San Juan Chapter Student Community

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Office of Trust Services (OTS), is continually seeking scientists and technicians in STEM (science, technical, engineering, mathematics)-related disciplines to protect, conserve, utilize, and manage Indian forest and agricultural lands and resources.

I am pleased to announce that we are recruiting for several Internship positions working across various Agriculture and Rangeland Management or Forestry and Wildland Fire Management Programs. Students will also receive unique opportunities to raise their awareness of traditional ecological knowledge education and land-management practices in use today by Tribes nation-wide.

Students can intern with the BIA, Tribe or a Tribal related program.

All of our Intern job vacancies announcements are posted to USAJOBS and can be found here.

• Opening Soon! Student Trainee (Rangeland) position
• Student Trainee (Forestry) position
• Student Trainee (Fire) position

Please refer to each job vacancy announcement on USAJOBS for the specific job duties, education and qualification requirements.

Basic Education Requirements

Students must be accepted or enrolled full-time in an accredited college or university and seeking a bachelor’s degree directly related to the position (specified in the announcement) to qualify for the following grade levels:

•  GS-2 grade level: Completion of high school or GED diploma
• GS-3 grade level: Completion of 1 academic year of post-high school study
• GS-4 grade level: Completion of 2 academic years of post-high school study or associates degree

Key Eligibility Requirements

• Be at least 18 years of age
• Show they are enrolled in a Federally Recognized Tribe using Form BIA 4432.
• Must be enrolled full-time or accepted for enrollment full-time in an accredited institution
• Seeking a Bachelor’s degree specifically related to the position
• Good academic standing (cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher)
• Complete the 640-hour service requirement
• Must maintain a security clearance
• Sign and maintain a Participant Agreement
• Some positions may also require a medical exam, drug testing, and a valid driver license and specific education certification or degree requirements

Timeline

The student placement timeline shown below is typical and applies to summer work assignments. Students will be placed on LWOP (leave without pay) during the school year or when they are completing their educational requirements, and will be repeated until they graduate (complete the Program) or appointment ends.

Attached is additional information on our Pathways Internship Program.

 Host Offices and students interested in obtaining additional information can contact our Pathways Program Coordinators at:

• RANGE: Bradley Cress, bradley.cress@bia.gov
• FORESTRY: Nicole Stiffarm, nicole_stiffarm@skc.edu
• FIRE: Craig Cook, treesfire@skc.edu

Please let us know if you have any questions regarding our BIA OTS Pathways Internship Program. You can also contact Monica Cooper for support regarding recruitment/workforce solutions, at monica.cooper@bia.gov.