Alaska GIS Analyst GLOBE Intern | The Nature Conservancy | Juneau, Alaska

Through the GLOBE (Growing Leaders on Behalf of the Environment) internship program.  The Nature Conservancy hires undergraduate students, graduate students, or recent college graduates (2015, 2016, and 2017) to fill paid internship positions during a 10-week summer internship.  Our mission is to provide a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between academics and the real-world conservation work that contributes to the health and sustainability of our world.  The GLOBE Program recruits individuals from a variety of backgrounds and experiences who are interested in contributing to our conservation goals in various fields.  The GLOBE Program offers a structured orientation, professional training, network opportunities, mentoring program, and real work experience.
                
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
The Alaska Chapter of The Nature Conservancy makes extensive use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a platform for conservation planning, communication and scientific analysis.  Our GIS data library and map templates allows us to rapidly analyze important issues, and communicate findings to partners and decision-makers.  To that end, we seek a GIS Analyst GLOBE Intern to help support the Alaska Chapter with GIS database and cartographic projects in Arctic and Southeast Alaska. This intern would learn all aspects of GIS database development, organization and documentation, research GIS data sources for Arctic Alaska, including digital elevation, hydrography, infrastructure, subsistence and cultural values, fish and wildlife habitat, land management and climate.  
 
The work plan may include the following:

• Digital Elevation Models:  In the Arctic, we seek to compile newly available Arctic Digital Elevation Data into a seamless raster catalog to facilitate data extraction, analysis and to support development of custom shaded-relief base layers for a variety of purposes in mapping and data visualization.
• Mapping of Arctic Social, Ecological and Economic Systems:  Alaska’s Arctic ranks among the most important energy development landscapes in North America.  Since the completion of the Trans-Alaska pipeline in the late 1970’s, an extensive network of road and pipeline infrastructure has been constructed to extract oil from Prudhoe Bay, Kuparak, Alpine and a number of smaller oil fields.  With newly discovered oil reserves further west within National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) and state waters, a critical conservation challenge will be to help agencies and Arctic communities plan for development while protecting critical habitat for endangered species such as polar bear, migratory species such as caribou and waterfowl, as well as access to critical hunting and fishing areas for Alaska Native communities.  To support such analyses, we seek to develop a comprehensive database of oil & gas infrastructure and associated permitting and management, subsistence use areas by Arctic indigenous communities, ecological systems including terrestrial, freshwater and coastal habitats, and available data on fish & wildlife distributions.
• Arctic Basemap:  Using newly available digital elevation data, we seek to create a new custom basemap to support data visualization and analysis, including elevation shading and annotation.  The intern will develop a custom color scheme to highlight important elevation gradients in the Brooks Range and Arctic coastal plain and develop custom annotation for a range of spatial scales.

 
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• HS Diploma or equivalent.  Enrolled in an undergraduate program, graduate program, or a recent graduate (within two years of graduating from an undergraduate or graduate program) for biology, environmental studies, geography, computer science or related field, or equivalent
• Enrolled in an undergraduate program, graduate program, or recent graduate of Middlebury College
• Valid driver’s license and compliance with the Conservancy’s Auto Safety Program (see Auto Safety Policy section)
• Understanding of the scientific method and basic ecological processes and concepts
  
• Experience with basic computer software including Microsoft Windows and ESRI GIS

 
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s Degree.  Graduate or recent graduate knowledgeable in Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Hands-on experience with ESRI ArcGIS for Desktop (ArcMap in particular) family of Geographic Information System software.
• Research experience or course work related to fish biology, fish ecology, river ecology, or marine ecology. 
• Preferred experience also includes knowledge of statistical methodologies and graphic design software including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe InDesign. Experience with remote sensing or web-based mapping is a plus.
• Experience in development of online mapping applications to support communication and visualization of spatial data.

 
ADDITIONAL JOB INFORMATION 

• This is a full-time, temporary internship position with a position term of June 5th – August 11, 2017.
  
• Housing stipend provided for duration of internship

 
HOW TO APPLY
To apply to position number 44771, submit resume (required) and cover letter separately using the upload buttons. All applications must be submitted in the system prior to 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on January 6, 2017.
 
www.nature.org/careers