Bumble Bee Conservationist - ONSITE - Minnesota-Wisconsin Ecological Field Services Office (Bloomington, MN)

Environment for the Americas•Bloomington, MN

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Environment for the Americas Internship Programs seek to engage young professionals from all backgrounds in natural resource and conservation careers. This position, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, includes a variety of field and office work opportunities to provide the intern with a diverse breadth of experience that could be applied to future conservation and outreach positions. The intern will focus primarily on bumble bee conservation including bumble bee surveys and monitoring in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, rare bumble bee literature reviews, and development of outreach products that highlight bumble bee conservation projects. The intern could also participate in bat monitoring locally and at one of the largest known little brown bat maternity colonies (part of the Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge). The intern will participate in at-risk bumble bee summertime field monitoring and compile data in standardized format. Prior to field work, the intern will participate in a Midwest bumble bee identification course. The intern will also analyze the 2026 “Backyard Bumble Bee Count (BYBBC)” data and will maintain the web interface to encourage public participation in collaborative bumble bee conservation. Additionally, the intern will populate outreach newsletter(s) developed by a previous intern, to facilitate delivering conservation success stories pertaining to rusty patched bumble bee (RPBB) recovery, including communicating our progress towards answering key science questions and highlighting important conservation and research needs. The intern will also participate in authorship of a scientific paper (in process) highlighting a poorly understood life history aspect of the federally endangered RPBB and assist with an ongoing species status assessment of two other bumble bees under FWS review. Through this experience, the intern will gain insights into several aspects of endangered species assessments and recovery implementation.

Requirements

Be a U.S. citizen or legal resident.
Be between the ages of 18-30 (35 if a veteran).
Be willing to undergo a background check.
Have a valid driver’s license.
Applicants must have a degree in Biology, Ecology, Zoology, Environmental Science, or other similar graduate school or undergraduate school majors.
Experience with collecting biological data in the field.
Experience with data analysis.
Familiarity with scientific literature review.
Applicants should be able to use word processing and spreadsheet software (i.e., Word, Excel).
Must complete 640 hours of work on an appropriate conservation project to be eligible for Public Land Corps Non-Competitive Hiring Authority.

Nice To Haves

Prefer graduate students or those with a completed undergraduate degree.
Current upperclassmen undergraduate students with relevant experience will also be considered.
Ideally, Arc GIS proficiency.

Responsibilities

Focus primarily on bumble bee conservation including bumble bee surveys and monitoring in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
Conduct rare bumble bee literature reviews.
Develop outreach products that highlight bumble bee conservation projects.
Participate in bat monitoring locally and at one of the largest known little brown bat maternity colonies.
Participate in at-risk bumble bee summertime field monitoring and compile data in standardized format.
Participate in a Midwest bumble bee identification course.
Analyze the 2026 “Backyard Bumble Bee Count (BYBBC)” data.
Maintain the web interface to encourage public participation in collaborative bumble bee conservation.
Populate outreach newsletter(s) to facilitate delivering conservation success stories pertaining to rusty patched bumble bee (RPBB) recovery.
Communicate progress towards answering key science questions and highlight important conservation and research needs.
Participate in authorship of a scientific paper (in process) highlighting a poorly understood life history aspect of the federally endangered RPBB.
Assist with an ongoing species status assessment of two other bumble bees under FWS review.