September 2009
Hi Wildlifers!
There are some new items on the agenda for this fall. We're in the process of organizing Quizbowls teams to take to state, regional, and national competitions. We are also starting up some long-term projects that may continue for years to come. The meeting on Monday the 14th will be very important for getting an idea of how much we can take on and where everybody's interests lie. If you can't attend, feel free to drop us a line and let us know what you hope to see in the coming year.
January 2009
Hi Wildlifers!
Below is information for student jobs with the USFWS. This is an especially good opportunity for students looking for a good first field season. And if you are not in the area right now, the interviews can be carried out by phone.
UAF students, faculty, and staff:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be interviewing and talking with
students/alumni about various job opportunities on February 2, 3 and 4,
2009. To sign up for an interview time, individuals will need to submit a
resume on UAFCareerConnect. See below for instructions (These resumes can
either be generic or federal resumes).
US Fish and Wildlife staff will speak to students/alumni about the types
of positions usually available and will conduct informal interviews to
identify potential job placement. After summarizing the interviews, US
Fish and Wildlife staff will then provide hiring officials at US Fish and
Wildlife offices with a list and interview summary of students/alumni
deemed qualified to work this summer. Interested students/alumni are also
encouraged to view job announcements listed throughhttp://www.usajobs.gov/ and please note that these positions all have
various opening and closing dates.
Students/alumni can bring sample cover letters and resumes to the
"interview" for US Fish and Wildlife staff to review. Students/alumni do
not have to have a complete resume to participate, but should provide a
draft resume. See the Career Services Career Guide for examples of generic
or federal resumes.
Employees/interns perform a variety of tasks such as wildlife and
vegetation surveys, environmental education and outreach, fish tracking,
weir and sonar operations and invasive species monitoring and control, and
habitat restoration, to name a few.
Possible Summer Jobs Available:
-Biological Science Technician positions (GS-4 thru GS-7) in fields of
plants, birds, wildlife, and fisheries
-Administrative Clerk positions
-Interpretive/Education staff positions
INTERVIEW SIGN UP PROCESS:
To sign up for an "interview" slot, students/alumni need to do the
following:
Create a profile on UAFCareerConnect;
Upload a resume. (Resume will be approved by Career Services staff within
1 day);
Select Jobs tab, choose "All Interviews" in the Show Me category
Click on "US Fish & Wildlife Summer Employment FEBRUARY INTERVIEW";
Choose resume to submit and interview time then click Submit.
Questions about this interview process can be directed to Career Services:
474-7596 or careerservices@uaf.edu.
In preparation to submitting an application for these, or any other
federal job, I would suggest that you might consider the comments in the
attached document. Prior to the interviews it would also be helpful for
you to develop a federal application (resume) that you can share with us.
For more information about creating federal resumes, check outhttp://www.makingthedifference.org/federaljobs.
Lastly, if you know of other students, either here in Alaska or elsewhere
that would be interested in Alaska seasonal positions, please feel free to
forward this email to them. We can conduct telephone interviews with
students located outside of Fairbanks.
Nicole Gustine
Wildlife Refuge Specialist
Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge
101 12th Ave. Rm 264
Fairbanks, AK 99701
907-456-0386
nicole_gustine@fws.gov
For a sample federal resume, click here.
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Hi Wildlifers---
I hope everyone is enjoying the winter break, and for those of you in Fairbanks, staying warm. I just have a few little tidbits of information for you all.
Anyone looking for a summer job should check out www.usajobs.com, which is the primary clearinghouse for federal jobs. It also has a pretty good resume builder, so if you are not sure how to do that, this can help you out. I am arranging a speaker to discuss some of the job opportunities available for this summer. Also, we have a number of links on our website, www.uaf.edu/wildlife, for other seasonal jobs.
The Student Chapter has helped with a couple of major outreach events in the past, and I have spoken to someone looking to arrange a science camp in Arctic Village that would like our help. She is looking for an anthropologist to speak at the camp. If any of you know of any people who would be interested, please forward me their contact information.
I recently received an email from the president of the Utah State University TWS chapter about the 2009 student conclave, March 6-9, in Logan, Utah. I am quite certain that no one from UAF has attended in some time, and I think we should fix that. This is geared specifically towards students, and could give us some really interesting ideas for projects we might do. If anyone is interested in learning more about it or wants to attend, please let me know.
A few people have asked about trying to do some day trips or maybe overnight trips this coming spring. I am looking for ideas on what to do, where to go, how many people would be interested, etc. One idea we have thought of in the past was to go ice fishing somewhere. Please email me with any suggestions.
As always, we are looking for some interesting speakers or wildlife-related films for our meetings. If anyone knows of someone coming to town who might want to give a presentation for us, or would like to talk about some research they did in the past, please let me know. We have had some fantastic presentations in the past from graduate students speaking about research prior to coming to UAF, for example.
Well, I think that is everything I can justify throwing at you all right now. Enjoy what remains of the break!
Micah Miller
President
UAF Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society http://www.uaf.edu/wildlife/
907-750-4765
Department of Biology and Wildlife
Institute of Arctic Biology
Room 211, Irving Building
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775
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February 2009
Hi Wildlifers--
The Department of Fish and Game is conducting a research project on moose browse in the Fairbanks area, and they would like our help. Anyone interested should contact Perry Barboza as soon as possible at ffpsb@uaf.edu. This would require a couple of days in March, and they would like to set up a 3-4 hour training session for anyone interested.
This is a great way to get some easy field experience on an interesting project.
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Hi Wildlifers!
As many of you know, the student chapter of TWS has been helping with the wood bison restoration project for some time now, and I thought some of you might be curious what has been happening with the work.
Last summer, a group of about 50 bison were imported from Elk Island National Park in Canada, and brought to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC) in Portage, south of Anchorage. This brings the total Alaskan population to a little over 80 animals, all of which are in quarantine there for at least two years. The animals will be tested for a broad spectrum of diseases, parasites, and for genetics and toxicology on a twice-yearly basis.
Last fall, a group of four students went down to the AWCC to assist with the testing, and got to learn more about the project. In March, there will be another round of testing, and a chance for a few more students to take part as well.
The final goal is to release the animals into the wild as an experimental population. Originally, the goal had been to release the animals into the Yukon Flats, but has since been amended to the Minto Flats. However, due to some oil and natural gas interests in the region, there has been some question as to whether or not this will occur. The issue is currently in the legislature. The details of the project and its current status are below, with a few attachments as well (Wood Bison ESA paper, Key Points, and a resolution for the legislature regarding the bison project).
This project, while under debate from a number of angles, has wide ranging implications for Alaska. If you do feel that the project is worth supporting, please contact your legislator and convey this to them.
For more information, see the following documents:
Final ADFG Wood Bison ESA Paper
Key Points About Wood Bison and the ESA
Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 2
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Hi Wildlifers--
Anyone interested in human-wildlife interactions may find this interesting. The link below is of a PDF summary of the effects of wind-turbines upon birds and bats in the US. It is certainly worth looking through, though it has been written by a contractor company and appears to have some serious statistical issues.
This is an excellent updated summary (January 2009) of avian and bat issues at wind farms, presented by Erickson and Arnett for a NWCC webinar on January 14th. Interesting to note their observations of new mortality studies, including bat species distributions.
http://www.nationalwind.org/workgroups/wildlife/Erickson_Overview.pdf
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March 2009
Hi Wildlifers--
There is still one spot available for the spring Wood Bison handling,from March 16th to 20th. This is the week following spring break. Anyone interested should email the Wildlife Society as soon as possible so we can reserve a spot for you. This is first-come, first-serve, but please make sure you are willing to miss an entire week of school to do this.
As this is immediately following spring break, we may be able to drive down earlier and spend some time hiking near Anchorage or Girdwood for a few days, if schedules allow. We can also pick up people in Anchorage if they are already intending to be there for spring break.
This should come at no cost to you, as food, lodging, and fuel will be covered. All you need to bring is a sleeping bag and warm clothes to use while working.
Don't miss out on this opportunity! This is great experience and looks fantastic on a resume!
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Hi Wildlifers--
The weekend of March 21st and 22nd is going to be a busy one for us. We have two fundraising events going on which we need volunteers for.
The first is the Fairbanks Arts Association's (FAA) Art Expo. We work with the FAA on the film festival and they asked us for our help on this. We will need 4 volunteers for each day, Saturday and Sunday. The event goes from 12-5, but a few volunteers at least will be needed to help with set-up on Saturday. Two of these volunteers will sell food for the event while the other two will watch a TWS booth and be able to explain about skins and skulls to anyone interested in them.
The second event is the Alaska Trapper Association's annual Fling. They have asked us for 4-5 volunteers for this, and it will be from about 5 until 10 on Saturday night. The volunteers for this event get fed and get to help selling raffle and auction items for the event.
If you are able to help out at all for either of these events, it would be great. Even an hour or two would be very helpful. Please email me with the times and dates you might be willing to help out.
The money we make at both of these events helps to support the food and drinks at our meetings, as well as funding our other events throughout the year. Your help in this would be greatly appreciated.
Micah Miller
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Hi Wildlifers--
Falk Huettmann has asked me to forward this information along to you. On April 2nd, the EWHALE lab will be holding an open seminar on modeling techniques for wildlife and biological research, incorporating any number of techniques. He will have speakers to show some of their research and describe how the modeling technique was used in the analysis.
Anyone interested should email Falk at fffh@uaf.edu for more details. If you have some research you are conducting and would like some criticism and recommendations, this may be a good venue for you to do so. Contact Falk if you would like to make a short presentation (8 minute presentation with 7 minutes for Q&A).
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Wildlife Track and Sign Workshop
What are all those disturbances in the snow? You may not see them, but animals are going about their lives and leaving sign to show it. Come learn about wildlife track and sign at Creamers Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. We will learn about the wildlife that lives in our area as well as the basics of identifying tracks, animal sign, gait patterns and more.
Classroom sessions and field sessions. You must be prepared to spend a few hours outside walking on trails. Bring a Lunch. You may be surprised to find what is out there!
When: Saturday, April 4. 10AM- 3PM
Where: Creamers Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge on College Rd.
Meet at the Farmhouse visitor’s center by the barns.
Who: People 16 years and older who are interested in learning about tracking, wildlife track and sign identification and interpretation.
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Limited to 15 people. To register contact:
Mike Taras
Education and Outreach Specialist
Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game
1300 College Rd. Fairbanks, AK 99701
Phone: 907 459-7230
mike.taras@alaska.gov
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Hi Wildlifers--
Falk Huettmann has asked me to forward this information along to you. On April 2nd, the EWHALE lab will be holding an open seminar on modeling techniques for wildlife and biological research, incorporating any number of techniques. He will have speakers to show some of their research and describe how the modeling technique was used in the analysis.
Anyone interested should email Falk at fffh@uaf.edu for more details. If you have some research you are conducting and would like some criticism and recommendations, this may be a good venue for you to do so. Contact Falk if you would like to make a short presentation (8 minute presentation with 7 minutes for Q&A).
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Volunteers are needed for the annual meeting of the Alaska State Chapter of The Wildlife Society. The event will be held April 7-9 in the Wood Center, and refreshments will be provided. Volunteers are needed to assist with registration and set-up.
This is a wonderful opportunity to interact with wildlife professionals and learn about current research in the state. Day-long commitments are not required, however a few hours each day would be a great help! |
