About us:
The Student Conservation Association (SCA) is the largest provider of hands-on environmental conservation programs for youth and adults. Program participants protect and restore national parks, national forests, wildlife refuges, marine sanctuaries, cultural landmarks, community green spaces, and much more across the country.
Position Location: USFWS San Marcos Aquatic Resource Center, San Marcos, Texas
Position Dates: 5/19/25 - 2/28/26
Position Description:
The San Marcos Aquatic Resources Center (SMARC) is located in San Marcos, Texas and is nestled between Austin and San Antonio. San Marcos is also home to Texas State University. SMARC is a center focused on research on threatened and endangered species and is home to many captive assurance populations and breeding programs for those endangered species.
The intern will be working with USFWS staff at the San Marcos Aquatic Resources Center. The intern will be feeding, handling, collecting and working with adult and larval Peck's cave amphipods. The intern will use some specialized equipment such as a dissecting microscope, forceps and pipets. The intern will also be assisting senior biologists with building and maintaining flowthrough and recirculating aquaculture systems.
Experience using laboratory equipment, such as microscopes, scales, pipets, and forceps is preferred but not required. Experience with husbandry and maintaining aquatic species is strongly preferred but not required. Experience building and maintaining aquaculture systems (i.e. fish tanks) is strongly preferred but not required.
The selected candidate will assist US Fish and Wildlife Service Biologist survey groundwater and identify taxa that are collected in these samples. Field sampling will involve deploying various traps and returning a few days later to retrieve the traps. Specimen identification will require the use of a directing scope.
- The intern would Dort and identify groundwater dwelling invertebrates
- Use a dissecting scope and imaging software to take pictures of these invertebrates
- Subsample the invertebrate tissue for downstream analyses
- Catalog what species were identified, from what location, their collection date, and how many were observed.
- The intern would have the opportunity to get field experience working on drilled water wells to collect invertebrates
- Set traps by lowering small containers down a well
- Retrieve set traps and preserve the collected samples
- Gain experience with field data collection
Member Benefits:
Living allowance: $570 per week
Local Candidates only (no housing or travel)
AmeriCorps Eligible
Equal Opportunity Statement
SCA strives to cultivate a work environment that encourages fairness, teamwork, and respect among all staff members. SCA is committed to maintaining a work atmosphere in which people of diverse backgrounds and lifestyles may grow personally and professionally. The Student Conservation Association, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer.