Natural Resource Management Assistant -Biscayne National Park

Start/End Dates: June 2, 2025 – October 19, 2025 (20 weeks)

Mosaics in Science seeks to engage ethnically and racially diverse young professionals in natural resource careers.

Eligibility Requirements:

• Must be a U.S. citizen or legal resident.
• Must have a valid driver’s license.

Note: A personal vehicle is required for this position.

Position Description:
This internship within the Natural Resource Management (NRM) Division will support the Fish and Wildlife Inventory & Monitoring Program. While the intern will gain exposure to a variety of NRM tasks, the main duties will include:

• Sea turtle nest monitoring, and
• Recreational fishing creel surveys.

Sea turtle monitoring involves walking long stretches of beach to identify turtle activity, protecting nests from predators by installing mesh screens, monitoring the nests during incubation, and excavating nests after they hatch to collect clutch size and success data.

Recreational fishing surveys will involve interviewing park visitors who are fishing in the park to ask questions about their fishing experience, as well as counting and measuring their landings.

To maximize interactions with the fishing public, this internship will require weekend work. Additional opportunities the intern may participate in include invasive species control, water quality monitoring, marine debris removal, and outreach/education activities.

The intern will have the option to collaborate with the mentor to develop and execute an independent project based on the creel survey data. Potential project ideas include a long-term analysis of catch-per-unit-effort for a specific species over time, an assessment of the frequency of occurrence of violations for different species, or an analysis of how fishing success (i.e., the number of fish landed) influences participants’ satisfaction, as reported to the intern. The mentor will work with the intern to select a topic and develop a plan for data analysis.

Responsibilities:

• Complete recreational creel surveys at least 3 days per week, including high-traffic weekends.
• Monitor sea turtles.
• Enter collected creel and sea turtle monitoring data into the park database.
• Provide a written summary of the independent project, including objectives, methods, results (with graphs and/or tables, as appropriate), photos (as appropriate), and a discussion. The summary can be in the form of a document, presentation, slide show, or another similar format.
• Present findings from the independent project to park staff.

Qualifications:

• Major studies relevant to this position include natural resource management, fish biology, wildlife biology, and/or aquatic biology.
• Able to work in extreme heat and humidity and maintain composure in the presence of biting and stinging insects.
• Comfortable riding on boats without getting seasick.
• Bilingual (English and Spanish) to ensure maximum communication with visitors in a county that is more than 50% Latino.
• Outgoing and sociable, with the ability to comfortably approach park visitors and engage them in conversations during creel surveys.
• Willing and available to work all weekends during the internship.

Interns in this program will receive 800 hours toward Public Land Corps (PLC) Hiring Authority. See below for more information:

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.gov and 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.