Traditional Trades Advancement Program (TTAP) – Landscape Stewardship Corps – Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park

Traditional Trades Advancement Program
Landscape Stewardship Corps – Internship
SAINT-GAUDENS NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK (Cornish, NH)
April 1 – September 27, 2024

INTERNSHIP POSITION DETAILS: American Conservation Experience, a nonprofit dedicated to providing rewarding environmental service opportunities, seeks young adults interested in exploring the Traditional Trades in partnership with the National Park Service. Learn and advance your horticulture skills to become the next leaders in managing historic landscapes in our National Parks!

The Traditional Trades Advancement Program-Landscape Stewardship Corps intern will work alongside professional horticulturists and arborists at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park to care for historic landscapes in Cornish, NH, learning about plant and cultural landscape maintenance skills. No background or previous experience in horticulture or historic preservation is necessary. A 26-week commitment is required.

For more information about the National Park Service’s Traditional Trades Advancement Program (TTAP) – Landscape Stewardship Corps please visit: https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1098/learning-services.htm

For more information the American Conservation Experience please visit:  www.usaconservation.org

LOCATION: Known as the “National Park for the Arts,” Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park celebrates the gardens, home, studio, and art of internationally renowned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907). The park is in the picturesque rural community of Cornish, about thirty minutes from the large college town of Hanover, New Hampshire. Stretching along the Connecticut River, the park’s 190 acres of formal gardens, open fields, and dense forest is punctuated with twenty historic buildings linked through hiking trails. In partnership with the nonprofit Saint-Gaudens Memorial, the site promotes the arts through exhibitions, special events, and programs throughout the summer. For more information about Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park, visit www.nps.gov/saga.  

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES: Working in conjunction with a dynamic, skilled, and motivated landscape maintenance team from Saint-Gaudens and Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller (a nearby national park in Woodstock, Vermont) the Intern will help care for the site’s exceptional flower gardens, cutting gardens, hemlock hedges, specimen trees, shrubs, walkways, and Class “A” turf. 

• Monday-Friday, 7:00 am to 3:30 pm work schedule
• Flower garden maintenance including planting, watering, dead heading, weeding, fertilizing, flower arranging, assisting with bedding plant selection and layout
• Hedge, shrub, turf, and tree care including pruning, mulching, fertilizing, watering, and pest management
• Historic apple tree pruning to learn fruit-tree grafting skills
• Assist the gardener with the diagnosis of plant nutrition and pest control needs fertilization and herbicides
• Preservation of historically and/or botanically significant plants

BENEFITS:

• A weekly stipend of $720
• Free housing at the park
• $1,000 in professional development funds for training, networking, and/or conferences 
• Training historic cultural landscape management and maintenance including plant care, pruning, vegetation identification, and other topics
• Week-long in-person training for full Landscape Stewardship Corps at an NPS site with travel/meal expenses covered 
• Professional networking opportunities 
• Public Land Corps Hiring Authority

POSITION REQUIREMENTS: TTAP-Landscape Stewardship Corps requires candidates to:

• Learn and work as part of a team in positive and productive ways
• Strictly adhere to NPS and ACE equipment training, certification, and safety protocols 
• Have a strong interest in history, horticulture and/or the environment and working outdoors 
• Participate in NPS’s Landscape Stewardship Corps’ week-long in-person training (June 2024)
• Be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident 
• Be 18-30 years old at time of service (veterans up to 35 years old)
• Have a High School Diploma/GED
• Pass fingerprint-based FBI, state criminal, and a national sex offender check
• Be able to provide proof of a driver’s license and complete an MVR check
• Local candidates are encouraged to apply, but being local is not required
• To learn more about eligibility requirements, please visit our website https://www.usaconservation.org/epic/#eligibility-requirements.

WORK ENVIRONMENT: Caring for historic cultural landscapes in National Parks will require working outdoors for extended periods of time in possibly rough or swampy terrain, or in periods of heat or cold.  Insects may bite and wildlife is not always predictable.  Certain landscape tools require manual dexterity, and interns should be able to lift and move up to 50 pounds.  National Parks are public spaces and positive visitor interaction is expected.