GL-EPMT Young Adult Exotic Plant Interns | NPS NOIP17AC00391

Opportunity Information: Apply for NPS NOIP17AC00391

The GL-EPMT Young Adult Exotic Plant Interns opportunity is a National Park Service (NPS) cooperative agreement task under an existing master cooperative agreement (P15AC00009) between the Department of the Interior/NPS and the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa. Its core purpose is to place young adults in paid, hands-on natural resource work focused on invasive (exotic) plant management across the Great Lakes region. The program is designed as a service-learning and workforce-development pipeline: interns gain real field experience while parks improve habitat conditions and protect both natural and cultural resources so they remain "unimpaired" for future generations.

The work centers on active vegetation management activities that parks rely on to maintain healthy plant communities, such as mowing or cutting, seeding, prescribed burning support, and direct control of problematic and invasive plants. A key feature is that the interns do not work in a single park; instead, they rotate through multiple national park units across a larger geographic area and collaborate with different park staff and stakeholders. The intent is to build practical job skills and professional habits (work ethic, leadership, teamwork), reduce invasive species impacts, and introduce participants to resource-management careers, ultimately helping train the next generation of conservation professionals.

Under the statement of work, the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa serves as the primary recipient responsible for staffing and participant support. They jointly recruit and select two individually placed young adult Exotic Plant Interns with the NPS Great Lakes Exotic Plant Management Team (GL-EPMT). The Corps is responsible for creating a leadership and training program, tracking each intern's progress and experience, and hosting a mid-year retreat for reflection and professional growth. They also manage essential administrative and safety requirements, including health, safety, and risk-management programs (driver safety, liability insurance, health insurance, and workers compensation). In addition, the Corps provides a housing stipend and assistance finding housing when needed, supplies uniform items and required personal protective equipment, and funds travel for up to 75 travel days per season per intern. The position is full time at 40 hours per week, typically built around long field days (often 10 hours) with flexibility to shorten to 8 or extend up to 16 hours as operational needs require. The typical field-season schedule is structured as eight straight 10-hour days (Wednesday to Wednesday) followed by six days off, with language noting that emergency or intensive operations could require extended consecutive hours with required rest periods. The Corps also supports cost control by encouraging shared lodging and camping when it meets safety, morale, and welfare needs, and interns may use UTVs or truck-mounted sprayers when trained and authorized by park staff.

The National Park Service, through the GL-EPMT and participating park units, provides the operational framework, technical oversight, training, and field resources needed to carry out the work. NPS commits to staffing support in the field (an NPS staff member accompanies interns for most field project work and provides advising across field projects), orientation to the NPS mission before the season begins, and access to computers and USAccess credentials if needed. NPS also supplies transportation and fuel for field work and training across up to 11 national park units, depending on priorities and conditions: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Grand Portage National Monument, Ice Age National Scenic Trail, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Isle Royale National Park, Keweenaw National Historical Park, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and Voyageurs National Park. NPS ensures interns complete required certifications and safety training such as CPR/First Aid, driver training, herbicide application safety, and chainsaw user training, and also ensures interns obtain licensing to mix and apply herbicides in Wisconsin and Michigan. On-the-job instruction includes invasive plant identification, equipment operation (including GPS), and technical guidance on restoration methods and herbicide selection. NPS provides GPS units (with support for use and maintenance) and supplies the field equipment and materials needed for the work, such as UTVs, chainsaws, portable and backpack sprayers, mechanical tools, herbicides, fuel, and PPE. NPS also supports intern professional development by delivering at least five career-focused presentations featuring staff from natural resources and potentially other career tracks (cultural resources, interpretation, law enforcement, administration), and provides a one-hour one-on-one job counseling session for each intern. For each project, NPS briefs interns on the resource issues and management decisions that make the work necessary, and NPS retains authority to halt any project if herbicide practices, effectiveness, resource impacts, or safety do not meet specifications.

Funding and administrative details identify this as a mandatory cooperative agreement notice rather than an open competition. The public posting is explicitly not a request for applications; it is a notice of NPS intent to award a task agreement under an already-established or single-source-justified master cooperative agreement, limited to members/participants under the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa Youth Master Agreement (P15AC00009). The opportunity is listed under Funding Opportunity Number NPS NOIP17AC00391, CFDA 15.931, with an award ceiling of $500,000 and an expectation of one award, originally posted July 10, 2017 with an original closing date of July 28, 2017.

• The National Park Service in the education, employment, labor and training, environment, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "GL-EPMT Young Adult Exotic Plant Interns" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.931.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-07-10.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-07-28. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

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