Biological Technician Internship – Summer 2025 (SFCN) – Greening Youth Foundation

Title of the Job: Biological Technician Internship – Summer 2025 (SFCN)

Location: Miami, FL

Job Description: Position: Biological Technician (Internship)South Florida/Caribbean Inventory and Monitoring Network (SFCN)
Project title – “Forest composition and structure in Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve.”Pay: $17.40/hour (40 hours/week)
Dates: May 19 – August 9
Address: Old Cutler Road, Suite 419, Palmetto Bay, Florida 33157Housing:
Park housing is provided at Pine Island in Everglades National Park; this is a substantial distance from the SFCN office (26 miles away – 40 min drive time – a personal vehicle is necessary). The housing is group housing, with up to 2 housemates. There are 3 bedrooms, so each house so each intern will have a roommate. There is a shared kitchen. Interns will need to provide their own food and linens. Cleaning is responsibility of everyone and it is expected that shared living space and personnel spaces will be kept in a clean and orderly manner.Personal Vehicle and License are requiredWork Environment:
The majority of the work is office work. However, there is some amount of field work as the project progresses. The field work is from a small boat. Interns must be able to swim.Description:
The Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve (SARI) park unit has extensive cultural history including representation of every major period of human habitation in the Virgin Islands. The park also houses a variety of natural resources that need to be managed, including forests. Understanding forest composition and structure is the first step in developing an effective resource management plan.The National Park Service, South Florida/Caribbean Inventory and Monitoring Network (SFCN) monitors natural resources in seven park units, one of which is Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve. There has been a pilot forest sampling effort in SARI and this information needs to be consolidated, analyzed, and reported so that resource management can determine next steps. Eight forest plots were sampled, with over 2,500 trees tagged and hundreds of seedlings surveyed. Once this information is consolidated and analyzed it can be used to report the current forest composition and to
predict future forest structure based on seedling present. The assessment will report if the forest is being replaced by native species or are exotic species dominating regeneration. The report will give an understanding of forest composition pre- recent hurricane impact.Mentorship:
The intern will be mentored members of the SFCN staff. The intern will be directly supervised by the SFCN Community Ecologist who will oversee the entire project. The intern will collaborate with the SFCN botanist for guidance on vegetation information. The intern will meet with the community ecologist and the botanist, initially daily at the beginning of the internship, then less frequently. Once the intern has a full grasp of the project an outline will be generated by the intern with accomplishments and deadlines determined. The intern will meet regularly to give updates on the project work, reporting both successes and shortcomings. Since science is a dynamic process, these interactions will help solve problems via brainstorming, redirection, and determine the most practical and defensible solutions. The report and the Power Point presentation will be made to the science and technical board members.The SFCN has a successful Resource Monitoring internship (ReMI) program with Florida International University, that begun in 2007, supervised by Dr. Whelan and has had 23 ReMI interns in the program over the years. Overall, the SFCN believes that it is important to take the time to empower the intern to reach for the next step in their professional development.Requirements:
Biologist/ Ecologist working on reporting natural resource data. The incumbent will have the ability to use software programs to analyze and report on the structure and composition of tropical forest vegetation. Preferably some basic ecology, plant biology or vegetation ecology background would be useful. The data has been collected and needs to be consolidated, analyzed, and reported.Desired Skills and Qualifications:

• The intern should have a BS or a BA education in: biology, basic ecology, vegetation ecology, botany, forestry and/or resource management.
• The intern should have basic computer proficiency skills, examples include familiar with Word, Excel, Power Point, or similar programs.
• The intern needs to be able to write well. The intern should be comfortable working independently.
• Proficiency in R code would be useful. Intern should be able to work well with a team and be able to complete tasks in a timely and professional manner.

Additional qualifications:
Minimum Requirements

• Must be able to pass a federal background check
• Must be between 16 and 30 years of age
• Must be U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident
• Current student or recent graduate (no more than two years)
• Must be able to participate in a workshop in Washington, D.C from August 3rd – 8th, 2025

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:
The SFCN has had a number of resource monitoring internships over the years from both national and local programs. The SFCN has strongly embraced inclusiveness and diversity in its intern program (43 total interns of which 70% were female, 70% were minorities, 81% were youth (under age 25), 51% were Latino and 49% have continued on to graduate school.). We have a well-established internship program that will build upon these positive results.The SFCN federal staff is comprised of a diverse staff as well (30% Latinx and 23% female). Additionally, the staff has had a wide variety of experiences both within the NPS, in resource monitoring via private industry, and research experience in university settings. The intern will interact with the staff daily and will be a part of a team when working in the field allowing for a non-office like setting that will facilitate discussion of experiences in the natural resources field.To facilitate conversations about diversity and how current staff came to work in our office we will have a “Culturally Diverse Potluck”. On a volunteer bases the entire staff will be invited to a potluck where food items brought will represent their cultural background. During the potluck lunch we will round robin discuss how the many staff have ended up working in our NPS office.

Company Name: Greening Youth Foundation

Salary: $17.4 per hour

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