Join the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (PBNERR) stewardship team and help us restore one of Washington’s most endangered habitats!
The intern will work with the PBNERR stewardship team and our project partners to assess prairie plant communities and restoration effects at the Reserve and nearby reference sites in the north Puget Sound. Plant surveys may be conducted in experimental restoration plots at the Reserve, in remnant prairies on the small islands in Padilla Bay, and at other nearby restoration sites. The intern will also assist with a variety of tasks related to prairie restoration, including invasive species control, native plant propagation, seed collection, data entry, and other tasks as needed.
The intern will help to identify an appropriate independent project to focus on, depending on their specific skills and academic/professional interests. This project could be research-focused, such as comparing effects of different restoration treatments, comparing plant populations at different sites, or analyzing plant community trends at a site over time. The project could also be focused on community outreach or education, such as creating a plant guide for Reserve visitors, designing signage for restoration areas, collaborating with our education team to develop prairie-related programming for students, or creating a prairie StoryMap.
The intern will gain hands-on experience with plant identification, ecological monitoring, habitat restoration, field research, and data analysis. The intern will visit several remnant and restored prairie sites in the northern Puget Sound region and will get the chance to see rare native plants up close. The intern will work together with a team of habitat stewards and researchers and learn about different careers in environmental science and resource management. The intern will also have the opportunity to broaden their experience by participating in other stewardship, research, and education activities, and to network with other students and researchers.