Ecological Restoration Summer Intern

Location: Sacramento, Modesto, or Bakersfield, California 
Status: Full-time, Non-Exempt 
Start date: June 3, 2024 
Duration: 8 weeks with possibility to extend up to 12 weeks 
Reports to: Restoration Science Associate, Supervisory 

A thriving future for California’s environment and communities requires bold vision, creative problem-solving, and relentless determination. This is a critical decade for action and River Partners is growing our team of talented, tenacious change-makers to meet the challenge head on. Join us! 

Who We Are
River Partners brings life back to California rivers. We’ve revitalized more habitat along impaired California rivers than any other entity in the western U.S., having led hundreds of projects across nearly 20,000 acres throughout California. We restore thriving native forests and ecosystems that support imperiled wildlife, improve flood safety, boost the state’s climate resilience, replenish and improve freshwater resources, create open space for communities, and build stronger local economies. Since 1998, we have pioneered an innovative, entrepreneurial approach to conservation, combining modern farming, cutting-edge science, and diverse partnerships.    

We are meeting the urgent need this decade to restore our riverways and seek passionate team members to help us grow our restoration footprint at an unprecedented pace and scale.

Why You Should Join Us 
River Partners offers competitive salaries and benefits, including comprehensive health care insurance, flexible spending accounts, a 401(k) plan with immediate employer matching, life insurance, disability coverage, employee assistance programs, and other well-being benefits. We’re proud of our supportive culture and focus on work-life balance. We strive to create an environment that brings fulfilment to our team members’ personal lives by offering paid time off, an alternative work schedule, and flexible hours.

Position Description
The Restoration Science Scholar works as part of River Partners’ Science Team to support, implement, and monitor our habitat restoration projects on California’s rivers. This position provides a great opportunity to learn about large scale horticultural restoration, vegetation monitoring techniques, riparian ecology, GIS applications, and riparian plants. Restoration Scholars spend time hiking outdoors collecting and analyzing plant data within our adaptive management framework to help design better habitat restoration projects in the future. 

This position requires long strenuous days monitoring vegetation in the heat, data entry and management, and a self-directed research project pertaining to riparian restoration. 

Forty-hour workweeks will be expected and early morning workdays starting at 6am are not uncommon for this position. During the summer months River Partners works 4, 10-hour days each week. Housing is not provided.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

(10%) Project and Team Collaboration

• Ensure compliance with workplace regulations in collaboration with the Safety & Office Manager.
• Exercise sound judgement in elevating issues for support by leadership.
• Regularly travel to project sites and regional offices to complete job duties and collaborate with the larger Restoration Science Team.
• Foster positive working relationships amongst the Restoration Science team to support excellent project delivery.

(75%) Restoration Project Monitoring 

• As part of a team, collect data on past, active, or planned restoration projects within your region. This is primarily vegetation data in the form of plant censuses or releves, but may also include geographic data, camera trap photographs, ARU recordings, pollinator surveys, or other forms of data collection based on site needs and individual skillsets.
• Become familiar with native vegetation species used in restoration, common native herbaceous species, and non-native herbaceous species found in the assigned region.
• Travel from regional office to assigned work sites, involving drivetime of up to three hours. Travel may involve carpooling with other staff members. Minimal travel to other regions may be required and may involve plane travel and overnight accommodations.
• This position is primarily field based, but does include accurately organizing, entering, and vetting data collected daily during fieldwork. Typical days include data collection during the mornings, followed by data entry during the afternoons.
• Collect field data and perform data quality control to support monitoring of Restoration Project performance with highest integrity.
• Clearly communicates challenges and pertinent site updates as appropriate with supervisor, other restoration scholars, and members of the science team.

(15%) Special Projects

• At the direction of your supervisor, choose from a provided list and complete an individual special research project related to restoration science and practice. While guidance will be provided, the project is self-directed and it will be the responsibility of the restoration Scholar to ensure timely completion of data collection, analysis, and creation of the presentation and report.
• Cleary communicate individual research project outcomes to the organization in a final presentation and project report.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Interest in California plants, riparian ecology, hydrology, soils, and wildlife. Familiarity with plant identification and dichotomous keys.
• Basic understanding of ecological concepts.
• Willingness to work long hours in the field, including in hot weather, and necessitating early mornings.
• Ability to collaborate with diverse team members with poise and respect.
• Basic understanding of statistics and experimental design.
• Proficiency in MS Office applications.
• Excellent verbal, analytical, organizational, and written skills, including data visualization to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Integrity and ethics beyond reproach.

Qualifications

• Currently working towards a higher education degree in Ecology, Wildlife Management, Restoration, Climate Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• Valid California driver’s license with no restrictions.
• Commitment and enthusiasm to carry out River Partners’ mission.

Compensation
The anticipated rate for this position is $16.00 per hour. 

Location
Restoration Scholars can choose from three locations to apply to: Sacramento, Modesto, or Bakersfield. Sacramento and Modesto Restoration Scholars report from River Partners offices. A hybrid schedule may be approved after the introductory period.  Bakersfield Restoration Science Scholars adopt a hybrid schedule and should anticipate field work in the region 2-3 days of the week. Some travel is required for all locations.