Audubon Vermont’s Green Mountain Audubon Center in Huntington, Vermont provides natural science education for schools, families, adults, teachers, and the general public. The Center also offers a summer day camp program for children ages 3 to 13. Audubon education programs provide people with direct experiences in nature. Our programs are outdoors, science-based, interactive, and lead participants to take action to help protect birds, other wildlife, and their habitats. The Center also conducts scientific research in the form of avian monitoring and is a bird-friendly land management demonstration site for the public.
Conservation is at the core of Audubon Vermont’s mission. Audubon leads numerous conservation projects, engaging volunteers in a variety of hands-on efforts to help protect birds, other wildlife and natural areas throughout Vermont. Our current conservation efforts include the Forest Bird Initiative and the Champlain Valley Bird Initiative. These programs are working to conserve northern forest and shrubland habitat that are critical for global bird populations, many of which are showing serious declines in population. Audubon Vermont’s long-term conservation efforts have also helped increase populations of state threatened and endangered species including, Common Terns, Peregrine Falcons and Bald Eagles.
Audubon Vermont in Huntington seeks a self-motivated, driven UVM student or recent graduate for a Conservation Education Fellowship in the summer of 2019. The UVM Fellow will work closely with professional Audubon Teacher-Naturalists to lead young children outdoors in an educational, summer camp setting. They will learn how to develop camp activities and curriculum, will hone their Vermont natural history knowledge and will work effectively as part of a dynamic education team. Audubon will challenge you to enhance your teaching and mentoring skills while encouraging you to share the wonder of exploring the most magical places at Audubon.
The UVM Fellow will also work with experienced, Audubon Conservation Biologists on a variety of bird monitoring projects in Vermont. They will gain experience running a bird banding station, monitoring Peregrine Falcon nesting sites and will help to collect data on the recovering Common Tern population on Lake Champlain.
This fellowship will be 10 weeks in length depending upon availability of the most qualified applicant. The fellowship will begin in early June and will end in mid-August 2019. This is a full-time, seasonal fellowship with an estimated 35 hours of work each week. The fellowship schedule and weekly tasks will vary each week. This position is in partnership with UVM and applicants should be students or recent graduates of UVM.
- Gain experience working with 3 to 13-year-old children as they explore the forests, brooks, meadows, and ponds at the Audubon Center. Each week of camp focuses on a different theme and all campers get the chance to search for wildlife, make crafts, go on hikes, play games, and hone their nature awareness skills.
- Attend selected days of camp and bird monitoring trainings led by professional Audubon Teacher-Naturalists and Conservation Biologists.
- Provide a fun, educational experience for children during camp.
- Help maintain the safety and wellbeing of all camp participants.
- Assist with bird monitoring and data collection of priority bird species in Vermont.
- Assist Conservation staff in running the center bird banding station including removal of birds from mist nets, banding birds and collection of morphometric data.
- Learn methods and participate forest breeding bird habitat assessments
- Love of birds, other wildlife and outdoor exploration.
- Questioning; ability to model curiosity and wonder about the natural world.
- Ability to work well as part of a team and independently.
- Excellent organizational and communication skills.
- Must have reliable transportation.
- Current First Aid and CPR certification.
- Preferred qualifications include: demonstrated knowledge of Vermont natural history; experience developing and leading outdoor activities, as well as working with both preschool-age (3 to 5) and school-age (6 to 13) children; strong group management skills and attention to detail.