Bird-Friendly Maple Intern

Position Summary

Audubon Vermont seeks an applicant pursuing, or having recently completed a degree in conservation, natural resources, forestry, ecology, ornithology, and related fields to serve as the Bird-Friendly Maple Intern. The person in this position will work with Audubon Vermont’s Senior Program Manager, Forests and Senior Associate, Forest Conservation on a variety of projects specific to the Bird-Friendly Maple program.

The applicant will participate in ongoing conservation projects, and gain valuable experience interacting with professional biologists, educators, and leadership at Audubon, as well as with other environmental professionals in Vermont. This position will contribute to the goals of Audubon Vermont by supporting one or more strategic conservation program areas including Working Over Working Lands and Climate.

The position will occur during the summer of 2025 (May-August) with a time frame that can be adapted to meet a variety of academic schedules. Applicants must commit to working at least 200 hours over this time period.

Compensation:

$16.00 / hour

Additional Job Description

Essential Functions

Intern Responsibilities and Learning Objectives:

• Conduct maple sugarbush inventories and habitat assessments for maple producers through the Bird-Friendly Maple program. This includes communications and scheduling site visits with landowners, interacting with landowners and collecting data during site visits, and writing follow-up reports to be provided to landowners.

• Conduct follow-up outreach with currently enrolled Bird-Friendly Maple producers to ensure compliance with program standards

• Depending on interest and experience level, additional opportunities may include monitoring Vermont forest bird species of conservation concern in participating sugarbushes and conducting public outreach.

• Draft factsheets, blogs, webpage and/or social media content, and other outreach materials to support Audubon Vermont’s conservation programs.

Additional tasks and projects may include the following:

• Participate in outreach activities, which may include bird walks, workshops and special events.

• Attend meetings with public officials, environmental leaders, scientists and volunteers to support Audubon Vermont’s participation and contributions.

• Opportunities to participate in other Audubon Vermont conservation projects including the Green Mountain Audubon Center MAPS bird banding station, Common Tern Recovery Project, and Peregrine Falcon and Bald Eagle monitoring.

• Partner/Collaborate/Assist with Audubon staff to ensure that equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging principles are incorporated and followed in all aspects of our work.

Internship Benefits

Interns will gain experience and knowledge in the following:

• Forest and habitat inventory procedures

• Habitat needs of Vermont’s priority forest songbirds

• Analysis of forest inventory data

• Habitat management planning and report writing

• Outreach and communication with private landowners and the public

Intern Schedule:

The Bird-Friendly Maple Intern will work 14-20 hours per week. Schedule varies depending on needs of the program and accommodations for other aspects of the intern’s schedule. May involve weekends and evenings.

Projected Start/End Date:

May 26, 2025 with a projected end date of August 29, 2025 (flexible)

Qualifications and Experience:

• Self-starter and ability to work independently, including operating in remote situations.

• Strong work ethic.

• Dedicated and excited about working in a dynamic, fast-paced nonprofit organization.

• Appetite for learning and growth.

• Working toward or a recent graduate of a bachelor’s or higher degree in conservation, forestry, natural resources, environmental studies or related field.

• Familiarity with or willingness to learn about the management of, and silviculture systems used in, New England forests, with a particular focus on maple sugarbushes.

• Familiarity with natural resource inventory techniques.

• Familiarity with, and basic identification skills of, Vermont’s forest birds (by sight and sound) as well as tree, and shrub species (including non-native plant species).

• Strong oral and written communication skills.

• Well organized and an ability to focus on details.

• Genuine interest in environmental protection, c