INTERNSHIPS AT MT. RAINIER NATIONAL PARK FOR SUMMER 2003

Faculty Sponsor: Carolyn Dobbs

867-6860 or dobbsc@evergreen.edu

 

This summer we will be offering six to eight internships in the following six categories; these internships are open to undergraduates, graduate students in MES, and MIT, with approval by the Director of MIT in the case of MIT students. Students who are interested should contact Carolyn Dobbs as soon as possible.

 

All internships will begin as soon after the end of Spring Quarter as possible; however, the Terrestrial Wildlife Internship (#5 below) could begin in April.

 

All internships ( with one possible exception, see #3 below) will be located at Mt. Rainier National Park and will be stationed at Longmire. Internships will be supervised by National Park staff. The National Park Service will provide lodging at no cost to interns. Lodging is located at Tahoma Woods, about 10 miles from the duty station, or at Longmire. Lodging is shared bedrooms in park houses which have kitchen facilities. Interns will be expected to provide their own eating and cooking utensils, sheets, towels, etc. Interns conducting field work must provide their own sleeping bags and rain and foot gear. The park will provide backpacks and other equipment needed for field work associated with the internship. Students will be responsible for transportation to get to the Park and to and from their housing to their duty station. Transportation within the park will be provided for internship duties. Interns must possess a valid driver’s license.

 

All internships will pay a stipend of $1500 and will last for 14 weeks, with the exception of #5 below, which will last for 12 weeks. Credit is typically awarded for full time work for undergraduates. Graduate credit amounts depend on graduate program guidelines; if you have questions, contact the appropriate Graduate Director.

 

1. Fish Crew (2 interns)

Assists in the collection and reporting of all data for fish including associated ecological and habitat information. Collects field data relating to inventories and monitoring of aquatic ecosystems with emphasis on fish. Implements fish surveys according to established protocols. Performs computerized data entry, quality control of data collection and entry and provides preliminary assessment and classification of the information. Responsible for maintaining and operating field and lab equipment, and evaluates quality assurance/control procedures. Will also assist park education staff in the preparation of educational curriculum for K-12 levels. Will also make a presentation on fish projects to park visitors.

Supervisor: Barbara Samora (or one of her staff)

 

2. Amphibian Crew (1 intern)

Assists in the collection and reporting of all data for amphibians including associated ecological and habitat information. Collects field data relating to inventories and monitoring of aquatic ecosystems with emphasis on amphibians. Implements amphibian surveys according to established protocols. Performs computerized data entry, quality control of data collection and entry and provides preliminary assessment and classification of the information. Responsible for maintaining and operating field and lab equipment, evaluates quality assurance/control procedures. Will also assist park education staff in the preparation of educational curriculum for K-12 levels. Will also make a presentation on amphibian projects to park visitors.

Supervisor: Barbara Samora (or one of her staff)

 

3. Lake and Stream Monitoring Crew (1 intern)

 

Assists in the collection and reporting of all data for limnological monitoring of lakes and water quality monitoring of streams. Implements lake monitoring according to established protocols. Performs computerized data entry, quality control of data collection and entry. Responsible for maintaining and operating field and lab equipment, and following quality assurance/control procedures. May also assist park education staff in the preparation of educational curriculum for K-12 levels.

Supervisor:

 

 

4. Carrying Capacity Inventory, Natural Resource Web Development, Data Compilation and GIS Support (3 to 5 interns)

Assists in the collection and reporting of data associated with park visitor capacity studies, including monitoring recreational use and associated impacts. This may include monitoring visitor use and behavior, measuring recreational damage to resources, and inventorying aquatic benthic macroinvertebrates and terrestrial vegetation and soils which are being studied as a potential visitor carrying capacity indicators. Performs computerized data entry, quality control data collection and entry and provides preliminary assessment and classification of the information. Assists in the preparation of technical reports. Compiles, reduces, stores, retrieves, analyzes and reports technical data collected in field surveys. Will also assist park biologist in preparing an educational newsletter to the public, describing the visitor capacity project. Will also make a presentation on this project to park visitors.

 

**Note: Two of these interns will work at Mt. Rainier National Park; potentially, one would work at North Cascades National Park with Gina Rochefort, on studies being conducted there that we will apply to our carrying capacity work at Mt. Rainier.

 

Supervisor for Mount Rainier: Barbara Samora

Supervisor for North Cascades: Regina Rochefort

 

5. Terrestrial Wildlife Crew (1 intern)

Assists in the collection and reporting of data for spotted owls including habitat information. Collects field data relating to inventories and monitoring of birds (spotted owls, marbled murrelets, and some work with passerines). Implements owl and murrelet surveys according to established protocols. May assist in other wildlife issues as they occur, such as bear management issues, bats, and pest management in buildings. Will also assist park education staff in the preparation of educational curriculum for K-12 levels. Will also make a presentation of wildlife projects to park visitors.

Supervisor: Jim Schaberl (or one of his staff)

 

6 . Resource Data Intern (Natural History Specimen Cataloguing (1 intern)

General Duties:

Under the supervision of the Museum Curator, the intern performs a variety of duties in connection with the management, preservation and maintenance of Mount Rainier National Park natural history specimens and their associated records and publications. The intern will perform curatorial duties involved with the storing, cataloging and inventorying of natural history specimens and records and placing them in formats so that their data is accessible for research under accepted guidelines. The intern will also assist both park staff and visiting researchers in accessing specimens and associated data according to established facility procedures under the direction of the Museum Curator.

 

Location:

The intern would primarily work at the Curatorial Office at Tahoma Woods but would also work at least

1-2 days a week at the Longmire Library.

 

Specific Projects:

Specimen Cataloging – The intern will add as necessary, catalog data on natural history specimens into the park’s Automated National Catalog System (ANCS+) program.

National Park Bibliography Data Entry – The intern will enter citations of park based scientific research into a Procite database. The intern will follow examples of previously entered citations as a guide.

Archival Processing of Documents & Photographs – The intern will process park documents which include wildlife observation records. The intern will also have the opportunity to process two historic photograph projects from the 1930s -1970s which document human damage to the park’s vegetative resources.

Collection Inventories – The intern will assist the Museum Curator in conducting the Annual Inventory of Museum Property as well as specific inventories as needed.

Assisting Researchers – The intern will assist researchers in accessing data appropriate to their research needs.

 

Desired Skills:

Experience in a museum or library setting or knowledge of museum or library procedures is preferred but not necessary.

 

Supervisor:

Museum Curator, Deborah Osterberg, (360) 569-2211, ext. 2364

Mount Rainier National Park

Tahoma Woods – Star Route

Ashford, Washington 98304