TEMPORARY River Watch YIP Intern

THIS IS A TEMPORARY POSITION (6 MONTHS) - PAYING $19.25 PER HOUR, 40 HOURS/WEEK

EMPLOYMENT STARTS 10/19/2026 THROUGH 04/16/2027.

The mission of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources is to develop, preserve, and enhance the state's natural resources for the benefit and enjoyment of current and future citizens and visitors. In an effort to build diversity and inclusion we welcome applications from people of diverse backgrounds and abilities.

Our Mission is to perpetuate the wildlife resources of the state, to provide a quality state parks system, and to provide enjoyable and sustainable outdoor recreation opportunities that educate and inspire current and future generations to serve as active stewards of Colorado's natural resources. Colorado Parks and Wildlife

The Colorado River Watch program is a statewide volunteer water quality monitoring program managed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife and an external non-profit vendor, River Science. Together we support 120 groups statewide including middle and high school groups as well as adult volunteers who collect monthly surface water samples for alkalinity, hardness, pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature and metals from their local rivers.

River Watch has a set annual cycle to gather and deliver water quality and macroinvertebrate data and support its volunteers. This position would be exposed to many aspects of this cycle including field sample collection, laboratory analysis, training volunteers, assisting with volunteer management, program presentations, data analysis, entry and validation, management and filing, laboratory sample preparation and verification, equipment inventory and maintenance, sample processing, site visits, report writing and some Clean Water Act policy work.

The primary responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Attend the annual River Watch training.
• Data management, analysis, and scientific data communication
• Update data visualization tools in R Studio (R Shiny App) and an ESRI online storymap, as well as develop other content to deliver data and data stories to volunteers and decision makers.
• Help optimize a program for collecting and analyzing baseline water quality data from hatcheries
• Help optimize a program for collecting and analyzing water quality data with our statewide aquatic biologists
• Assist volunteers (through email correspondence, in-person, and during site visits)
• Maintain laboratory equipment and assist with laboratory analysis
• Assist with water quality research projects
• Update standard operating procedures where needed
• Assist with volunteer management, program presentations, and event planning
• Help expand River Watch water quality data collection in State Parks

In addition to these programmatic needs, the intern will have the opportunity to create other specific experiences relevant to their career goals, both within CPW and externally. A plan with measurable results will be developed that will guide the intern’s workload, evaluation, and achievements. We are looking for someone interested in a career in natural resources, including watershed management, wildlife, hydrology, working with volunteers, laboratory analysis, and data and information communication.

We hope this experience will help the intern build a skill set for a related career in natural resources or further studies in an undergraduate or graduate program.

This position will be mostly office-based with a strong focus on data management and scientific data communication. There will be some lab and field work, but that will not be the primary focus of this position.

Pay is biweekly, starting after the first two weeks of work and ending two weeks after the last two-week pay period. No…