I am offering an internship at the Deschutes NF Supervisor’s Office for a Native Plant Gardener through the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC). 21CSC is an opportunity for people 16-30, and veterans up to 35. The internship is for 640 hours of conservation or related service. The intern will be paid a stipend of $1000 per month for 4 months. Upon completion of the program, candidates have a 2-Year window of eligibility for non-competitive hiring status.*
*Noncompetitive hiring status means the ability to apply and be considered for vacancies without competitive examination or competing with career or career-conditional employees under internal merit staffing procedures for any position which eligible.
Duties include:
1. Weeding and pruning
You will spend 2-3 hours in the morning on grounds maintenance, most of which will be weeding and pruning, with some needle raking and cone removal, as well as trash pick-up if necessary.
2. Lead for youth crews and volunteers
You will be responsible for meeting and directing youth crews and volunteers. We have a youth crew that comes once a week. They need a project for each visit and a short talk on the ecological importance of the task. The volunteers will have work days, which will be scheduled ahead of time. They will also need direction and a short talk on an applicable ecological subject.
3. Assist in developing garden design
You will spend a lot of your time researching and designing a plan for the front meadow. This will entail coordination with the district and forest botanists, the forest wildlife biologist, the volunteer coordinator and selected volunteers. You will become an expert in pollinator habitat and apply what you learn in the garden.
4. Implement garden design
You will work with the youth crew and volunteers to put the garden design on the ground. This will include training in native plant seed collection, how to map collection areas, seed collection techniques, and field days collecting seed. You will work with volunteers and botanists.
5. Develop outreach and educational materials for pollinators and native plants
You will research and develop outreach and educational materials, working with the forest botanist, forest wildlife biologist, volunteer coordinator, and volunteers.
6. Public Outreach
You will outreach to local schools using the educational materials you develop with assistance from the forest botanist, forest wildlife biologist, volunteer coordinator, and volunteers.
The application and more details on the internship are at:
http://discoveryourforest.org/internships/