Risk Management Division: Applications Being Accepted For Summer Internship Program

NPS Morning Report November 6, 2009

The Division of Risk Management and the Student Conservation Association (SCA) have established a summer internship program that provides opportunities for students to support park injury prevention efforts and provides parks with a cost-effective way to enhance their visitor safety programs.  Consistent with the Administration’s effort to engage youth with our national parks, this program offers outstanding personal and professional opportunities to young people, while providing opportunities for parks to enhance their public safety programs.

The Risk Management Division and SCA will assist parks in identifying particular needs and finding interns with the skills to meet those needs. Interns will then be placed in parks for three to six months to assist with specific park projects to enhance injury prevention and control efforts.  Parks must provide housing, transportation costs, a subsistence allowance, and on-site supervision for each intern.  The Risk Management Division will cover the cost of a comprehensive, highly specialized, six-day training for all interns and will provide on-going technical support.

“This program exceeded my expectations and I think that is largely due to the caliber of the individual intern,” said Maureen Finnerty, a ranger at Devils Postpile NM who supervised an intern in the Risk Management pilot internship program last summer. “The self motivation and the knowledge that he brought to the park was tremendous.  He has gone above and beyond what we have asked of him, and pointed out additional needs that we did not even think about initially.”

Parks with an interest in strengthening their injury prevention programs are encouraged to apply.

Application forms and further information about this program are available on the Public Risk Management website.  Parks interested in participating should contact Gabrielle Fisher, Public Risk Management program specialist, at 202-513-7160, or gabrielle_fisher@nps.gov.  Applications to participate in this program will be accepted through Thursday, December 31st.
[Submitted by Gabrielle Fisher]