Santa Lucia Conservancy, Conservation Outreach Internship, Summer 2023
Every summer, The Bill Lane Center for the American West offers many opportunities for Stanford undergraduates (including graduating seniors and co-terms) to work with organizations throughout the West. Through these internships, students can explore careers in natural history, conservation, land use, museum curation, resource management, energy and more.
All internships are full-time and last ten weeks during the summer. They are fully funded by the Lane Center.
The Lane Center has placed over 200 interns in positions across the West since 2005. As such, we have developed strong relationships with host organizations and work hard to ensure interns have successful and enriching experiences.
For more information about our internship program, please visit our FAQs page, or email Education Manager Corinne Thomas.
Read more about past interns' experiences here.
Stipend Information:
The Bill Lane Center will provide a base stipend of $7,500 with additional funding for student financial aid and cost of living adjustments for the internship location, if applicable.
Description of the Organization and Internship Overview:
The Santa Lucia Conservancy is a non-profit land trust responsible for protecting the ecological integrity of the Santa Lucia Preserve in Carmel, CA. It is our goal to advance understanding of the interfaces between human residences and natural environments to benefit our community and society at large. Using the vast natural laboratory of our 20,000 acre Preserve, we work collaboratively on resource management, education, and research to support and test this model of environmentally compatible human settlement.
The Communications Department at SLC is responsible for interfacing with the residential community on The Preserve, the wider Monterey County community, public media, and partner organizations. This Conservation Outreach Internship is a multimodal learning experience focused on exposing the student to a variety of methods and tools used to launch a successful communications campaign that aims to educate and inspire our target audiences.
During the first week of the internship, the Conservation Outreach Intern will be introduced to SLC’s programs and projects including climate change adaptation, environmental education, wildfire resilience, cattle grazing, endangered species conservation, native plant restoration, and more. After receiving training from their supervisor and other Conservancy staff, they will research, write, and design an educational outreach campaign about biodiversity on The Santa Lucia Preserve. The final project will be an ArcGIS storymap about biodiversity that will serve the dual purpose of educating our members and giving potential research partners an introduction to the natural resources found on the land. Leading up to and feeding into the final project, the intern will create other forms of media, which may can include blog articles, social media posts, videos, posters, or a brochure depending on the intern’s communication interests. The intern will come away with published media under the Conservancy’s brand to include in their portfolio.
Housing:
On-site housing is available at the 5240 Carmel Valley Road office, though the intern may prefer to find their own temporary housing in Monterey to be more connected to the community. The bed is housed in a stationary campervan on the property and the bathroom/shower, laundry, and kitchen are in the main office building.
Internship Work Environment:
This internship should attract those who are creative, naturally curious, and interested in conducting a largely independent project. The intern will work most directly with their supervisor, Alix Soliman, for training, mentorship, and project guidance. For technical GIS advice, the intern will work with team members from the Ecological Management Department.
The internship is in-person with about 75% office and 25% in-person field work.
The intern may find having a car useful: The office location is somewhat remote and the intern will need a car to go into town for shopping, groceries, etc.
- Develop a story map using Esri ArcGIS
- Research and write blog articles
- Produce videos for YouTube and Instagram
- Interview staff and subject matter experts
- Write social media posts and take photos in the field
Bill Lane Center internships are part of Cardinal Quarter opportunities and students from all disciplines are encouraged to apply. The opportunities are full-time (35-40 hours a week) for 10 consecutive weeks during the summer. Specific start and end dates can be coordinated directly with the supervisor.
Please note:
- Students are not permitted to engage in another full-time internship, job, or volunteer opportunity (whether funded by Stanford or otherwise) during this full-time, summer internship.
- Student athletes should confirm the impact of any awarded stipend on their athletic eligibility by contacting the Compliance Services Office prior to committing to a research project or internship.
All undergraduates, including graduating seniors, are eligible. Coterms are eligible only if they hold undergraduate status.
For more helpful application advice, please visit the BLC’s FAQs page.
Application Guidelines for this Internship:
Students who are juniors and seniors will be given preference.
There is no specific major preference for this internship but students studying marketing & communications, journalism, film and media studies, sustainability, earth systems, biology, environmental studies, or political science will likely be better suited for the role.
Required Skills:
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Strong research and writing skills;
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Keen attention to detail, especially with regard to scientific facts and proper sourcing;
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Digitally competent and able to learn new programs (we use Google Drive, WordPress, Hootsuite, YouTube, Slack, and Adobe Creative Suite, among others);
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Excellent verbal communication skills;
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Creativity and an eye for design;
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A love for nature and eagerness to learn.
Desired Skills:
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Demonstrated experience mapping software, photography, videography, digital art, communications, journalism, office administration, and/or conservation nonprofit work.
Selection of Applicants:
Complete applications are screened and finalists are contacted for an interview with staff from The Bill Lane Center for the American West. The top candidates for the position are forwarded to the organization for direct interviews with their potential supervisors and other staff.
Host organizations will then notify the Lane Center of their preferred candidate and that applicant will receive an internship offer from the Bill Lane Center by email.
The applicant is expected to respond promptly (within 48 hours) via email to the offer or the offer will be rescinded.
Once an applicant accepts an offer, they should promptly notify all other Stanford and non-Stanford programs to which they have applied that they have accepted another offer and withdraw their candidacy from those other opportunities.
