Start Date: May 15, 2023
End Date: August 4, 2023
**All Fish & Feathers interns must attend the mandatory pre-internship workshop from May 15 - 19, 2023**
Compensation: $500/week
Application Due: February 6th, 2023
The Fish & Feathers Program seeks to engage ethnically and racially diverse young professionals in natural resource careers.
Must be a U.S. citizen or legal resident.
All interns must be fully vaccinated for covid-19 prior to the start of their internship.
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.
Duties:
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 long distances 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.
Education:
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
About this site:
The NPS Chesapeake office is located in Annapolis, MD, the capital city of Maryland, located about 40 miles from both Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD. As a coastal Mid-Atlantic city, we have mild winters and hot summers, with increasing storms and flooding due to climate change. Because NPS Chesapeake is a program office, not a traditional park, we have a mobile outreach vehicle that is sent to local and national parks and events to lead educational programming.
The intern will have the opportunity to engage partners, youth, and members of the public in programming that promotes ethical recreational fishing. NPS Chesapeake received a grant from the National Park Foundation to support the Junior Ranger Angler program. The intern will be responsible for designing and leading programmatic events that foster opportunities for underserved communities to fish on the Chesapeake. They will also serve as a mentor to volunteer youth from the Sea Scouts who have been helping connect local youth to fishing activities.