Volunteer Internship Position Descriptions
For High School Students:
The New York New Jersey Trail Conference (NYNJTC) and the Lower Hudson Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (LH-PRISM) are seeking high school students to assist with conducting invasive species surveys, engaging in community education and outreach, performing data and mapping analysis and developing social media/communications advertising for LH-PRISM programs. These internship opportunities are being offered as part of the LH-PRISM’s 2019 Action Plan goal to foster strong academic partnerships, promote youth engagement and cultivate career development through environmental stewardship, advocacy and invasive species management. Interns will further the mission of NYNJTC to protect trail lands through trail maintenance, environmental stewardship, education and outreach.
Volunteers and interns will gain:
(1) Real world STEM based science experience in applications of environmental management and education and ecological surveying and monitoring.
(2) Experiences that will advance them along in their educational and career pursuits and professional development.
(3) Knowledge for conservation, protection and preservation of natural resources, including landscapes, watersheds, forests and local flora and fauna.
(1) Invasives Strike Force Volunteer Intern
Time Frame: May-November 2019
Deadline to Apply: Open until filled
Time Commitment: Minimum 80 hours of field and office work, field journaling, plus filing of final report
Location: Headquarters in Mahwah, NJ, but most survey-based work can be done remotely as appropriate to the needs of both the NYNJTC and the selected intern
Position Description:
The Trail Conference's Invasives Strike Force (ISF) began in 2011 as a way to survey, design and implement best management practices to control the spread of invasive plants in forested parklands of New York State and northern New Jersey. ISF interns will help to collect information about what species of invasive plants exist in natural areas managed by the NYNJTC and assess their abundance along our trails. This information will be used to identify and target areas where removal of invasive species will help prevent further spread throughout the parks system.
All interns will be required to attend one of several 1-day training workshops held in late spring/early summer to learn how to identify 14 common invasive plants, how to collect data for the ISF and how to use a GPS unit or the Avenza Maps app for survey work.
Work duties may include:
- Surveying and mapping of invasive species in park and natural areas maintained by the NYNJTC
- Active involvement in control and remediation projects
- Entering, collating and analyzing survey data in central database for use in GIS applications
- Community outreach and education about invasive species at trailheads as well as help with development of education and outreach material for use in the field
- Contributing to public mailings, blog posts and media communications regarding LH-PRISM programs
- Working in collaboration with advertising and survey-based work with EcoQuest intern
(2) EcoQuest Volunteer Intern
Time Frame: May-November 2019
Deadline to Apply: Open until filled
Time Commitment: Minimum 80 hours of field and office work, field journaling, plus filing of final report
Location: Headquarters in Mahwah, NJ, but most survey-based work can be done remotely as appropriate to the needs of both the NYNJTC and the selected intern
Lower Hudson PRISM EcoQuest interns will help to survey and manage a new citizen science-based survey program launched this year to track invasive species in the greater Lower Hudson PRISM region. The scavenger hunt-style survey technique utilizes the mobile app, iNaturalist, to photograph and monitor the distribution/spread of a monthly focal invasive species. Photos are uploaded directly to the iNaturalist project site and central database to help us to identify and target areas where removal of invasive species will help prevent further spread. For more information, please visit our program’s webpage: https://www.lhprism.org/lower-hudson-prism-ecoquest-challenges
All interns will be required to attend one of several 1-day training workshops held in late spring/early summer to learn how to identify 14 common invasive plants, how to utilize the mobile app and how to use the Avenza Maps app for survey work.
Work duties may include:
- Surveying and mapping of invasive species in park and natural areas maintained by the NYNJTC or other public lands
- Entering, collating and analyzing survey data in iNaturalist including verifying species identifications
- Playing an active role in the iNaturalist online community to help bridge connections with other active citizen scientists
- Community outreach and recruitment efforts to promote the program to new potential users
- Contribute to public mailings and blog posts and media communications
- Work in collaboration with ISF interns to find effective ways of bridging together the two programs
- Completion of at least one trail section for the ISF survey
For College/University Students:
The New York New Jersey Trail Conference (NYNJTC) and the Lower Hudson Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (LH-PRISM) are seeking collegiate students to assist with conducting invasive species surveys, engaging in community education and outreach, performing data and mapping analysis and developing social media/communications advertising for LH-PRISM programs. These internship opportunities are being offered as part of the LH-PRISM’s 2019 Action Plan goal to foster strong academic partnerships, promote youth engagement and cultivate career development through environmental stewardship, advocacy and invasive species management. Interns will further the mission of NYNJTC to protect natural areas through environmental stewardship, education and outreach.
Interns will gain:
(1) Valued opportunities to help strengthen and advance their communication skills, citizenships and connection to community
(2) Experience in authentic applied environmental management techniques, education and outreach and ecological surveying and monitoring methods.
(3) Experiences that will advance them along in their educational and career pursuits and professional development.
(4) Knowledge about conservation, protection and preservation of natural resources, including landscapes, watersheds, forests and local flora and fauna.
(1) Invasives Strike Force Volunteer Intern
Time Frame: May-November 2019
Deadline to Apply: Open until filled
Time Commitment: Minimum80 hours of field and office work, field journaling, plus filing of final report
Location: Headquarters in Mahwah, NJ, but all survey-based work can be done off-site as appropriate to the needs of both the NYNJTC and the selected intern
Position Description:
The Trail Conference's Invasives Strike Force (ISF) began in 2011 as a way to survey, design and implement best management practices to control the spread of invasive plants in forested parklands of New York State and northern New Jersey. ISF interns will help to collect information about what species of invasive plants exist in natural areas managed by the NYNJTC and assess their abundance along our trails. This information will be used to identify and target areas where removal of invasive species will help prevent further spread throughout the parks system.
All interns will be required to attend one of 1-day training workshops held in late spring/early summer to learn how to identify a target set of invasive plants, how to collect data for the ISF and how to use a GPS unit or the Avenza Maps app for survey work.
Work duties may include:
- Surveying and mapping of invasive species in park and natural areas maintained by the NYNJTC
- Active involvement in control and remediation projects
- Entering, collating and analyzing survey data in central database for use in GIS applications
- Community outreach and education about invasive species at trailheads as well as help with development of education and outreach material for use in the field
- Contributing to public mailings, blog posts and media communications regarding LH-PRISM programs
- Completion of at least 3 ISF survey assignments
(2) EcoQuest Volunteer Intern
Time Frame: May-November 2019
Deadline to Apply: Open until filled
Time Commitment: Minimum80 hours of field and office work, field journaling, plus filing of final report
Location: Headquarters in Mahwah, NJ, but most survey-based work can be done off-site as appropriate to the needs of both the NYNJTC and the selected intern
Lower Hudson PRISM EcoQuest interns will help to survey and manage a new citizen science-based survey program launched this year to track invasive species in the greater Lower Hudson PRISM region. The scavenger hunt-style survey technique utilizes the mobile app, iNaturalist, to photograph and monitor the distribution/spread of a monthly focal invasive species. Photos are uploaded directly to the iNaturalist project site and central database to help us to identify and target areas where removal of invasive species will help prevent further spread. For more information, please visit our program’s webpage: https://www.lhprism.org/lower-hudson-prism-ecoquest-challenges
Work duties may include:
- Surveying and mapping of invasive species in park and natural areas maintained by the NYNJTC or other public lands
- Entering, collating and analyzing survey data in iNaturalist including verifying species identifications
- Playing an active role in the iNaturalist online community to help bridge connections with other active citizen scientists
- Community outreach and recruitment efforts to promote the program to new potential users
- Contribute to public mailings and blog posts and media communications
- Work in collaboration with ISF interns to find effective ways of bridging together the two programs
- Completion of at least one ISF survey assignment
(3) GIS Intern
Time Frame: May-November 2019
Deadline to Apply: Open until filled
Time Commitment: Minimum80 hours of office work, plus filing of final report
Location: Headquarters in Mahwah, NJ
Position Description:
The Trail Conference runs multiple volunteer programs that collect data on invasive species as part of our efforts to prevent the spread of invasive plants in forested parklands of New York State and northern New Jersey. GIS interns will work with existing and incoming data as well as assist with digitizing and geo-locating historical data using ESRI ArcMap 10.6 or ArcPro.
Prospective interns should have familiarity with GIS software.
Work duties may include:
- Creating feature layers based on maps or tabular data
- Importing and correcting GPS-collected invasive species points and survey lines
- Entering, collating and analyzing invasive species data in a MS SQLServer database
- Producing maps for use by volunteers who will be surveying trails for invasive plants
Contact Information
For more information on any of the above internship announcements and/or to take the next steps, please contact Invasive Species Citizen Science Coordinator, Brent Boscarino, at the address below.
Brent Boscarino, PhD
Invasive Species Citizen Science Program Coordinator
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
Citizen Science Coordinator, Lower Hudson Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management
600 Ramapo Valley Road | Mahwah, NJ 07430
T 201.512.9348 x 832 | M 315.559.7266 | F 201.512.9012
bboscarino@nynjtc.org | www.nynjtc.org
