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2010 Intern Assignments 

How are the 2010 Interns spending the summer? Find out here!

  • Host Organization: Alaska Clean Energy Campaign
    Title:     Alaska Coal Organizers (4 internships)
    Location: 2 in Fairbanks, 2 in Anchorage
    Assignment:  Sponsored by ACF, the Alaska Clean Energy Campaign is a coalition of non-profits and tribal entities dedicated to a clean energy future for the health of Alaska’s people, communities and environment. Organizers will work with the Alaska Clean Energy Campaign (and under the coordination of the Sierra Club Alaska Associate Regional Representative), and its coalition members to educate the public and key decision makers on the true costs of coal.  The team will work regularly coordinate with each other to create and implement a successful campaign to move Alaska beyond coal.
  • Host Organization: Alaska Community Action on Toxics 
    Title:     Environmental and Community Health Researcher/Advocate
    Location: Anchorage, AK
    Assignment:  The intern will conduct research, synthesize emerging scientific information, and prepare a report about the ecological effects and human health implications of contaminants in the Arctic, particularly in light of the rapid changes associated with global warming. The intern will participate with staff and other scientists in conducting field research in northwest Alaska about the environmental and health effects of pesticides/contaminants as part of a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) project. S/he will also work with staff at community outreach events, assist with the organic gardening and Anchorage Farmers Market projects (raising and selling organic vegetable starts and compost tea).
  • Host Organization: Alaska Marine Conservation Council 
    Title: Conservation Intern
    Location: Anchorage, AK
    Assignment:  An issue research/communications intern will produce print and web-based materials on a range of critical and timely Alaska marine conservation issues including: ocean acidification/climate change; fisheries management; offshore oil and gas drilling.  The purpose is to inform and support action by AMCC’s members, local fishermen, communities and decision-makers. 
  • Host Organization: Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (National Wildlife Federation)
    Title:     Technology & Media Assistant
    Location: Anchorage, AK
    Assignment: The Technology & Media Intern will work with AYEA’s staff and volunteers to enhance and create outreach and communication efforts. As part of our team, the intern will help plan our week-long summer training event, and facilitate technology sessions at the event including digital storytelling. At the training, they will work with around 20 teens from across Alaska, many from remote rural communities. In addition, the intern will assist in maintaining our membership database.
  • Host Organization: Audubon Alaska 
    Title:     Conservation GIS Intern
    Location: Anchorage, AK
    Assignment:  The Conservation GIS Intern will take on a mapping project, or a portion of a larger project, and complete that project over the course of the summer, as well as assist with short-term mapping requests that come up.  Projects will address wildlife conservation in relation to forest management and energy development.
  • Host Organization: Cook Inletkeeper 
    Title:     Watershed Monitoring Intern
    Location: Homer, Alaska
    Assignment: The Watershed Monitoring Intern will work with Inletkeeper staff to support citizen-based water quality monitoring efforts, monitor and assess the health of local salmon streams and conduct basic laboratory analyses. 
  • Host Organization: Copper River Watershed Project  
    Title: Clean Water Specialist
    Location: Cordova, Alaska
    Assignment:  The Copper River Watershed Project intern will assist with two fish habitat-related projects on the Copper River delta. The intern will help implement public outreach efforts that are aimed at educating decision makers on the potential degradation to fish habitat caused by development around Eyak Lake and help circulate information to a variety of community audiences on planning and zoning practices that could mitigate storm water pollution. In addition, the intern will be assisting with field work to collect data on culvert and stream conditions.
  • Host Organization: Discovery Southeast 
    Title: Natural Science Educator
    Location: Juneau, Alaska
    Assignment:  The Natural Science will spend a majority of time in the field leading, exploring, and delivering Discovery Southeast’s hands-on environmental education program, Outdoor Explorers (OE), to youth ages 7-12.  This exciting and dynamic week-long day camp exposes youth to Juneau’s natural area through outdoor exploration, natural history, science based education, arts, crafts, and environmental education games and activities. The intern is also responsible for some coordination and administration of the OE program and reports to the Program Coordinator while working closely with a lead naturalist and other program support staff. 
  • Host Organization: Great Land Trust  
    Title: Habitat Conservation Intern (2 Internships)
    Location: Anchorage, AK
    Assignment: Under the supervision of the Conservation Director, the Habitat Conservation Intern assists GLT and its partners conserve and restore important fish and wildlife habitat in Southcentral Alaska. The intern will have three main assignments: 1) Assist with a prioritization project to rank conservation projects in the Municipality of Anchorage and the Mat-Su Borough; 2) Conduct annual monitoring of conservation easements and 3) Assist with a management plan for an 80 acre Sandhill Crane preserve in Trapper Creek, Alaska.
  • Host Organization: Juneau Watershed Partnership
    Title: Watershed Education Intern
    Location: Juneau, Alaska
    Assignment:  “Watching our Watersheds” (WOW) is a new program that will provide hands-on educational activities to our community in order to encourage the ecological protection and environmental stewardship of our local watersheds. The intern will create educational materials, hands-on watershed science activities for 3rd and 6th grade elementary school students.
  • Host Organization: Kachemak Heritage Land Trust
    Title:     Conservation Assistant
    Location: Homer, AK
    Assignment: The Conservation Assistant intern will assist in monitoring the terms of KHLT’s conservation easements through fieldwork and report preparation and will participate in field inspections to identify habitat and other conservation features of future land protection projects. The intern will also work with the Conservation Director to improve KHLT’s GIS functionality by organizing the current database and researching sources of new GIS data. As a special project, the intern will write a management plan for a riparian conservation parcel owned by KHLT, the 55-acre Starr property. The plan will be presented to the Board of Directors at the end of the summer.
  • Host Organization: Northern Alaska Environmental Center
    Title: Arctic Program Summer Intern
    Location: Fairbanks, AK
    Assignment: The Arctic program intern will help coordinate the “Arctic Refuge 50th Anniversary” project, which focuses on organizing high-visibility Alaskan events and website information during the summer of 2010 to showcase Refuge wilderness protection as an emblem of a bold turn to a clean, renewable energy future that arrests climate change. The project is closely coordinated with the National Coalition for Arctic Refuge Wilderness. The goal is to change mainstream Alaskans’ frame of reference of the Refuge from a place to drill for oil to a protected wilderness landscape by amplifying Alaskan voices in favor of Refuge protection.
  • Host Organization: Northern Alaska Environmental Center
    Title: Clean Water and Mining Program Summer Intern
    Location: Fairbanks, AK
    Assignment: The Clean Water and Mining Program Intern will create “The Citizen’s Guide to Hardrock Mining in Alaska.” This 50-75 page guide will explain the mine permitting process — the laws, agencies, and documents involved — and describe how citizens and grassroots groups can be involved at each stage of the permitting process, including what to focus on at the different stages. The guide will be distributed to other groups working on mining issues in Alaska and used in NAEC’s outreach efforts.
  • Host Organization: Sitka Conservation Society 
    Title: Sitka Community and Environment Organizer  
    Location: Sitka, AK
    Assignment: The Sitka Community and Environment Organizer Intern will develop and promote a sustainable community use area. He/she will help define how we use and depend on the area around Sitka and how the community wants to see these areas appropriately managed and protected for the future.
  • Host Organization: Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC)
    Title:     Tongass Visitor Outreach Coordinator
    Location: Juneau, Alaska
    Assignment:  The intern will focus on SEACC’s campaign to permanently protect valuable wild Tongass watersheds by building a network of potential new advocates for the Tongass.  The intern’s primary responsibility is to coordinate efforts to engage Tongass visitors by gathering signatures and supplying supportive businesses with information to share with clientele.   
  • Host Organization: Taiya Inlet Watershed Council  
    Title: Data Collection and Outreach Assistant
    Location: Skagway, AK
    Assignment: The TIWC intern will collect baseline water quality and anadromous fish data in the Upper Taiya Watershed as well as coordinate, implement and participate in community outreach events and fundraisers. 
  • Name of Organization: Takshanuk Watershed Council 
    Title:     Field Technician
    Location: Haines, Alaska
    Assignment: As a Field Technician, the intern will participate in various field projects, including fish habitat characterization projects and remote watershed assessments. The intern will join staff and volunteers in the field assisting with fish population and distribution studies, water quality and quantity studies and stream habitat surveys.
  • Host Organization: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
    Title: Conservation Planner (2 internships)
    Location: Anchorage, AK
    Assignment: The intern will be involved in the steps necessary to craft recommendations for development proposals undergoing review. Examples of priority topics include renewable energy, such as hydrokinetic, wind, and hydropower. Other priority topics in the Anchorage office include mining and transportation projects.
  • Host Organization: Yakutat Salmon Board 
    Title:     Fisheries Intern
    Location: Yakutat, AK
    Assignment: The Fisheries Intern involves co-managing field crews in the following areas: log bridge construction for fish passage, clearing stream channels from logging related wind-throw, mapping remote salmon streams for inclusion into the state anadromous waters catalogue and data collection for an annual marine debris beach cleanup. The YSB is also involved in the Alaskan Marine Mammal Stranding Network and responds to several calls each summer.