Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Internships: Pathways to Public Lands Careers

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) offers a variety of internship programs designed to engage the next generation of land managers and conservation professionals. These internships provide invaluable opportunities for students and recent graduates to gain direct professional experience, enhance their skills, and explore careers in environmental and public lands management. Tasked with balancing various uses such as recreation, energy development, and wildlife preservation, BLM plays a crucial role in ensuring sustainable and responsible land management practices.

Individual Placement Opportunities with ACE EPIC

Individual placement opportunities (internships) are perhaps the most effective tool currently available to those seeking direct experience within our public lands management agencies. The EPIC Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Division works with the BLM (and some non-federal partners) to place individuals in a variety of positions throughout the west, allowing for professional development and experiential learning for those interested in a career in environmental and public lands management.

The American Conservation Experience (ACE) EPIC program partners with the BLM to offer individual placements in various locations, primarily in the Western United States, including Arizona, California, Oregon, New Mexico, Utah, and even Florida. These placements allow participants to work directly with land and environmental managers, gaining hands-on experience in their fields of interest.

Benefits of ACE EPIC Internships

Beyond direct experience, all ACE positions are paid opportunities, with participants being provided a weekly living allowance during their terms of service. These living allowances vary based on the position, so check each position description for additional information. Participants may also be eligible to earn an AmeriCorps education award, as well as special hiring status for federal placements.

Application Process for ACE EPIC

ACE reviews all applications for positions. Applications will be reviewed and rated according to the following criteria - relevant educational and work experience, oral and written communication skills, maturity, professionalism, technical knowledge and expertise, evidence of adaptability and adventurousness, and ability to work effectively with diverse audiences. Some positions may require you to drive an ACE or agency vehicle. Members must have a valid driver’s license, clean driving record with ability to provide required documentation; (Driving record checks will be completed during on-boarding process. Applications may take up to a month to review.

If your application is selected for an interview, ACE staff will reach out to set up initial interviews with candidates and go over basic information regarding the position. Once initial interviews are completed, top candidates will be sent to our partner who will typically do second interviews before selecting a candidate. Depending on the position, this process can take a few weeks.

In addition to ACE You will need to go through the Department of Interior’s background check process prior to starting any position. Some positions may provide a housing allowance or housing on site. The majority of positions within the BLM division will not have provided housing.

DOI Direct Hiring Authority for Resource Assistant Internship (DHA-RAI) Program

The DOI Direct Hiring Authority for Resource Assistant Internship (DHA-RAI) Program is a direct hiring initiative that challenges the BLM to develop an 11-week rigorous summer internship program for current college students, with particular attention to internships in career fields necessary to the effective management of public lands and resources. The DHA-RAI Program gives the BLM the opportunity to bring new talent to the agency while working on specific projects to accomplish the mission and support the needs of local and rural economies.

The BLM DHA-RAI Program works through designated youth program partner organizations, which are tasked with recruiting and managing candidates. Partner organizations contribute to the expenses of providing and supporting the Resource Assistant internships, through private sources of funding, at a level equal to 25 percent of the total costs of each participant in the program who has been recruited and placed through that organization. The BLM DHA-RAI Program partners with the following organizations: American Conservation Experience, Great Basin Institute, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, Student Conservation Association, and University of Alaska Anchorage.

With successful completion of the rigorous internship program, along with their conferred degree, BLM DHA-RAI Program participants that meet Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualification Standards may be directly appointed without competition to a full time, permanent position vacancy.

Pathways Internship Program

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) offers the Pathways Internship Program for students.

Types of Interns

An Intern (also known as an “Indefinite Intern”) is a Student Trainee in a developmental role on an excepted service appointment expected to last more than 1 year.
An Intern Not-To-Exceed (NTE) (also known as a “Temporary Intern”) is a Student Trainee in a developmental role on an excepted service appointment expected to last 1 year or less. Interns with an NTE date are hired on a temporary basis to help complete short-term projects, perform short-term labor-intensive tasks, or fill traditional summer jobs.

Public Lands Corps (PLC)

Public Lands Corps (PLC) is a work and education program established by the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993. Through PLC partnerships, young adults and veterans contribute to the conservation of public lands while gaining paid work experience and job training in a variety of resource management fields.

Eligibility for PLC

citizens or permanent legal residents of the United States
Possess or agree to pursue a high school diploma or equivalent

Benefits of PLC

Complete 640 hours of project work to earn a 2-year non-competitive hiring authority with the Fish & Wildlife Service and other land management agencies.
Earn a living stipend, allowance, or wage.
Gain practical hands-on job experiences that can lead to established careers within government service.
Work alongside Service employees to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats.
Develop technical, interpersonal, and applicable job skills.
Engage in professional development, networking, and mentorship opportunities.

Project Types in PLC

Wildlife and Habitat Management/Restoration
Invasive Species Removal
Trail Building/Restoration
Wildfire and Fuel Management
Climate Mitigation and Resilience
Emergency and Natural Disaster
Visitor Services & Environmental Education
Public affairs, communications, and digital media
Transportation/Community Connectedness
Law Enforcement
Infrastructure and Maintenance
Virtual and/or in-person opportunities hosted by FWS Headquarters, Regions, or Divisions (e.g. Ecological Services, Migratory Birds, etc.)

How to Find Eligible Internship Opportunities in PLC

The FWS partners with nongovernmental organizations to provide internship or fellowship opportunities. These partners help us promote and build a robust applicant pool for our conservation positions. Most of our partners are also members of the FWS Youth Corps which allows them to provide Public Lands Corps Hiring Authority for their interns’ service. After securing an internship, let the organization you are employed by (e.g., conservation corps, non-profit organization, college or university) know that you are interested in receiving your PLC certificate of eligibility for noncompetitive hiring authority upon completion of your term or internship. They can assist you in completing a PLC Work Hours Verification Form and submitting this form to your FWS Regional PLC Coordinator. If you meet all the eligibility requirements, the Service will issue you a signed PLC certificate that you may use to apply for federal positions.

How to Use Your Hiring Authority in PLC

PLC non-competitive hiring authority allows you to apply for permanent positions with the Service, Geological Survey, as well as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under Department of Commerce.

Search USAJOBS.gov for a career opportunity. Pay attention to the filters such as agency and hiring paths. The Public Lands Corps authority is under Hiring Paths and Special Hiring Authorities. You can select these filters to narrow your career search to opportunities open to your authority.

You must apply, be selected, and be onboarded into your position within 2 years of when your PLC certificate is dated. You must also meet the requirements listed on the job announcement to qualify for the position. Make sure that you apply with a robust Federal resume and provide all required documents including your PLC Certificate, high school diploma, and post-secondary or college transcripts, if applicable.

When completing an application’s assessment questionnaire, be sure to respond “Yes” to designate your eligibility as a Public Lands Corps (PLC) certificate holder. To verify your eligibility, you must provide a copy of your "Certificate of Eligibility for Non-Competitive Hiring Status (PLC)".

Bill Lane Center for the American West Internships

Every summer, The Bill Lane Center for the American West offers many opportunities for Stanford undergraduates (including graduating seniors and co-terms) to work with organizations throughout the West. All internships are full-time for nine to ten weeks during the summer. The Lane Center has placed hundreds of interns in positions across the West since 2005. The Bill Lane Center will provide a base stipend of $7,500 with additional funding for student financial aid and location, if applicable, up to $10,000. The stipend is not intended to be, and is not, a paid, hourly wage.

Bill Lane Center internships are part of Cardinal Quarter opportunities and students from all disciplines are encouraged to apply. All undergraduates of any year, including graduating seniors, are eligible. Graduating seniors are eligible only if they are graduating in spring quarter. Complete applications are screened by Lane Center staff and the top candidates are contacted for a first-round interview with staff from The Bill Lane Center for the American West. Applicants not selected will be notified by Lane Center staff as soon as possible.

Financial Aid and Stipends for Bill Lane Center Internships

Department of Education: A stipend is considered a resource and it may have an impact on a student’s financial aid. To comply with US Department of Education regulations, student payments, awards, prizes, and gifts that are made available to the student because they are a Stanford student, must be reported to the Financial Aid Office. The Financial Aid Office is responsible for the disbursement of stipend funds to undergraduates. No preference for any class year.

UConn EEB and Wagner Lab Internship

The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) at the University of Connecticut is a community dedicated to scientific discovery, innovation, and education of and about biodiversity. Primary goals will be to collect baseline surveys of insect populations using light trap samples; collect, raise, and photograph caterpillars; and census insects in globally imperiled ecosystems in SE Arizona. Data from the survey will be used to inform conservation and land management decisions, yield baseline data on insect diversity, and contribute to ecological studies examining trophic specialization (diet breadths) and food web structures across latitudinal gradients.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Wagner lab are looking to carry out modern biotic inventories of some ecologically significant tracts in Idaho, SE Arizona, and other western states. In addition to the project description above, much of the caterpillar and moth data will be used as the basis for species accounts for a book on the “Caterpillars of Western North America” to be published by Princeton University Press. The intern would be encouraged to spend 1 week at the end of the internship in Storrs, CT, prepping 95-190 specimens for DNA barcoding. The intern would enter metadata into a database, image the voucher specimens, collect tissue subsamples, and prepare 1 or 2 microplates for sequencing. The intern would work in Dr. David Wagner’s lab in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UConn.

This internship is in-person. There will be two to three hours of lab time for each hour of field time. The latter half of July will be spent at Willcox Playa and the adjacent sky islands of SE Arizona. The intern will work as part of a small team. Outdoor conditions will expose candidates to magnificent wildlands of the American West. There will also be challenges associated with working in a prairie/sagebrush as well as montane and desert ecosystems, including biting-insects, sun-exposure, and primitive road conditions. All candidates must be prepared to handle these challenges and maintain a positive attitude for the duration of the internship.

Two summer interns will form the core team that will spend the summer together. Tanner Matson (post-doc at Smithsonian Museum/National Museum of Natural History) and Professor David Wagner will join the interns for two weeks at the beginning of the internship. Professor Wagner will also spend another 10 or more days with the interns in SE Arizona. The intern would be collecting for a few hours a day; spend part of each day maintaining the living caterpillars and updating the associated field/rearing notes; photographing the living caterpillars; and processing the trap collections once a week.

No family housing is available for this internship. Because the BLM field stations have sometimes been in remote locations, Professor Wagner purchased a StarLink system, so the interns would have access to internet wherever they lodge. Camping for a few nights each summer is optional. Interns may be expected to share a bedroom for some locations but generally will have their own room or bunk space at most locations. There are laundry facilities onsite. Only one of the two summer interns need have a vehicle. Locations: SW Idaho and SE Arizona with brief forays into adjacent states of Oregon, Utah, and Washington.

General Requirements and Opportunities

The BLM offers a wide variety of job opportunities for qualified individuals with different levels of education and work experience. A college degree may be required in some cases. Check out the federal occupations by college major or the federal occupation job series list to connect your field of study with career series and titles in the Federal Government.

The training & development of Interns at the US Department of the Interior is a dynamic and comprehensive program designed to cultivate the skills and expertise of emerging talents. Interns engage in hands-on experiences, mentorship programs, and specialized workshops, fostering a deep understanding of the department's mission and operations. The compensation for the role will range from $18.06 to $23.48 per hour.

Beginning as an intern at the US Department of the Interior opens doors to a dynamic career progression. From gaining hands-on experience in resource management to contributing to policy development, interns evolve into valuable team members.

The US Department of the Interior prioritizes a harmonious work-life balance, fostering an environment where employees can thrive both professionally and personally. With flexible schedules and a commitment to employee well-being, the department recognizes the importance of maintaining an equilibrium between fulfilling responsibilities and enjoying personal pursuits.

At the US Department of the Interior, collaboration flows like the nation's diverse landscapes, fostering a dynamic work culture where employees unite with a shared passion for preserving America's natural treasures. The office buzzes with innovation, mirroring the department's commitment to sustainable practices and responsible stewardship.

No previous Federal service is required. This is a career development, except a Service appointment under the BLM Pathways Internship Program that is expected to last more than 1 year. Our challenging mission calls for the best and the brightest our nation has to offer, and in return, we offer interesting, creative work with opportunities for professional growth throughout the organization.

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