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Project Titles:
- Employ 6 SCA Interns (FFS #R2NB)
- Employ 8 Temporary Hires (FFS #R2NC)
State: Region-wide
Project Description: Funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has helped the Southwest Region offer employment and on-the-job training to college students interested in field biology work in the Southwest Region. The Recovery Act also supported national wildlife refuges throughout the Region in employing students and other temporary hires to complete projects that would otherwise have been delayed due to a lack of funding or available staff.
July 2011 Project Update: Over $65,000 of Recovery Act funds have been used to hire five recent college graduates through the Student Conservation Association (SCA) and place them at refuges in Arizona last year. The graduates worked on a variety of projects through the fall and winter at Buenos Aires, Imperial, Kofa, and San Bernardino Refuges.
“One of our biggest needs to keep the Service cutting edge and relevant is to keep and attract new blood,” said Southwest Regional Director Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, “and convince talented young people of the importance of wildlife careers.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) hires students of varying ages and experiences from high school students to students with graduate degrees, through several government programs including the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP), Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP) and through the Student Conservation Association (SCA). Recent graduates can also participate through the SCA. Temporary positions are arranged at different times of the year, and may last from a few weeks to over a year. These programs allow the Service to take a look at potential future employees and to give students and post-grads a chance to experience the demands and benefits of working in a wildlife and conservation capacity.
Elizabeth Payne took an interesting route to her temporary position at Imperial NWR. The 29-year-old George Mason University Graduate had limited wildlife management experience before embarking on her SCA path. She describes herself as “a musician and a woodworker who built cabinets and furniture.” Payne spent her time on the Refuge working with masked bobwhite quail captive rearing. She also got a chance to do plant survey work, and public outreach.
Senior Wildlife Biologist Mary Hunnicutt spoke highly of her time working with Payne saying that she “turned out to be possibly the best [temporary employee] I’ve had since I’ve been here. If I had the opportunity, I would hire her permanently.”
San Bernardino and Leslie Canyon National Wildlife Refuges in Southeastern, Arizona gave Michael Suttner and Marcus Collado the chance to experience a wildlife career last year as well. They were trained by Wildlife Refuge Specialist Chris Lohrengel who explained that the two had come from different backgrounds and motivations when entering their positions.
“With Michael,” Lohrengel said, “it was just something he was trying out. He actually had a history degree (B.A. U.C.-Santa Cruz) and no biology background. Marcus graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in Wildlife Ecology. He is looking for a field biologist job now.”
Collado named “working with endangered species” as one of the conditions of his dream career. He thoroughly enjoyed his four-month stint with the Service saying, “My favorite part was catching and tagging rattlesnakes and Gila monsters, that was really exciting and fun, and something I’ve never done before. It was also a little dangerous, that’s probably why I loved it so much.”
San Bernardino and Leslie Canyon NWRs are short-staffed according to Lohrengel, so he felt that the addition of Suttner and Collado was very helpful to the refuge. “We have no staff biologist, and me and [Refuge Manager] Bill Radke take care of about 75% of the duties,” he remarked. “We run between 10 and 15 surveys and inventory monitoring things a year –from fish, reptiles, birds, small mammals, and there’s also a couple of vegetation type surveys that we use to monitor invasive species, so these guys were a tremendous help in helping us get our surveys done.”
Graduate Meaghan McCamman was invaluable to Refuge Manager Susanna Henry at KOFA NWR, in the southwest corner of the state, near Yuma, Arizona. KOFA, as well as the greater Yuma area, host a variety of public events each year and McCamman got her feet wet with outreach duties, in addition to data tabulation, right away.
“After she did her initial training with me, we went to the refuge and did a quail patrol. She got to meet and greet with the public, and participated in the opening weekend of the Quail hunt,” Says Henry. “On the third of September, we went to the Arizona desert bighorn sheep society in Phoenix where they hold an annual sheep hunter’s clinic.”
“I work as a law enforcement officer part time and we did ride-alongs,” She continued. “She participated in a project to map vegetation along Kofa refuge, and took on the task of doing some oral history of Kofa refuge for visitors.”
McCamman holds a degree in Public Policy from George Mason University, and had worked with public health organizations prior to her Service internship. She is currently back in the health field in California working for a nonprofit organization.
Both Payne and Collado have continued in wildlife services, Payne with the Fish and Wildlife Service in Fairbanks, Alaska doing Wetlands Waterfowl and invertebrate surveys, and Collado with the Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, as a biotech. When asked what he would say to an aspiring biologist embarking on a Service internship, Collado replied, “I had an incredible time, I loved every day of it, my advice would be to not worry about how much you were getting paid and just do it for the experience, because that’s the most important thing.”
Employment with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is an effective way for students to gain work experience, earn money, and establish a career in conservation and natural resources. These programs present amazing opportunities for students, but also benefit the Service, as they help to provide new talents and skills to the agency.
August 2011 Project Update: Whether conducting maternity counts of listed bats, working alongside experienced biologists in cataloging refuge plant life, spraying for invasive species, or handling social media inquiries at the refuge, Recovery Act funding allowed 12 young people to experience employment at rural refuges in 2009 and 2010. ARRA provided over $90,000 to create STEP positions at five refuges with varying needs in New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma.
STEP, which stands for the Student Temporary Employment Program, is intended to provide students (primarily those in high school and college) with the opportunity to work in a Service facility for a short time and get a sense of potential job opportunities. The STEP program is available to U.S. students over the age of 16 who are in good academic standing. The program does not require students to make a commitment to fish and wildlife-related studies.
Jeremiah Holland was hired through the STEP program by Ozark-Plateau NWR Wildlife Specialist Shea Hammond. Holland worked on a variety of projects during his fall 2009 tenure at Ozark-Plateau, including the monitoring of federally-listed cave species such as the Grey bat, the Ozark Big Eared bat, cavefish, and cave crayfish. He conducted maternity counts of federally-listed bats at night; traversed miles of underground cave passage to perform guano measurements of federally-listed cave bats; conducted field surveys for caves used by federally-listed bat species; and helped monitor, maintain, and build cave gates for the recovery of federally-listed cave species.
Holland, who is local to the Ozark-Plateau NWR area of Colcord, Oklaholma, is described by Hammond as being “an excellent employee” who had been around the refuge since he was ten. “Jeremiah could do just about anything,” said Hammond, “he was a farm kid, who was used to bats and the local area, and also had grown up sinking fence posts. He was a great addition.”
Amanda Diaz had a different goal when she began her STEP internship at Aransas NWR in Texas; she had earned a journalism degree, and wanted practical experience. During her STEP period as a Visitor Services Representative, Diaz worked in public outreach, administration, and communications for the refuge, writing features, announcements and web copy in addition to helping refuge visitors. Project Leader Dan Alonzo, describes her work, as well as that of two other Recovery Act STEP interns, as “excellent.” She has since secured long-term employment at the refuge.
Carlos Herrera and Jerome Romero were hired into STEP through the Recovery Act in the summer of 2009. The main issue faced by Refuge Manager Dan Larranaga is the encroachment of endangered species, and Romero and Herrera proved invaluable support in combating the spread of unwanted plant life.
“They have really allowed us to accomplish a lot of good science that wouldn’t have been accomplished otherwise,” says Larranaga. “Having these individuals on board and utilizing GPS and GIS technology has allowed us to take off and monitor what’s been sprayed by the contractors, as well as determine what our needs continue to be.”
STEP is beneficial for both students and the Service — it gives the Service a boost in workforce to accomplish important projects, and introduces students to employment opportunities available to them within the organization. Jude Smith, Refuge Manager at Muleshoe NWR in Texas, received funding for three STEP workers last year, two of whom have been able to springboard into permanent employment.
“We got [2010 STEP student] Clay Nichols a permanent position with the Service in Ecological Services, and Christine Stewart got a job with fisheries after about a year here,” he says. “We’re still working on placing our third ARRA STEP [student], but he’s doing a great job for us.
The STEP program provides flexibility to students still in school, as well as some pay. Additionally, STEP students are eligible for benefits such as housing on the facility, health and life insurance, and leave accrual. STEP is a complimentary program to the Service’s other youth recruitment programs, including the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) and the Student Career Employment Program (SCEP).
For more information on the SCA, visit the SCA Website.
For more information on other student employment opportunities with the USFWS, Visit the FWS Student Employment Opportunities Website.
Video: Interview with Jerome Romero
Watch an interview with Jerome Romero, a Bio Technician at Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge who was hired as a summer worker with Recovery Act funding to test water quality, map invasive species, and carry out herpetological studies on the refuge.
Video: Interview with Carlos Herrera
Watch an interview with Carlos Herrera, a Bio Technician hired by Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge with Recovery Act funding.
Video: Interview with Refuge Manager, Rob Larranaga
Watch an interview with Refuge Manager Rob Larranaga about the positive impact of Recovery Act funding on Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge.
Photos:
Feature Story: Stimulating the Next Generation — Recovery Act Funds Provide Jobs, Training for Students
Originally posted 08/21/2009
Updated 12/3/2009
Updated 08/12/2010
Updated 07/13/2011
Page completed 08/25/2011
