During the summer of 2014, Seney NWR will offer 2-3 Applied Sciences Program internships. These positions will last for up to 12 weeks, with some flexibility in starting and ending dates. Assigned duties will be wide- ranging and will provide an immersion in ecology and ecologically-based land management. While the primary goal of the internship is to provide the Applied Sciences Program with field assistants, consideration is given to giving interns a broad array of experiences. Because of this, interns will be challenged as one would M.S. students and intellectual, physical, and emotional maturity and toughness are expected.
Assigned duties will include assisting with a combination of biological and ecological assessments and inventories (e.g., forest stand assessments and inventories, bird surveys and censuses, frog and toad surveys, colonial waterbird surveys); assisting with habitat management (e.g., forest management, invasive species management); and assisting with on-going ecological research projects (see http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Seney/what_we_do/research.html). Work is often weather-dependent, with some work done rain or shine. Interns must therefore be flexible and willing to adapt to changes for these and other unforeseen circumstances. Interns will be provided certification in ATV use and certification as State of Michigan pesticide (Rodeo) applicators (both at no expense). Most land management is not for single species, but integrates landscape ecology, disturbance ecology, wetland and forest ecology, and restoration ecology principles.
At nearly 96,000 acres, Seney National Wildlife Refuge (Seney NWR) in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is one of the larger National Wildlife Refuges east of the Mississippi River. Seney NWR also administers island refuges in Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron, as well as Kirtland’s Warbler Wildlife Management Area in the northern Lower Peninsula. For more information see: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/seney/