Our Desert Wildlife Internship Program provides a semester-long part-time paid internship to students (junior and senior in high school through college/university level) and new/early career professionals with less than three years of employment experience.
Desert Wildlife Interns help manage our wildlife camera monitoring data and also actively contribute to meaningful conservation projects to protect wildlife and open spaces. They are mentored by CSDP staff, both collaboratively and independently completing tasks, and are encouraged to pursue a specific area of interest through a chosen final project.
For the Spring 2025 semester, our Desert Wildlife Internship is only available to University of Arizona students through the UA RISE Internship program. To learn more, please visit the job opening currently posted on the UA RISE website. We are accepting applications through December 15, 2024, with the internship starting on January 20, 2025. If you have any questions, please send us an email at admin@sonorandesert.org. Thank you for your interest!
Former Desert Wildlife Interns
Lilly Elena Esperanza Ramirez
(Spring 2024)
Lilly wrote the narratives for new interpretive signage at the Oracle Road wildlife crossings.
Woods Nystedt
(Spring 2024)
Woods analyzed data from our I-10 East wildlife monitoring study. See the results here.
Josh Skattum (Fall 2022)
Josh focused on science communications through social media, and organizing the 2022 Tortolita Preserve BioBlitz.
Please visit our memorial blog post for more information about Josh and the legacy he left at the Coalition.
Andrew Grusenmeyer (Fall 2023)
Andrew led CSDP’s Snapshot USA project for 2023, where we contributed camera monitoring data for a nation-wide wildlife camera trap survey.
Jeremiah Powers (Fall 2023)
Jeremiah focused on helping us implement our new monthly Habitat Restoration Day events on the Oracle Road wildlife crossing structures.
Photo Credits: (L) A hooded oriole on saguaro cactus blooms. Photo courtesy Sheryl Hester. (C) Volunteers with the UA Environmental Law Society place a new wildlife camera in the field in Winter 2022. (R) Sunrise on Redington Pass from the Tucson Mountains. Photo courtesy David Wrench.