Biological Technician Intern

Position: Biological Technician (Intern XL)

South Florida/Caribbean Inventory and Monitoring Network (SFCN)
Project title - "Forest composition and structure in Virgin Island National Park"

Pay: $17.40/hour (40 hours/week)
Dates: May 19 - August 9
Location: Miami, Florida

Housing:
Park housing is provided at Pine Island in Everglades National Park; this is a substantial distance from the SFCN office (26 miles away - 40 min drive time - a personal vehicle is necessary). The housing is group housing, with up to 2 housemates. There are 3 bedrooms, so each house so each intern will have a roommate. There is a shared kitchen. Interns will need to provide their own food and linens. Cleaning is responsibility of everyone and it is expected that shared living space and personnel spaces will be kept in a clean and orderly manner.

Personal Vehicle and License are required

Work Environment:
The majority of the work is office work. However, there is some amount of field work as the project progresses.

Description:

The National Park Service, South Florida/Caribbean Inventory and Monitoring Network (SFCN) monitors natural resources in seven park units, one of which is Virgin Islands National Park. There is a forest sampling effort in the park and this information needs to be consolidated, analyzed, and reported so that resource management can determine next steps.

The objective of the internship is to consolidate, analyze, and report on the forest structure and composition data to the park management and to have the information published for public use. The local population of St John (St Johnian's) should be able to know what species comprise the forest of island. This park unit is co-managed with the United States Virgin Island Territory and as such there is a desire to communicate information with each other and with the local community.

Once this information is consolidated and analyzed it can be used to report the current forest composition and to predict future forest structure based on seedling present. The assessment will report if the forest is being replaced by native species or are exotic species dominating regeneration. The report will give an understanding of forest composition post-hurricane impact (Hurricane Irma).

Mentorship:
The intern will lead the analysis but will work with a team of staff from the network. There will be a project plan developed and then weekly meetings reporting deliverables and eventually generating a Data Nugget (Data Nuggets = Bringing authentic research and data into K-16 classrooms).

NPS Supervisor will provide a written performance review at the conclusion of the internship.

Desired Skills and Qualifications:

• Upper-level undergraduate or graduate student pursuing a degree in forestry, ecology, biology, environmental studies, or resource management.
• Excellent organizational and communications skills.
• A good writer.
• Experience in visualization and communication.
• Interest in interpretation.
• Preferably some basic ecology, plant biology or vegetation ecology background would be useful. The data has been collected and needs to be consolidated, analyzed, and reported.
• Strong work ethic, and dependability.

Requirements:
• Must be able to pass a federal background check
• Must be between 16 and 30 years of age
• Must be U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident
• Current student or recent graduate (no more than two years) from a Historically Black College and University (HBCU)
• Must be able to participate in a workshop in Washington, D.C from August 3rd – 8th, 2025

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:
The SFCN has had a number of resource monitoring internships over the years from both national and local programs. The SFCN has strongly embraced inclusiveness and diversity in its intern program (43 total interns of which 70% were female, 70% were minorities, 81% were youth (under age 25), 51% were Latino and 49% have continued on to graduate school.). We have a well-established internship program that will build upon these positive results.

The SFCN federal staff is comprised of a diverse staff as well (30% Latinx and 23% female). Additionally, the staff has had a wide variety of experiences both within the NPS, in resource monitoring via private industry, and research experience in university settings. The intern will interact with the staff daily and will be a part of a team when working in the field allowing for a non-office like setting that will facilitate discussion of experiences in the natural resources field.

To facilitate conversations about diversity and how current staff came to work in our office we will have a "Culturally Diverse Potluck”. On a volunteer bases the entire staff will be invited to a potluck where food items brought will represent their cultural background. During the potluck lunch we will round robin discuss how the many staff have ended up working in our NPS office.

*This is a 1099 position. Persons paid on a 1099 basis are independent contractors and are self-employed. Independent contractors are required to pay all self-employment taxes (Social Security & Medicare) as well as income tax. Independent contractors generally do not receive any type of employment benefits from the client. For more information please refer to www.irs.gov or talk with a tax professional.