Housing Support: Onsite housing available, at no cost to Fellow 

Housing Description: There is a bunkhouse on the refuge that interns and Fellows can stay in. This house is shared housing with 3 rooms and 1.5 baths. The bunkhouse has beds, pots and pans, a television, a washer and dryer, books, games, and a DVD player. The bunkhouse is within a 3-minute drive from town, so there is quick access to many other amenities. The house does not have Wi-Fi, but there is an okay cellular signal. Anything requiring a very strong signal, like online gaming, would require a trip to town where many venues offer free Wi-Fi.

If the Fellow prefers to live alone, another house on the refuge is available, but the Fellow would need to bring their own furnishings, and payment for utilities would need to be worked out.

Valid Driver’s License: Required

Transportation Support Description: It is recommended, but not required, that the Fellow have a personal vehicle to make trips into town on their free time. There is a public transportation system in the area, but it would require about a 1.5 mile walk to the nearest pick-up location. For work duties, a government-owned vehicle will be provided. Housing is located on the refuge, so no vehicle is required for commuting to work.

Position Description: Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge includes 7,724 acres near Seymour, IN, and the Restle Unit, a 78-acre donated parcel near Bloomington, IN. This refuge is a flat-to-gently-rolling mix of bottomland and upland forest, wetland, and grassland habitat. Muscatatuck NWR has 7 grassland units, covering approximately 470 acres of the refuge. Each unit has different characteristics such as: size, soil moisture, flooding history, management practices, and a history of prescribed burning. These grasslands provide habitat for a large variety of species; however, the current composition of the grasslands is a concern. The native forb species are not competing well and there is encroachment of woody vegetation into the grasslands, especially by the invasive species autumn olive and multiflora rose. Efforts to improve the grasslands, including prescribed fire, seeding, and mechanical disturbance, have taken place. The position will be to analyze the efforts if grassland improvement and develop the step-down station specific protocol for prairie reconstructions.

To implement this position, the selected Fellow will be responsible for:

• Conducting vegetation monitoring in the grassland units,
• Entering refuge historical data and new collected data into an online database,
• Calculating and analyzing the results of the different restoration methods from the baseline, and
• Making recommendations for best management practices within the refuge limitations.

During the Fellowship, the Fellow will become familiar with and gain experience in invasive species management and techniques, including herbicide application and prescribed fire. There will be an opportunity for the Fellow to develop GIS skills as part of this project, but no previous GIS experience is necessary to be successful at this position. The Fellow will attend our region wide internship conference to network with other U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees and interns. As time allows, the Fellow will be able to help with other refuge tasks and shadow other employees so they can gain knowledge of the work and efforts of the refuge. Some topics the Fellow would be exposed to include moist-soil management, infrastructure maintenance, and visitor services.

Minimum Education Level: Open for consideration to undergraduate rising seniors/seniors and graduate students who will not complete their degree requirements before September 22, 2024.

Fields of Study:

• Biological Sciences
• Education/Outreach

Working Conditions Requirements: 

• Ability to conduct field work involving walking through grasslands
• Ability to work outside in possible hot conditions and deal with bugs