Wildlife Intern/Mentee

Job Description

Job Description

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Announcement #

2026-140

Issue Date:

07-27-26

Closing Date:

07-31-26

Wildlife Intern/Mentee

Wildlife

Department of Natural Resources

Hourly Wage: $15.74-$17.72/Temporary/Full -Time

This position will provide a 10 week student intern employment opportunity for youth 18-25 years old. Youth will obtain skills and guidance through a mentor and gain on the job experience. The internship will be open to students that recently graduated from high school or are current college students interested in a career in natural resources. Students will have the opportunity to work with wildlife staff on their different projects. These positions include range management, spotted owl/aviary, invasive species management, public hunting (hunting permits), big game, upland gamebird, eagle aviary, realty, and habitat restoration. Students will be assigned a mentor to engage in weekly discussions.

Examples of Work Performed:

Deploy autonomous recording units (ARUs) to record bird and bat calls.

Survey for northern spotted owls using accepted protocol during the day and/or night.

Assist in conducting habitat assessments in the managed forest.

Assist with gamebird surveys along established routes.

Assist with wild duck banding and biological data collection.

Assist with building and installing waterfowl nesting boxes and hen houses in wetlands.

Assist in identifying biocontrol agent activity in certain invasive plants.

Survey areas for invasive species and document the degree of infestation.

Accurately identify invasive plants from rosettes up to flowering stage.

Assist in treating invasive plants depending on the timing of the year, plant treatment varies.

Assist in biocontrol agent release as biological treatment for invasive plants.

Assist in mapping and evaluating fences and water sources.

Assist in caring for and working with saddle horses.

Assist in monitoring rangeland vegetation and rangeland health.

Accurately identify plants within the rangeland area.

Assist in care and management of aviary birds including prepping food, and cleaning enclosures.

Assist in management of Satus Ranch.

Respond to salvage animal calls.

Assist in aviary outreach.

Monitor cottonwood seed release timing and collect data from installed temperature sensors.

Collect aquatic macro-invertebrate samples and re-set collection traps in wetlands and streams; ID collected specimens to family.

Assist with botanical surveys of Wildlife properties.

Assist with whitebark pine surveys, monitoring, and seed collection efforts.

Assist with revegetation of riparian habitat with native species.

Assist with creating a native plant ID guide for education and outreach.

Help with fence construction and other basic property maintenance tasks.

Assist with trapping of nuisance animals.

Assist with management of bison herd.

Assist with the trapping and baiting of feral horses.

Conduct mountain goat counts.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Ability to work in extreme field conditions (heat, cold, rain, wind).

Ability to carry 10-pound pack.

Ability to take accurate and complete field notes.

Ability to work in a team environment with people of different backgrounds.

Knowledge of wildlife ecology.

Knowledge of wildlife survey techniques.

Minimum Requirements:

Students interested in or pursuing a degree in Natural Resources.

Age 18-25.

Required to pass a pre-employment drug test.

Enrolled Yakama Preference, but all qualified applicants are encouraged to apply.