Internships

Gain valuable skills, have a great time outdoors and in, and contribute to the understanding of river otters in the SF Bay Area! Volunteers and interns are the heart and soul of our project and devote thousands of hours a year to working with us toward watershed conservation.

Field work internships run from June through November and are in Marin County, CA. We’re not able to provide summer-only field internships.

The hourly requirements are 15 hours/week during the summer, and 8-10 hours/week once classes begin in September. There is a small stipend. We do not provide housing.

Interns must have their own transportation, be detail-oriented, able to follow directions with minimal supervision, and have excellent communications skills. Experience doing field work is a plus, but not required.

We provide a range of experiences to our interns, including field work, lab work (depending on current research projects) and outreach. The internship can include other aspects of nonprofit work, including grant research and event planning.

To apply for an internship, please send us an email. Please include your CV and let us know why you’re interested in our program, as well as your availability during the summer or the school year.

 

Field work may include:

  • Scouting for otter sign and tracks along waterways;
  • Using an app to collect coordinates of otter latrine sites, wallows, dens and migration corridors;
  • Servicing one or more trail cameras once a week to once every three weeks, June through November. Some sites run year-round;
  • Filling out and submitting data electronically within a week of the field day;
  • Attending one or more field training days per year; and
  • Hiking through brush, poison oak, nettle and blackberries.

 

Outreach may include:

  • Representing ROEP at environmental tabling events
  • Helping with presentations to the public, agencies or other entities
  • Helping write and post informational flyers/signs
  • Helping write social media posts
 

Lab work may include:

  • Cleaning and dissection of otter scat for prey species analysis

 

Other work may include:

  • Data entry
  • Grant research
  • Social media writing
  • Seeking blog writers
  • Event planning

The River Otter Ecology Project is a registered 501 (c)(3) EIN #45-4997526 non-profit organization dedicated to the welfare of river otters and our watershed. Our organization is not affiliated with any other otter-related research group or community outreach organization.

© 2022 River Otter Ecology Project

Contact
River Otter Ecology Project
PO Box 103
Forest Knolls, CA  94933
General email