Yellowstone National Park, Archaeology Program Internship, Summer 2025
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 for nine to ten weeks during the summer. They are fully funded by the Lane Center with stipends ranging from $7,500 to $10,000.
The Lane Center has placed hundreds of interns in positions across the West since 2005. It has developed strong relationships with host organizations and works hard to ensure interns have successful and enriching experiences.
For more information about the internship program, please visit the FAQs page, or email Education Manager Corinne Thomas.
Details about previous student interns and their placements can be found here.
Student reflections about the internship experience can be found by visiting the Out West student blog and the Lane Center Instagram channel.
Stipend Information:
The Bill Lane Center will provide a base stipend of $7,500 with additional funding for student financial aid and location, if applicable, up to $10,000. The stipend is provided to cover living expenses and, if applicable, part of the summer earnings expectation of the Office of Financial Aid.
The stipend is not intended to be, and is not, a paid, hourly wage. An internship is an educational and experiential learning opportunity intended for the student to apply their academics and gain real-world experience.
PLEASE NOTE: The successful intern will also be required to complete a NACI background investigation in order to have access to DOI buildings and DOI computers.
International students are not eligible; Interns must be U.S. citizens.
Description of the Agency and the Internship:
Cultural resources at Yellowstone National Park include one of the West’s most pristine archaeological records, documenting the over 11,500 year presence of pre-contact and historical period Native Americans, and historical period explorers, trappers, U.S. military personnel, and tourists. The park has documented over 2,000 archaeological sites, with less than 3% of its area investigated. The Archeology Program manages the park’s archaeological heritage, pursues research, and provides technical guidance on the preservation and protection of archaeological resources.
The archaeology intern will work as part of a team responsible for inventory, monitoring, evaluation, and management of archaeological resources within the park.
The intern will work as part of and directly with the Archaeology Program team, as well as directly with the Park Archeologist (internship supervisor/mentor). The Archeology program includes professional NPS Archeologists, Archeological Technicians, other student interns, and volunteers.
Fieldwork is among the most important duties, and the intern will assist with more complicated projects, including assessing known archaeological sites for impacts related to geological processes (flooding, erosion, wildfire burns, etc.) and increased visitation, and with determinations of eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places.
While engaged in office duties, the intern will assist with data management, as well as complete an independent research project; topic will be determined by the intern and Park Archeologist based on intern’s academic interests and park needs.
Internship Work and Environment:
This is an in-person internship only and housing may be provided.
The intern will be fully integrated into the Yellowstone Archeology Program as well as directly with the Park Archeologist (internship supervisor/mentor). The Archeology program includes professional National Park Service Archeological Technicians, other student interns, and volunteers.
A typical day involves working outside performing fieldwork 50-70% of the time, or in the office analyzing data, managing records, and/or working on research projects 30-50% of the time.
While the intern will be based at the Heritage Research Center (HRC) in Gardiner, Montana for office work, for some fieldwork overnight stays involving camping or use of cabins in the park’s interior are anticipated. Camping gear would be provided. Travel for fieldwork will be in a government vehicle.
There will be two Bill Lane Center interns at Yellowstone in the summer of 2025. The other opportunity is the Yellowstone National Park, Museum Internship.
Yellowstone Park also hosts many employees and interns of college age, and has a Yellowstone Co-Op Employee Recreation Program which staff, interns and volunteers can participate in: https://ycerp.org/
Transportation:
Access to a car during the internship is required as the park has no public transportation and the Park housing may be located up to six miles away from the HRC (sometimes it's five miles, sometimes it's really close in Gardiner). It will be necessary to have a car for traveling the expansive distances in Montana and Wyoming.
Mammoth Hot Springs, WY is the headquarters of Yellowstone National Park and is a rural community not serviced by public transportation. Within walking distance (1 mile or less) of housing is a gas station, post office, medical clinic, hotel, two restaurants, and the Albright Visitor Center.
Five miles north of Mammoth is the town of Gardiner, Montana. Gardiner has all of the major amenities of a small town including, gas stations, grocery store, drug store, bank, restaurants, bars, churches, library, hotels, and post office. 52 miles north of Gardiner is the city of Livingston, Montana and Bozeman, Montana is 26 miles west of Livingston.
Housing:
Intern housing will be either in Gardiner, Montana or in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming (Neither community is serviced by public transportation).
Mammoth Hot Springs, WY is the headquarters of Yellowstone National Park and is a rural community not serviced by public transportation. In Mammoth Hot Springs, WY there is a gas station, post office, medical clinic, hotel, two restaurants, and the Albright Visitor Center. 5 miles north of Mammoth is the town of Gardiner, Montana. Gardiner has all of the major amenities of a small town including, two gas stations, small market, drug store, bank, restaurants, bars, churches, library, hotels, and post office. 52 miles north of Gardiner is the city of Livingston, Montana and Bozeman, Montana is 26 miles west of Livingston.
No family housing is available for this internship. Housing will be in a shared setting with common living room, kitchen and bathroom facilities. Each person is responsible for cleaning their own space and common areas, as well as removal of all trash and recycling. There are laundry facilities onsite.
Pets are not allowed in shared government housing.
Location: Gardiner, Montana (housing is provided in either Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming or Gardiner, Montana)
- The intern will have various field duties, such as taking field notes, creating field maps, taking photos, operating a GPS unit, and assisting with delineating site boundaries and condition assessments.
- Field duties may also include excavating shovel test units, screening soil matrix, recording/collecting artifacts, and recording soils data.
- Pre-fieldwork preparatory duties include collecting information for planning new fieldwork using maps and site files housed onsite in the lab.
- Office duties include preparing site condition assessment forms, and assisting with database management and official site file records.
- Additional duties may include preparing official archaeological site forms and drafting site maps using ArcGIS online. Lab duties also include analyzing and cataloguing artifacts, as well as preparing those collected for final curation in the park's collections.
Bill Lane Center internships are part of Cardinal Quarter opportunities and students from all disciplines are encouraged to apply. The opportunities are full-time (40 hours a week) for 9-10 consecutive weeks during the summer.
Specific start and end dates can be coordinated directly with the supervisor.
All undergraduates of any year, including graduating seniors, are eligible. Graduating seniors are eligible only if they are graduating in spring quarter. Students who have already graduated, e.g., fall or winter quarter of this academic year are not eligible.
Preference is given to students who have not previously been awarded a Bill Lane Center West internship and to students who will be enrolled the following fall quarter.
For more application advice, please visit the BLC’s FAQs page.
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 an internship.
- New Stipend Policy per the U.S. Department of Education: A stipend is considered a resource and it may have an impact on a student’s financial aid. To comply with US Department of Education regulations, student payments, awards, prizes, and gifts that are made available to the student because they are a Stanford student, must be reported to the Financial Aid Office. The Financial Aid Office is responsible for the disbursement of stipend funds to undergraduates. For more information, please visit the Financial Aid Office's webpage about the student stipend policy.
Application Guidelines for this Internship:
PLEASE NOTE: The successful intern will also be required to complete a NACI background investigation in order to have access to DOI buildings and DOI computers.
International students are not eligible; Interns must be U.S. citizens.
This is a very remote internship so students must be independent.
The internship is geared towards students entering their junior or senior years, but dedicated students entering their sophomore year have been successful applicants.
Pursuit of a degree or a minor in archaeology or anthropology, and/or historic preservation, or a documented interest in one of these disciplines is highly desired.
Required Skills:
- While in the field, the archaeology team generally hikes up to ten miles daily at high elevations (between 5,500 and 10,000+ feet AMSL), carrying loads up to 30 lbs. on a routine basis. Loads of up to 50 lbs. may be carried when traveling to a backcountry site for overnight stays.
- Prior successful completion of archeological or related coursework.
- Interns would have experience to independently use Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, etc.).
- The intern must be able to work both independently and as a member of a team.
- The successful intern will also be required to complete a background investigation in order to have access to the program’s government-networked computers.
Desired skills:
- Preference is given for applicants who have completed an archaeological field school or archaeological fieldwork training.
- Experience with GPS and GIS is preferred, but not required.
Selection of applicants:
Complete applications are screened by Lane Center staff and the top candidates are contacted for a first-round interview with staff from The Bill Lane Center for the American West.
After the first-round interviews, top candidates for the position are then selected by a Lane Center committee to be forwarded to the host organization for consideration and possible second-round interviews with their potential supervisors and other staff. Preference is given to students who have not previously been awarded a Bill Lane Center West internship and to students who will be enrolled the following fall quarter.
After consideration, 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 and another candidate may receive the offer.
Once an applicant accepts the offer, they should promptly notify all other Stanford and non-Stanford programs to which they have applied that they have accepted the Lane Center internship offer and withdraw their candidacy from those other opportunities.
Applicants not selected will be notified by Lane Center staff as soon as possible.
