Ecological Assistant Internship at Isle Royal National Park

Project Description: Isle Royale National Park has an abundant moose population that is putting pressure on the island’s terrestrial and aquatic vegetation. Evaluating herbivory across the landscape is vital to understanding vegetation dynamics, the impacts of increased predation following wolf introductions, and assessing the vulnerability of preferred browse species to climate change. Isle Royale's browse monitoring program aims to evaluate the long-term impacts of moose herbivory on seedling recruitment, understory plant communities, aquatic plants, and forest composition. Much of the forest land on Isle Royale is at the southern extent of the boreal forest range and key tree species of this ecosystem are preferential forage for the suite of herbivores and thus, not regenerating. It is vital to understand ecosystem response to both herbivory and climate change to inform future park management. The Ecology Assistant (intern) will be responsible for collecting, entering, and summarizing data for the park's herbivory monitoring program. The position will require 5-8 day hitches in the backcountry, with field days spent sampling vegetation plots across the park's 160 miles of trails. Office time will be spent entering vegetation data in to an Access database. The intern will use GPS, tablets, compass, and measuring tapes and will identify trees and shrubs and evaluate moose and snowshoe hare herbivory. In addition, last year Isle Royale NP had it's largest wildfire since the 1940s. The fire occurred following a long summer drought. Vegetation plots will be established in and around the burn area to monitor the impacts of natural fire on the landscape, the impacts of herbivores on post-fire forest regeneration, and inform future fire use at the park. The intern will establish plots and conduct post-fire vegetation surveys. The Ecology Assistant will also have the opportunity to assist on a variety of Natural Resource Management activities, including control of invasive species, wildlife monitoring, and water quality assessments. More details here: https://rock.geosociety.org/eo/viewJob.asp?jobID=3292&fbclid=IwAR09iGfojAOSR4zVhK-7IIS6Fnub2a3HGfjF7sc1FkImlW9GFHkL1Kg7FV4