Environment for the Americas

Start/End Dates: November 6th, 2024 - October 31st, 2025

Compensation: $520 per week + housing on park grounds 

Medical Insurance provided on request

Application Due: October 8, 2024

The Golden Gate Internship Program seeks to engage ethnically and racially diverse young professionals in natural resource careers. A personal vehicle is not required for this position. Applicants must have a valid driver's license to drive a government vehicle.

• U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident (“green-card-holder”).

• Between the ages of 18 and 30 years old. Veterans may be up to 35 years old.

• Selected applicants must meet the qualifications for the position, and be able to pass a federal background check.

Position Description: 

The intern will assist with field monitoring duties at wetland and coastal sites in GGNRA. Primary duties will involve water quality monitoring and physical monitoring; however, the intern will also assist with fish surveys. The intern will help maintain several water quality and water level sensors deployed at various sites around the park. This will include downloading and managing data, calibrating instruments, troubleshooting mechanical and other issues, and keeping detailed records of actions. Initially, the intern will assist other NPS staff with these tasks, but later they will take on primary responsibility for many ongoing water quality tasks. The intern will also assist with topographic surveys using a total station and/or RTK GPS equipment and may create maps and graphics using ArcGIS. From May to August, the intern will recruit, train, and lead volunteers conducting night-time surveys for California Grunion at Crissy Field. There will also be time to complete special projects depending on the interests of the intern. Part of the internship (approximately 10% of the time) will involve cross-disciplinary work on other Natural Resource Division projects.

Work Products: Key deliverables of the internship 

• Learn and eventually lead ongoing hydrologic monitoring using a variety of water quality and water level sensors and streamflow monitoring equipment.

• Manage hydrologic datasets, including data entry and QA/QC.

• Provide clear and detailed documentation of field actions and instrument maintenance activities.

• Assist with topographic surveys using RTK GPS or a total station.

• Recruit, train, and lead volunteers conducting night-time surveys for grunions at Crissy Field.

• Prepare program summaries, including occasional written summaries with photos and graphics of field monitoring activities.

• Support the program by cleaning and maintaining tools, coordinating schedules and events, and attending relevant meetings and training sessions regularly.

Qualifications:

Required:

• College coursework and/or BS degree in Ecology, Biology, Hydrology, Physical Sciences, or a related field.

• Experience or interest in natural resources management, water quality sampling, streamflow sampling, creek and wetland restoration, and physical monitoring techniques.

• Highly organized with strong attention to detail and strong quantitative skills.

• Ability, experience, or interest in utilizing technologies including GIS, total station, and monitoring instrumentation.

• Demonstrated ability to work well independently and as a member of a team.

Desired:

• Experience using ArcGIS software platforms, both desktop and AGOL.

Mentoring: 

The internship is designed to embed the applicant into an existing professional aquatics resources management program. While they will be given ample guidance and support from the project mentors, they will also be challenged to develop their own schedule and plan for how to complete their tasks. Early in their internship, the program mentors will meet with the intern and discuss their professional development goals and any specific technical and soft skills they would like to work on during their internship. From that, the intern and mentor will identify specific trainings, tasks, or activities that may help the intern reach those goals. Weekly or bi-weekly check-ins with the mentor will be used to review tasks and learning goals.

Learning Goals: 

• Acquire and enhance technical skills commonly used in aquatics resource management.

• Understand the importance of maintaining clear and detailed documentation of field activities that support resource management.

• Develop effective time-management and organizational skills: the intern will need to juggle a variety of tasks, many of which are done at repeating intervals while also requiring specific environmental conditions.

• Improve critical thinking skills: fieldwork often doesn’t go as planned. The intern will need to learn to adapt or adjust in response to changing conditions.

• Gain an improved understanding of natural resource management issues and challenges and how they are addressed.

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

About Golden Gate National Recreation Area 

Golden Gate National Recreation Area is one of the largest urban parks in the world. The recreation area stretches across three counties in California’s San Francisco Bay Area: Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo. In total, the legislative boundary of the park comprises more than 80,000 acres of land and ocean waters, with 18,500 acres directly managed by GOGA.

The park is part of the California floristic province, recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot. It is also home to many different habitat types and a large diversity of plant and animal species. Many rare species are found within Golden Gate National Recreation Area, including 37 federally threatened or endangered species such as the mission blue butterfly, northern spotted owl, and California red-legged frog. The park also preserves 91 miles of shoreline along the outer coast and in Tomales and San Francisco Bays, including the nearshore waters within ¼ mile of the coast.

Weather is Mediterranean and ranges from dry summers (with occasional fog) to wet and cold winters. The dorm and field office are located within the park. There are no stores or other conveniences within the park, but they are located nearby in the town of Sausalito and the City of San Francisco.