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Applying for a Conservation and Land Management Internship

2005 Application Closing Date: March

The Chicago Botanic Garden's
Conservation and Land Management Internship Program

Offered in Partnership with the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service

Are you interested in conservation biology and natural resource management? Would you like to gain hands-on experience through a paid internship?

    The Chicago Botanic Garden’s conservation and land management mentoring program is seeking to place 20-plus outstanding college graduates for five- to ten-month paid internships to assist professional staff at Bureau of Land Management (BLM) state and field offices or national parks (NPS). Each internship requires a unique set of skills in at least one of the following areas: Geographical Information Systems (GIS), wetland ecology, forestry, archeology, recreation, botany, wildlife, range management, conservation, technical writing, ornithology, policy, and entomology. Each intern will receive training on the Endangered Species Act and related conservation issues at a one-week course. Travel and lodging for the course will be provided. After training, interns will be assigned to work with a mentor at priority BLM and NPS sites throughout the United States. The stipend for the internship is $1,650 per month.

    Requirements

  • Recent graduates
  • Degree in conservation, biological sciences or similar fields
  • Enthusiastic, independent, hardworking qualities
  • Interest in land management and applied conservation practices

    Applications

  • Cover letter
  • Resume
  • Official education transcripts
  • Three letters of recommendation

    Send your application to this address:
    Lara Jefferson
    Chicago Botanic Garden
    1000 Lake Cook Road
    Glencoe, IL 60022
The selection of interns involves an application and interview process. Selection is based on education, skills, interests in conservation practices, experience, and enthusiasm.

The selection of mentors is determined through an application process. Through this process, the various BLM field offices outline their workload and type of internship, their priorities and the availability of a mentor.

Length of Internships: Five or Ten Months

Workshop

Subjects

An intense five-day workshop covers these subjects:

  • Animal and plant identification and monitoring techniques
  • Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
  • Geographical Positioning Systems (GPS), map and compass skills
  • Literature searches
  • Endangered Species Act
  • Land management practices

Goals

  • To complement the wide range of job descriptions outlined by each BLM and NPS field office
  • To complement each individual’s background
  • To refresh the individual’s memory of relevant subject matter
  • To strengthen the individual’s knowledge of each area
  • To introduce subject areas in which the individual may have absolutely no knowledge or experience

Goals for Interns

To absorb as much information as possible from each course

In every course, no matter how much experience and knowledge an intern has, there will always be something to learn. Be enthusiastic and energetic!

To work as a team

Interns who are very competent in certain areas become team leaders to help fellow classmates who don't have the background knowledge in those areas.

To enjoy yourself!

Interns make contacts and get to know other people who are going to be sharing similar experiences.

Mentors

The opinion of the mentors has highlighted the success of this program. Mentors were very satisfied and spoke highly of their respective interns. These are sample comments:

"It seems as though as each year goes by, the workload increases and the workforce stays static or decreases. [My intern] has assumed the project responsibilities for preparing a biological assessment for a resource management plan encompassing nearly four million acres of public land. Without her help, this assignment would not have even started."

"Had [my intern] not been here this summer, many wildlife catchments would have remained dry and/or non-functional. Many antelope, deer and bighorn sheep would likely have perished in search of water. [She] completed an update of our water catchments maintenance database that had been stalled for almost a decade."

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