Agency Sponsor: Alex Jones, asjones@ucsc.edu
If Interested, submit the Campus Natural Reserve Internship Application. This is an unpaid internship.
# of Interns:
Agency Description:
The 789-acre UC Santa Cruz Campus Natural Reserve (CNR) is an outdoor classroom and living laboratory located steps from the university’s traditional classrooms and student dorms. We monitor plant and animal populations, provide environmental education, and assist with planning and implementation of land management projects on the main residential UCSC campus. UCSC is putting together a Wildfire Vegetation Management Plan (WVMP) to increase forest health and decrease the likelihood of catastrophic wildfire impacts; interns will conduct pre-treatment surveys to help us document conditions prior to land management actions.
Intern Responsibilities:
Interns with the Wildfire Vegetation Management Plan pre-treatment plant and animal surveys project will help set and process camera traps and conduct vegetation monitoring on a series of circular plots throughout the UCSC Upper Campus as baseline data before future forest vegetation treatments occur. Interns will learn how to use camera traps and software designed to analyze camera trap photos, as well as standard forestry/forest ecology tools used to measure a variety of forest vegetation and landscape attributes. Work will be outdoors in a variety of terrains and weather conditions.
Other Requirements:
- If you know you are highly sensitive to poison-oak oils, this project may not be for you —we wear gloves and full-body coveralls, but your footwear, and your skin if you’re not careful, will be exposed to poison-oak oils.
- We will be out in the woods for a full 6 hours! In addition to the above information about staying warm, fed and hydrated, you may want to bring other supplies to keep yourself comfortable out there. We have some extra toilet paper and sanitary products, but you should plan ahead and be prepared to spend 6 hours away from campus.
Intern Shifts:
Shifts are in 6-hour blocks on a weekday once per week; exact schedule varies per Quarter and are determined by crew leader and intern schedules
Location: UCSC Campus. Internship will meet in Natural Sciences 2 Building Room 490
Key Words: Biodiversity Conservation, Ecology/Natural History, Insects/Wildlife, Plants/Restoration