Housing Support: On-site housing available, at no cost to Fellow.

Housing Description: We have several housing unit buildings on site, and a commons area building. All of the housing units are all located at the HQ Complex with a walking path direct to the Visitor Center and HQ buildings. The provided housing includes either a single or shared room with another roommate. Housing units have shared common areas (kitchen, bathroom, laundry, and living room).

There is personal Wi-Fi available, however, it is satellite-based and has very limited daily use. We ask that no games, steaming videos, or large file downloads occur as we have many guests on a very limited Wi-Fi network. It also only works in the commons area building—it will not reach to all cabins.

Valid Driver’s License: Required

Transportation Support Description: Housing units are all located at the HQ Complex with a walking path direct to the Visitor Center and HQ buildings.

Position Description: Strategic Foresight seeks to look beyond the immediate horizon and provide organizations different views of the future. This position will assist in applying strategic foresight to Refuge planning and the challenges Kenai Refuge is facing in a changing climate. Spend the summer on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and be part of our vision to serve as an anchor for biodiversity on the Kenai Peninsula despite global climate change, increasing development, and competing demands for Refuge resources. Native wildlife and their habitats will find a secure place here, where Refuge staff and partners work together, using the best science and technology available, to ensure that biological health is maximized, and human impacts are minimized.

Visitors will feel welcomed and safe by means of a wide variety of wildlife-dependent recreation opportunities, facilities, and interpretive and educational programs that encourage informed and ethical use of the Refuge’s natural resources. The Refuge will achieve excellence in land, water, and Wilderness stewardship; and—with careful planning, forethought, and human determination—an enduring legacy of abundant plant, fish, and wildlife populations will be ensured for people to enjoy today and into the future for this phenomenal land we call “The Kenai.”

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

• Assisting in identifying ways to apply Strategic Foresight Methods to refuge planning and the challenges Kenai Refuge is facing in a changing climate,
• Working collaboratively with staff develop a case study and agenda and follow-up plan for a muti-day Strategic Foresight Workshop,
• Researching and summarizing existing materials and concepts on Strategic Foresight Methods and how those methods and concepts can be applied to mission and challenges of the National Wildlife Refuge System and Kenai Refuge in Alaska,
• Participating in coordination and facilitation of meetings and workshop,
• Applying tools and methods for running effective meetings, facilitation and team building exercises to workshop planning,
• Working collaboratively with staff to guide participants through learning selected Strategic Foresight Methods for a multi-day workshop, and
• Developing an online NWRS Alaska Region Strategic Foresight Toolbox where participants can access workshop materials, resources, training tools, and microlearning tools.

While at the Kenai NWR the selected Fellow will learn about Strategic Foresight, the multi-disciplinary study of change and its implications in the context of the future, and will assist Kenai NWR and Regional staff in organizing and co-facilitating a Strategic Foresight workshop as their final product. Foresight is not about predicting ‘THE’ future, but rather about uncovering a range of plausible alternative futures, and then identifying the indicators that suggest the various ways the future is unfolding.

Additionally, the Fellow will also learn about Refuge management and planning. Using Strategic Foresight, the Fellow will bring together insights from a variety of disciplines including economics, engineering, biology, communication, and social science to help U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff plan for the future. While here, the Fellow will have the opportunity to assist Kenai Refuge Staff in remote fieldwork, monitoring fish, wildlife and their habitats and also to be a part of remote field work in the variety of habitats the Kenai offers.

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
• Human Dimensions/Social Sciences/Humanities/Liberal Arts
• Communication/Marketing
• Economics

Working Conditions Requirements: 

• The work environment will include office and field time outdoors.
• The Fellow will be provided a workstation and is required to provide personal clothing and outdoor gear to allow them to work in a variety of weather conditions: Knee boots, waders, bear spray, mosquito repellent, and project-specific field equipment.

Desired Characteristics: 

• Teamwork
• Facilitation skills
• Public speaking skills
• Technical writing skills
• A successful DFP will be open to new ideas, creative, and a problem solver