analysis. 
  • Schedules, services, calibrate repairs, and installs sampling instrumentation.
  • Public event preparation and implementation.
  • Instructing others on outdoor recreation activities such as casting, knot tying and fish identification. 
Desired Skills and Knowledge: 
Technical Methods:
  • The position requires knowledge of the technical methods and procedures for a work area to employ them in carrying out (alone, as crew lead, or as a fully functioning crewmember) a variety of technical duties common to fisheries.
  • Also required is the knowledge to operate complex equipment systems such as those with numerous components or parts which must be calibrated and synchronized to achieve desired results.
  • The work involves execution of specific rules, regulations, or procedures, such as those found in common technical manuals, laboratory handbooks, and administrative manuals. 
 
Biological Sciences:
  • The duties require a knowledge of the basic principles of a biological science to assess readings and measurements taken, tests executed, observations made, work completed, samples collected, etc.
  • The employee will be required to understand and relate the significance of the results to the higher objectives to which the activity is related.
 
Data Analysis:
  • The technician must assess the worth of the data by considering its applicability to the higher objective, by assessing and reporting on the characteristics and quality of the source of the data, or by otherwise creatively interpreting the data produced.
  • Work products affect the accuracy, reliability, or acceptability of further procedures, processes or services, or the quality of day-to-day operations of a significant program in land management.
 
Communications:
  • The technician must demonstrate proficient communication skills in written form. Specifically for the purpose informal science communication. Creative/story-telling writing skills are ideal.
  • The technician must demonstrate formal and informal public speaking skills.This includes: speaking to a diverse age range; a diversity of group sizes; and in various settings.  
  • The technician must be a competent instructor once trained in the subject matter.