GIS Project Internships - Iowa Valley Resource Conservation & Development

Job Description:

Summer Internship: Project Assistant
This position is a seasonal position.

Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) is a not-for-profit 501 (C) (3) corporation directed by volunteer board members. Our office is located in Amana, IA and serves the counties of; Benton, Iowa, Johnson, Linn, Poweshiek, and Tama.

Iowa Valley RC&D assists people protect and develop their economic, natural, and social resources in ways that improve their areas’ economies, environment, and quality of life. The Iowa Valley RC&D provides avenues for people to plan and implement projects that will make their communities better places to live.

Several important and resume building internship opportunities exist with our current projects.

Roadside Remnant Tour, Guidebook Series, and Rare Plants Poster Projects
The Roadside Remnant Tour project is part of an educational program focused on the celebration of the cultural and natural heritage of plants native to the six county areas of Benton, Iowa, Johnson, Linn, Poweshiek and Tama. The goal of this project is to actively inform the traveling public, so that roadsides may be equated with the preservation of our tall grass prairie heritage. The Guidebooks series includes the development of a Sportsman’s, Paddlers’, and Birders’ Guides of the Iowa and Cedar Valley region. The goal of the guidebook series is to increase awareness of the unique natural, historic, and cultural areas, as well as the many recreational, hunting, fishing, birding and eco-tourism opportunities of the region.

Job duties associated with all aspects of the implementation of these projects include but are not limited to:
Organization and transcription of written roadside inventories into digital format
Assistance with web design
Development of a database of eco-businesses
Work with ArcGIS to populate databases
Photography
Field verification of remnants and plantings
Updating website
Research
Limited travel
A working knowledge of ArcGIS and plants is a must for these projects; experience with Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium would be very helpful.


I-Food, Regional Food Initiative
For the student interested in community agriculture, the I-Food initiative represents the opportunity to work with a diverse group of people to finalize a regional food model, bringing together key local leaders with a stake in local food production. There are four sub-programs under the I-Food umbrella in addition to the regional planning process, the Linn County Local Food Project, the Amish/Mennonite Dairy Project and the Grazing Workgroup Project (which includes a beef marbling study), Carbon Footprint Analysis of Locally Grown Foods.

Job duties associated with this project include but are not limited to:
Assistance with the organization and management of educational programs and workshops
Development of newsletters
Work with ArcGIS to populate databases
Occasional participation in evening, weekend and/or educational workshops and meetings
Updating partner and participant databases and e-mail contacts
Assisting in the development of surveys
Visiting local food growers
Updating website
Research (among other things, reseach of carbon analysis of conventionally grown grains vs. locally produced food)
Occasional coordination of projects from start to finish
Limited travel



The preferred applicant must have:

A valid Iowa driver’s license
Access to a vehicle


Experience with the following software programs is strongly desired:

Adobe Dreamweaver to maintain frequent updating of the RC&D's website
Excel, Word, PowerPoint
Adobe Creative Suite 2.0., Microsoft Publisher
ArcGIS software
Digital photography


All interested candidates please submit a resume and three references via mail and/or email to:
Christine Taliga
Iowa Valley Resource Conservation & Development Coordinator
920 48th Avenue
Amana, Iowa 52203
ctaliga@ivrcd.org
www.ivrcd.org


Phone: 319.213.9243 Fax: 319.213.9245