Start/End Dates: May 26, 2025 – October 10, 2025 (20 weeks)
Compensation: $688 per week
Medical Insurance: Not provided
Application Deadline: February 7, 2025

The Latino Heritage Internship Program seeks to engage ethnically and racially diverse young professionals in natural resource careers.

Eligibility Requirements:

• Must be a U.S. citizen or legal resident.
• A personal vehicle is required for this position.

Position Description: 

This project seeks a 20-week Latino Heritage Intern to assist with the San Francisco Area Network (SFAN) Coho and Steelhead Monitoring Program (CSMP), based at Point Reyes National Seashore (PORE). If a 20-week intern is unavailable, a 12-week position can be accommodated. The SFAN CSMP collects critical population data on salmon within PORE and Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GOGA) lands.

Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) populations in California are estimated to be less than 1% of their historic size, and the populations within GOGA and PORE serve as a stronghold against regional extinction. The intern will work with the SFAN Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) fisheries biologist in a 20-week biological field assistantship (May–September 2025) to collect vital data on endangered coho salmon and threatened steelhead populations in PORE and GOGA.

The intern will gain hands-on experience with fisheries monitoring techniques and restoration efforts aimed at improving species survival for future generations. As part of the internship, the intern will complete an independent project tailored to their career goals. Potential projects include:

• Aquatic eDNA summary maps.
• Creation of program-specific outreach materials.
• Linking monitoring data to restoration efforts.
• Using collected data and climate models to predict future ecological changes.

The intern’s work will enhance park management’s understanding of areas requiring restoration to improve habitat conditions for juvenile coho salmon and steelhead.

The intern will join the coho and steelhead monitoring team at PORE and work directly with CSMP staff, including the program lead fisheries biologist, technicians, Watershed Stewards Program members, and volunteers.

Responsibilities:

• Participate in fisheries monitoring techniques, including smolt trapping, seining, electrofishing, juvenile coho habitat typing, snorkel census, water quality monitoring, and tagging.
• Prepare equipment for fieldwork, collect field data, verify data accuracy, and perform data entry.
• Develop an independent project under the guidance of the SFAN fisheries biologist.
• Contribute to ongoing monitoring efforts and park management strategies.

Qualifications:

• Familiarity with Microsoft products such as Excel and Access, as well as data visualization software.
• Previous experience working in outdoor field settings.
• Strong work ethic and enthusiasm for fieldwork in the life sciences.
• Ability to work independently on complex projects while maintaining communication with project staff.
• Ideally pursuing or holding a degree in fisheries, freshwater ecology, marine biology, or a related life science.
• Good physical fitness, with the ability to work full days in outdoor field conditions, including off-trail, stream wading, and climbing over obstacles like fences, trees, and wood piles.
• A valid driver’s license in good standing, with comfort driving large vehicles in rural areas.

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

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.