The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy seeks an individual to provide support for the Pennsylvania Plant Conservation Alliance’s conservation work surrounding several rare species. This is a 12-week part-time summer internship that will require some level of independent work. This person will be supervised by a WPC Senior Botanist but will work closely with the DCNR PPCA Coordinator on a daily basis. This position will be based in Harrisburg but will travel to various locations mostly in central and south-central Pennsylvania as needed.

Job Duties

Work will include monitoring rare plant populations, stewardship activities such as invasive species removal, and data management. Individuals will have the opportunity to analyze plant demographic data.  

Physical Requirements

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

• Ability to lift up to 50 pounds unassisted.
• Physical stamina for manual labor working outdoors in uneven terrain in a variety of adverse weather conditions to collect data on rare plant populations
• Ability to wade in flowing water.
• Ability to transition between office work and field work.
• Ability to sit, bend, and stand for 7+ hours a day.
• Requires stooping, kneeling, crawling, turning, and reaching overhead, at, and below eye level. There may be full range of body motion for extended periods of time.

Qualifications

Interest in plant conservation and natural history. Direct experience and/or education in related fields such as botany, ecology and/or statistics is helpful. Applicant should have some coursework in these subjects and be comfortable with managing data using Microsoft Excel and/or R Studio software packages. Applicant must have experience working outdoors in sometimes uncomfortable and inclement conditions and be able to traverse rugged terrain during long field days, which sometimes begin before sunrise and conclude after sunset. The ability to navigate using GPS, topographic maps and a compass is helpful. Applicant must have willingness and ability to participate in PNHP and WPC training and orientation. Applicant must be available to work up to 3 days/week between the months of May and September.

Transportation or means of getting from home to office (Harrisburg) or field meeting points is required. Field sites will be located throughout southcentral Pennsylvania (Fulton, Cumberland, Perry, Lancaster, Dauphin, Juniata, Franklin, Adams, York). Position will be based at Rachel Carson State Office Building in Harrisburg, with opportunity for remote work when not in the field.