Iowa State students interested in internships in the country’s national parks and forests took advantage of a presentation March 4 by the Student Conservation Association.

About 13 students listened to Laurel Cox, SCA alumna and recruiter, speak in the Regency Room of the Memorial Union.

The SCA, a private nonprofit organization, offers hundreds of expense-paid summer internships all across the country in national parks and forests and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuges.

“SCA’s Resource Assistant Program offers two types of expenses-paid volunteer opportunities: resource assistants, which are generally 12 to 16 weeks in length, and conservation assistants, which are 6 months to one year long,” Cox said.

Other positions are available with the New Hampshire/Massachusetts Americorps, Diversity Intern Program (DIP), Earth Work magazine, Jobnet and Conservation Career Resources and Publications, she said.

There are 1,200 positions available this year. Anyone 18 years of age or older who has graduated from high school may apply, but each individual position may have more specific required or desired qualifications.

Although the selection process began March 2, Cox said the office simply began sorting through the applications.

“There is no final deadline. We will fill positions throughout the year,” she said. “Your application is good for a year, and it can also be reactivated.”

SCA-sponsored volunteers of all ages will work with natural resource professionals throughout the nation. All programs operate in cooperation with sponsoring partners, including National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management, as well as state agencies, private organizations, and the U.S. Navy’s Natural Resource Program.

“Each position varies. DIP is doing a study abroad program. You have to be enrolled as a student, and then you are placed somewhere,” Cox said. “This program is aimed at women of color specifically.”

She said ISU has always been well represented with SCA.

For more information on the positions available with SCA, job listings are available online at http://www.sca-inc.org, or students may call the New Hampshire office at (603) 543-1700.