C-StREAM Fellowship: Tracking Federally Protected Lands Through Time

The Chesapeake Student Recruitment, Early Advisement, and Mentoring Program (C-StREAM) is an inclusive program focused on recruiting, advising, and mentoring college students who identify as people of color, persons with disabilities, members of the LGBTQAI+ community, persons from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and first-generation college students who are currently pursuing an undergraduate degree. C-StREAM is designed to advance the participation of students from diverse communities in environmental science, protection, restoration, education, management, and policy careers. C-StREAM endeavors to support this goal by developing inclusive career pathways that result in greater diversity in the environmental workforce.  

Project Description

The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) and Chesapeake Research Consortium (CRC) seek a C-StREAM summer Fellow for late May through mid-August (12 weeks) to help with identifying the Date of Establishment on federal lands throughout the watershed.

Tracking land protection in the Chesapeake Bay watershed is crucial for understanding successes and challenges associated with many Watershed Agreement Outcomes. However, we have been unable to describe trends in the protection of vital habitats and resources due to the lack of a “time stamp” associated with individual land conservation activities. This fellowship will help us address this known problem, focusing on historical land conservation resulting from federal initiatives.

The “time stamp” in protected lands data is known as the Date of Establishment (DOE). This means that when land is purchased or transferred into a natural area, park, or other type of protected land it gets a date associated with it, so we know exactly when it was protected. We are currently missing the DOE for roughly 3 million acres of protected lands across the watershed. A starting place for identifying dates of establishment would be with the federal lands, as they account for 31% of acreage with missing DOE data, 4% of all protected area records w/o DOE, and 10% of all protected lands. To identify the DOE USGS and The Chesapeake Conservancy retroactively, we are looking for Fellow to help with the work, starting with identifying missing dates of establishment on federal lands.

The Fellow will (1) do research and analysis on records of federally protected lands to identify when land became protected. This may include online research or going through physical documents such as deeds and property records at different locations around the watershed, (2) work with Federal partners to improve the historic and ongoing changes of attributes to Federally protected lands, (3) create maps to show trends in federally protected lands (4) develop communication tools on best practices to share with the Chesapeake Bay Program Partnership. The C-StREAM Fellow would help the program understand a part of the DOE puzzle by looking into federal lands. 

Opportunities 

This fellowship offers a unique opportunity to contribute to critical conservation efforts while gaining practical skills in research, GIS mapping, and collaboration with government agencies. Ideal candidates will possess experience or coursework in geography, planning, environmental science, or related fields. In addition, this fellowship experience will provide insights into careers in conservation management, data management and analysis, and GIS. This fellowship allows students to make connections with established environmental and conservation management, GIS, and science professionals.

Responsibilities and Deliverables 

Duties may include but are not limited to:

• Conduct thorough research on records of federally protected lands, inspecting physical documents, deeds, and property records across the watershed.
• Collaborate with federal partners to document changes and trends in federally protected lands.
• Develop maps to visually represent trends in federally protected areas.
• Create communication tools outlining best practices for sharing findings with the Chesapeake Bay Program Partnership.
• Presentation in the C-StREAM symposium at the conclusion of the fellowship summarizing the experiences gained and work conducted. 

Eligibility

• Must be a college-level student entering sophomore, junior, or senior year of undergraduate study in the fall of 2025 or current seniors graduating in May of 2025.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States as a US citizen or national, asylee, refugee, or lawful permanent resident and willing to undergo a security background check. 

Desired Qualifications 

• Interest in environmental and conservation data and science, scientific communication, environmental policy, and/or partnership engagement. 
• Some experience with manipulating data and tables in Microsoft Excel preferred. 
• Some experience or interest in gaining experience with basic geographic information systems mapping capabilities.
• Motivated self-starter with the ability to work proactively and reason independently, consistently share progress updates, and recommend or inquire about next steps toward project completion.
• Ability to work well with others, and to seek out and incorporate feedback into work products.

Work Location and Duration 

This position will be a hybrid position with options for remote work as needed. This in-person and virtual opportunity will be based out of the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office in Annapolis, Maryland. The fellowship is scheduled to begin on May 19, 2025, and end Friday, August 8, 2025. These are our preferred dates, but the dates can be adjusted to accommodate a student’s school schedule if required. We plan on providing Fellows with access to an EPA computer, email, and phone services if this fellowship is offered in person. If the fellowship is virtual, Fellows will need to have access to suitable internet, computer, and communication resources.
 

Compensation 

The Fellow will receive a stipend at the end of each month, for a total of up to $6,000 for the equivalent of 12 weeks of full-time activities. Candidates should expect to follow a normal weekday work schedule (roughly 9-5, M-F) with occasional variations for possible field work or other activities. No benefits are provided. A one-time housing and transportation allowance of $1,000 is available to each Fellow to assist with living and transportation expenses. Funds are also available to compensate interns for occasional work-related travel and professional development activities.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Chesapeake Research Consortium and the Chesapeake Bay Program are committed to supporting a diverse and inclusive science-oriented workforce.  Our fellowship program endeavors to recruit from a diverse, qualified group of potential applicants to secure a high-performing workforce drawn from all segments of American society.  We are strongly supportive of broadening the participation of historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, and institutions that work in underserved areas.  We highly encourage applications from students at any of the above institutions as well as students that identify students who identify as people of color, persons with disabilities, members of the LGBTQAI+ community, persons from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and first-generation college students.
 

Application Instructions 

Application instructions, required materials, and the C-StREAM application portal can be found on the C-StREAM website (http://chesapeake.org/c-stream/). 

The deadline for applications is February 14, 2025.