Volunteers needed immediately through July 15 for leatherback turtle monitoring.
Shortly thereafter, in August, monitoring for green and hawksbill season will begin. Geographic Consulting will be hiring interns for this project also and priority consideration will be given to interns with proven high-level performance on the Leatherback Project.
Location
St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Background Information
Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge supports the largest nesting population of Leatherback Sea turtles within United States jurisdiction. The Leatherback Sea Turtle Project began in 1981 as a comprehensive saturation tagging (every nesting turtle is tagged) and nest management program. The refuge was established in 1984 in order to ensure the continued protection and management of Leatherback sea turtles. Since then, saturation tagging and nest management have provided an accurate estimation of the Leatherback population, identified long-term population trends, and produced accurate assessments of adult morphology, remigration intervals, fecundity, and nesting activities. The data generated by the Project is critical to both Service and global management efforts aimed at recovery of this endangered species.
Geographic Consulting is a Virgin Islands' based Natural Resources consulting company that has been contracted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct the sea turtle monitoring at Sandy Point for 2011.
Duties
Night Patrol: Volunteers will be required to patrol a 3 km beach on foot form approximately 8:00pm - 5:00 am or until the last turtle has finished nesting. Volunteers will work five to six nights a week. During beach patrols the volunteers will be required to collect morphometric and environmental data, tag nesting females, record nesting/hatching events with a high degree of accuracy and reliability. Volunteers will also relocate nests that are in unsuitable or perilous locations.
Some late season afternoon patrols for nest management and hatching release may also be required.
Other project-support duties may be required such as data entry and equipment maintenance.
Requirements
Volunteers must have one full nesting season work experience with a sea turtle monitoring program. This experience must include night-time beach patrols, standard data collection techniques and data entry into field data forms.
Volunteers must be able to work in outdoor conditions that involve heat, wind, humidity and require strenuous physical exertion.
Benefits/Costs
Volunteers will be provided with housing, a stipend of $100/week plus $50/week for food. There is also a $300 travel reimbursement available after completion of one month.
Additional Contact Information
If interested, please send an email to bdaley@vigeocon.com with a cover letter and resume and a list of three references. Hiring is ongoing and applications will be accepted until the positions are filled.