Snowy Plover Monitoring Program Community Recreational Use Intern

Position Summary

The Snowy Plover (SNPL) Monitoring Program Community Recreational Use Intern will assist in implementing surveys of human recreational use on and near the SNPL habitat of the South Shore of Great Salt Lake, Utah. The western intermountain population of SNPL is believed to be in decline as documented breeding pairs at Great Salt Lake (one of the two most important breeding areas in North America) have plummeted in recent years. Audubon Rockies and Saline Lakes of the National Audubon Society and Tracy Aviary initiated a pilot breeding SNPL monitoring project during the summer of 2023. The project is continuing this year and includes surveys to quantify the extent and type of human-related disturbance to the birds. Survey types may consist of (but are not limited to) visitor usage surveys, geospatial monitoring, remotely accessed data with trail cameras, etc. Interns will work closely with the Sr. Associate of Community Building at Gillmor Sanctuary.

Ultimately, this internship is an excellent introduction to research that is intended to drive the co-creation of conservation actions by science and the community. Interns will gain invaluable experience from interactive communications with diverse community members, conducting research in the field, honing data management skills, and opportunities to present key findings to key conservation partners that will help prepare them for advanced degrees and future employment.

The position is part-time hourly at $16/hr. Flexible schedule of 15 to 27/hrs. per week from May 27th through August 31st, 2025. The project team will coordinate on schedule to align field visitation to nesting areas and achieve a subsample analysis of visitor use during various times (day/evening, weekends/weekdays, holiday/non-holiday). Interns will work as a team for field safety. Interns can expect to spend approximately 75% of their time at the research sites, accessed primarily from the frontage road and Saltair off Interstate 80, and 25% in the office / on computers. Project orientation and equipment training will be provided. Mileage reimbursement is included. Carpooling to sites will be coordinated.

This role is remote to Audubon Gillmor Sanctuary.

Interns will gain experience and knowledge in the following:

• Mentorship from trained and skilled scientists.

• Participation in a scientific study.

• Conducting in-person surveys.

• Operating and maintaining scientific equipment.

• Working independently in the field with a partner.

• Large dataset management.

• Data analysis approaches.

• Scientific reporting.

• Learn how the intersection of biological monitoring and recreational use surveys are used to co-create conservation actions.

• Collaboration and communication skills.

Interns will work weekdays and some weekend days with early morning start times for nest survey work and varying times of day, evening, and weekend for in-person surveys. Most of the nesting survey work will occur from June through July, and the human recreational use survey will occur throughout the nesting season. Due to the nature of this scientific study, there will not be a traditional work schedule, but the schedule will adhere to 15-27 hours per week under the supervision of the Sr. Manager, Gillmor Sanctuary.

Compensation:

$16.00 / hour

Additional Job Description

Essential Functions

• Conducting and quantifying in-person and remotely acquired surveys of recreational use of South Shore access points of Great Salt Lake by diverse groups of community members.

• Place and retrieve nesting site cameras.

• Retrieve and replace SD memory cards from nesting sites and other area trail cameras.

• Analyze nesting site images for anthropogenic or predator disturbance and hatching results.

• Log analysis of program databases.

• Interact with the core research team at weekly meetings to share observations and troubleshoot any issues.

• Equipment management and inventory, maintenance, storage

• Prepare a summary report of seasonal disturbance survey data by the end of the internship.

• Maintains and fosters culture of safety.

Qualifications and Experience

• A Bachelor of Science, or currently enrolled in wildlife biology, conservation biology, environmental science, or related field.

• Excellent communication skills and technical capacity to operate and maintain equipment such as geo-locators and remote trail cameras and download data and images to user-interfaced platforms (Qualtrics, ArcGIS, Survey123, Excel, etc.).

• Have goo