Youth Summer Jobs in America’s Great Outdoors

2012 job opportunities for young people in the National Wildlife Refuge System and other Federal agencies.

 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to hire more than 2,300 young people this summer. If you're a student looking or a summer job opportunity now is the time to apply for a job on a national wildlife refuge or other public land.

Start here to learn about 2012 job opportunities for young people in the National Wildlife Refuge System. Scroll down to “Student Employment Opportunities” to learn about jobs through program partners such as the Student Conservation Association (SCA) and AmeriCorps. For other opportunities on refuges, such as those through the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), contact your local refuge (using the “Find Your Refuge” feature on the Refuge System homepage).

Jobs on national wildlife refuges stimulate learning and personal growth. The experience can even be life-changing.  Here's what some say about their experience:

• Kiara Ford, a sophomore at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, was a summer 2011 Career Discovery Intern at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland. Among the agriculture/business major’s responsibilities: greeting visitors, building a trail and monitoring the growth of marsh plants used by tundra swans— a measure of sea-level rise. “I loved everything about [the experience],” she said. “It really broadened my horizons.”

• Isaac Coleman from Atlanta helped protect nesting sea turtles as a 2011 Career Discovery Intern at Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge in coastal Alabama. “By the second week I felt part of the team,” he says in a Youtube video. He adds, “I feel lucky to actually have this experience.”

• Lionel D. Grant, who works as a park ranger at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge in Illinois while earning a masters degree in forestry at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, first crossed paths with the Service in 2008 as an SCA intern at Cape May National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey. He tagged horseshoe crabs, surveyed bats and helped visitors. The experience got him thinking: “I really like working with animals, I love working with people and I love being outside. With a career with the Service, I can do all three.” He has pursued that since, as a Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) hire at Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge (summer 2010), Prairie Wetlands Learning Center in Minnesota (summer 2011) and Crab Orchard Refuge (fall 2011-2012). “The Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP) is a great way to get your foot in the door,” he says. “SCEP is a great way to secure your career.” 

Learn about other 2012 conservation jobs and internships with the Department of the Interior (DOI) at http://www.youthgo.gov/ and http://www.youthgo.gov/employment-program/internships. Read about DOI’s Youth in the Great Outdoors program. Listings are for both permanent and temporary jobs. DOI manages the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and other bureaus and offices.

Youth job candidates are considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Most internships include a stipend, and others are volunteer positions. 

The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals, and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov. Connect with our Facebook page, follow our tweets, watch our YouTube Channel, and download photos from our Flickr page.

Alabama Rigs are Illegal in New Hampshire

The rig that was made popular by a major bass tournament win last year is illegal to use in New Hampshire.

The Alabama rig isn't really a lure but rather a rigging device that allows the use of multiple artificial lures connected to one line. Similar, but somewhat different, to an umbrella rig commonly used by saltwater trollers.

The NH Fish and Game website has a picture of an Alabama rig: http://www.fishnh.com/Fishing/alabama_rig.html.

NH didn't pass a new law banning the rig.  Rather under their rules and regulations it has always been illegal to use in NH or any other rig that allows for more than one lure to be attached to a line.

Pennsylvania Governor Spares State Forests from Leasing—for Now

State budget address doesn't call for leasing state forests; Senate vote on Marcellus bill raises concern

Harrisburg, PA — Sportsmen and women are relieved to learn today that Gov. Tom Corbett's budget doesn't call for leasing additional state forests for Marcellus drilling, but a state Senate vote on a Marcellus bill raises concerns about how rivers and streams will fare if the bill becomes law.

"We're pleased that the governor listened to Pennsylvania sportsmen and women and did not sacrifice Pennsylvania's forests by turning them into a revenue item in the state budget," said Ken Undercoffer, president of the Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited. "We hope this indicates that Gov. Corbett is committed to protecting these resources for generations to come. We ask him to go one step further and provide permanent protection for these remaining forest lands."

Over 40 sportsmen groups and conservation organizations, representing more than 100,000 sportsmen and women in Pennsylvania, sent a letter to Gov. Corbett in January, asking that he not lease additional state forest lands for oil and gas development to preserve sporting opportunities on these lands. One-third of state forest lands have already been leased.

The letter was signed by such groups as the National Wildlife Federation, the Pennsylvania Forest Coalition, Quality Deer Management Association and local and state chapters of national Trout Unlimited.
The Pennsylvania Senate also voted today to pass HB 1950, a bill that includes a Marcellus Shale impact fee and new drilling regulations.

"While HB 1950 contains some improvements to drilling regulations, we continue to have serious concerns about how fish and wildlife will fare near drilling sites," Undercoffer said. "The bill increases the distance from a well bore to a stream to 300feet, but given that the size of an average well pad is three acres in size, that's not nearly enough to ensure protection of these resources."

HB 1950 also includes a provision that gives the commonwealth exclusive jurisdiction over all aspects and processes related to drilling on the Allegheny National Forest, including surface impacts and water withdrawals. Last December, sportsmen and women from 36 sportsmen conservation organizations expressed opposition to such restrictions, out of concern that the bill would prevent the U.S. Forest Service from properly managing the forest—and the fish and wildlife that rely upon sound forest management.

 Erin Mooney Trout Unlimited, (571) 331-7970, emooney@tu.org

 Trout Unlimited is a non-profit organization with more than 147,000 members dedicated to conserving, protecting and restoring North America's trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds. Follow TU on Facebook on Twitter via @TroutUnlimited.

Striped Bass Management Board to Address Illegal Striped Bass Harvest

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Striped Bass Management Board initiated an addendum to address illegal striped bass harvest. The Board’s action is in response to recommendations of the Interstate Watershed Task Force (IWTF). The IWTF conducted a multi-year, multi-jurisdictional investigation on illegal striped bass harvest within Chesapeake Bay which resulted in over $1.6 million dollars in fines levied against 19 individuals and three corporations for more than one million pounds of illegal striped bass harvested estimated to be worth up to seven million dollars.

The covert investigation determined that some Virginia commercial fishermen were illegally harvesting fish during the Potomac River Fisheries Commission’s closed season, as well as illegally harvesting oversized fish from Virginia waters during the spawning season. Additionally, some Maryland commercial fishermen were
taking advantage of loopholes in the state tagging system to falsely report large numbers of smaller, legal-sized fish, allowing them to obtain more tags and exceed quota limits. The investigation also found some wholesale dealers were complicit through false recordkeeping, false checkin, and knowingly buying illegal or untagged fish.

The investigation revealed that the current control measures for regulating striped bass harvest could be improved. The IWTF and the Commission’s Law Enforcement Committee (LEC) recommended increasing penalties for illegally harvested fish and implementing a uniform commercial tagging system among all states with commercial striped bass fisheries.

The IWTF and LEC acknowledge the efforts of Maryland, Virginia and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission in initiating measures to deter the activities detected by the Task Force. Maryland has reformed its commercial fishing management rules, including the suspension or revocation of commercial licenses from violators and increasing the penalty for commercially fishing without a license. The Potomac River Fish Commission has permanently revoked the commercial licenses of the violators identified from the investigation, while Virginia suspended the commercial licenses of identified violators for two years, the maximum amount allowed by Virginia law.

The Board will consider potential management options for inclusion in the Draft Addendum for public comment at the Commission’s Spring Meeting in May. For more information, please contact Kate Taylor, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at ktaylor@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Satellite Tags Help Unravel Mysteries of Atlantic Salmon Migration at Sea

Satellite tags from adult Atlantic salmon tagged and released near Nuuk,Greenland are telling researchers where the fish go in the ocean and what environmental conditions are experienced during their journey.

The archival tags record information continually and remain on the fish for months, then pop-off or dislodge. Once on the ocean surface, the tags transmit information about water depths, ocean temperatures, and sunlight levels experienced by the fish since the time of release.  These data are accessed by  researchers, and allow them to re-create salmon migration routes and provide information on the oceanographic conditions the fish experienced en route to their natal rivers to spawn.

The Greenland satellite tagging project is headed by Tim Sheehan and Mark Renkawitz at NOAA’s Woods Hole Laboratory of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC). The tags they are using are similar to those other NEFSC researchers have successfully deployed on sea turtles and other marine animals.

In September 2011, Renkawitz and colleagues attached tags to 17 salmon in Greenland’s coastal waters; ten remain attached to the fish and are programmed to pop-off on April 1, 2012. April 1 is a predetermined pop-off date as the tag detachment apparatus is dependent on being in saltwater and there is a very low likelihood that any tagged fish will have entered their natal river by this time. Once at the ocean surface, tags transmit the data recorded since installation.

Data from a tag attached during the pilot project in 2010 that popped off as programmed in 2011 has already been valuable. Researchers have assembled a picture of where this fish had travelled during its nearly eight months at sea. When coupled with the water temperature and depth data, the movement pattern of the tagged fish will be further refined, and will aid in future tagging plans to improve the quantity of data obtained.

Atlantic salmon are anadromous fish, meaning they are born in fresh water and migrate from rivers to the ocean after undergoing a number of distinct stages of development over several years.  As smolts, the thin silver fish head to the ocean, usually between April and June, to begin a stage of aggressive feeding and growth.  After 1-2 years at sea, adults return to the freshwater streams and rivers where they were born to reproduce.

At one time Atlantic salmon could be found in rivers throughout much of New England, but Maine is now the only state in the Northeast region with wild Atlantic salmon populations. While increasing numbers of smolts are entering the ocean via the Gulf of Maine, few are returning, raising questions as to where the fish are going and what is happening to them while at sea.

Data from the satellite tagging project may hold some of the answers. Many salmon from the US and Canada find their way to the waters off Greenland and the Labrador Sea. North American and European salmon stocks co-mingle in the waters off Greenland, yet individuals from each stock somehow find the way back home.

Advances in genetics and tagging technology will one day make it possible to tell where an individual fish came from, not only the country of origin but also perhaps its specific river. Genetic information is collected when each fish is tagged, adding to the database.

The four-member Greenland tagging team includes Renkawitz and Sheehan from NEFSC, and colleagues Rasmus Nygaard from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources in Nuuk, Greenland and Audun Rikardsen from the University of Tromso, Norway.  Local fishermen also participate in the project, supplying salmon caught from various locations. Greenland has an internal use only fishing policy and has not allowed commercial export of salmon since 2001.

As the tag technology advances and the size of the tags decrease, the NEFSC team hopes to tag even more salmon in the future.  In the meantime, the team awaits results from the remaining ten tags from 2011 that make it to the April 1, 2012 pop-off date.

“Salmon are dying in the ocean at an increased rate.  This project allows us to study the migration of these pre-spawning adults from their feeding grounds off Greenland to their natal rivers in both North America and Europe,” Renkawitz said.  "What we learn from this project, coupled with other related projects, will provide a much better picture of what oceanographic conditions are important for salmon survival and how large-scale ecosystem level changes over time have influenced the trends we are seeing.”

"Each project adds another piece to the puzzle," Sheehan added. "What we learn will help us better understand the global picture for salmon and for other fishery resources.”

Background:

The Greenland satellite tagging project is one of several salmon research projects being conducted by Sheehan, Renkawitz and other NEFSC researchers. A similar, but separate, project tracks salmon smolts during the first portion of their marine migration, after they leave the freshwater rivers where they were born (see Signals from the Atlantic Salmon Highway:http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/press_release/2008/SciSpot/SS0814/).

Center scientists have been conducting baseline sampling of salmon populations for years, working with international colleagues and local fishermen. Data from this ongoing effort is essential for stock assessment models, and also provides information on the biological characteristics and stock composition of salmon over many decades. In addition, an expanded international sampling program known as SALSEA brought together researchers from North American and Europe to conduct a coordinated and comprehensive research program focused on investigating Atlantic salmon marine survival across the North Atlantic.  NEFSC scientists are integral participants in this program.

A “salmon summit” held in October 2011 in La Rochelle, France, was attended by more than 130 scientists and managers from nations around the North Atlantic Ocean, the Baltic Sea and the North Pacific interested in salmon marine survival questions. The international meeting, officially entitled “Salmon at Sea: Scientific Advances and their Implications for Management,” was co-convened by the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). in 2012, ICES plans to publish many of the research findings presented at the salmon summit in special issues of the ICES Journal of Marine Science.

NYC expands boating to three more reservoirs

A program that began in 2008 on New York City's Cannonsville Reservoir in the Delaware River drainage has been expanded to include three other city owned drinking water reservoirs; Pepacton, Neversink and Schoharie.

Both Pepacton and Neversink reservoirs are also in the Delaware River Basin while Schoharie is part of the Hudson River reservoir system.

A moderately complex set of rules and regulations, along with the customary permitting process, has been put in place for anyone wishing to use these waters.

For years fishermen have been allowed to use these reservoirs after obtain a permit.  Fishing has been allowed from shore and also from a row boat, but the boat had to stay at an assigned location at the reservoir for the entire season.

To protect their drinking water, New York City doesn't allow any motors, either gas or electric, to be used on these waters.

For more information visit the NYC DEP web page that explains the process in more detail: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/watershed_protection/cannonsville_boating_program.shtml

2012 Atlantic Tropical Storm/Hurricane Names

Back in 1953 the National Weather Service began naming tropical cyclones.  Today these storm names are maintained by an international committee at the World Meteorological Organization.  The names are listed in a six year interval that are rotated each year.  In other words, the storm names for 2011 will be the same for the storms in 2017.

This holds pretty true for most years except when a storm is so horrific it's name gets retired so not to invoke any terrible memories.  When there is a storm of that magnitude the committee decides on scratching the name off the list and then comes up with a new name.

Some of the names that have been retired are Katrina, Igor, Ivan, Andrew, Gloria and Hugo.

The 2012 storm names for the Atlantic are: 

Alberto
Beryl
Chris
Debby
Ernesto
Florence
Gordon
Helene
Isaac
Joyce
Kirk
Leslie
Michael
Nadine
Oscar
Patty
Rafael
Sandy
Tony
Valerie
William

Al Caucci's Latest Mayfly Identification Guide

Al Caucci has released a new mayfly guide for fly fisherman that includes updated information and is indispensable to the angler in identifying most of the mayfly species in North America that are important to the fly fisherman.  The Mayfly Guide: Quick and Easy Steps to Identifying Nymphs, Duns, and Spinners, is a must have for figuring out those difficult and sometimes obscure hatches encountered on the trout stream.

Caucci's prior books, the Instant Mayfly Identification Guide, Hatches and Hatches II have been widely popular with fisherman and have become virtually a required addition to every fly anglers library.

This new book is certainly in the same league complete with waterproof pages to make it safe to carry on the stream. In its pages are easy instructions on identifying nymphs, duns and spinners along with excellent color photographs of the insects.

Data can easily be cross referenced by the insects common names or by their scientific names making it an excellent guide for the beginner fly fisherman to the expert.

NOAA Fisheries 2012 Summer Internships for Undergraduate Students at The Northeast Fisheries Science Center

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) is offering summer employment /internship positions in 2012 through its Bradford E. Brown Student Internship Program. Named for a retired NOAA Fisheries scientist who was a leader in introducing young people to fisheries science, the program offers a limited number of paid summer positions during May to September distributed across NEFSC programs and laboratories.

Research topics include population biology and dynamics, resource assessment and environmental surveys, taxonomy, physical and biological oceanography, social sciences, data management, larval fish/plankton ecology, large marine ecosystems, aquaculture, biotechnology, remote sensing, protected species and apex predators. Further information about the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and its research facilities is available online at: http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/aboutus.html

Pending available funding, summer positions are offered throughout the Center’s six laboratories, which are located in Woods Hole, Mass.; Narragansett, R.I.; Milford, Conn.; Highlands, N.J., Washington, D.C. and Orono, Maine.  Summer positions are filled by matching an applicant’s skills and interest with an appropriate area of research within these laboratories. The 2012 list of summer job/internship opportunities and all related information and requirements can be found online at http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/sstudent/.

To participate in the internship program, applicants must be an active full-time student or half-time undergraduate/graduate student at a college or university for the upcoming 2012 school year at the time of application, or be accepted as a full-time or half-time student in an academic program for the 2012 school year by the time the summer position begins. Applicants must be a U.S. citizen. All completed application materials must be postmarked by April 15, 2012.

Questions about the program may be directed to NEFSC.Summer.Intern@noaa.gov

Atlantic sturgeon listed as an endangered species

NOAA Fisheries announced that five populations of Atlantic sturgeon will be listed as endangered. Of the six populations on the east coast five of them made the list which include the Chesapeake Bay, New York Bight, Carolina, and South Atlantic. Included in these populations is the Delaware river population which might number as few as just 300 fish. The Gulf of Maine population is also in trouble.  That population made the threatened list.

Atlantic sturgeon are slow growing fish living most of their lives in saltwater.  They are dependent on freshwater estuaries for spawning and for their early growth where they remain until reaching 30 to 40 inches (about 6 years old). 

The southern fish grow at a faster rate than the northern ones, but nonetheless all populations can be considered very slow to mature.  For example, South Carolina sturgeon mature at 5 to 19 years of age while Hudson river fish are 11 to 21 years old before they mature. As you move further north the St. Lawrence sturgeon aren't mature until they reach 22 to 34 years of age.

One they grow they do get big though.  Atlantic sturgeon can grow to 14 feet long and weigh as much as 800 pounds. Typically they reach 6 or 8 feet and get up to 300 pounds.

Finally, this ancient species is getting the protection it deserves.  Since females spawn only every 2 to 5 years it is expected to take at least 40 years before the sturgeon recovers to a population that represents 20 age classes.

Besides simply multiplying, Atlantic sturgeon need to overcome many obstacles in their path.  These threats include river dredging, dams,locks, water withdrawals and getting hit by ships.

Hopefully 40 years from now these ancients of the ocean can again be considered thriving.