Biologist Internship at Oregon Caves | P17AS00822

Opportunity Information: Apply for P17AS00822

The Biologist Internship at Oregon Caves (Funding Opportunity Number P17AS00822) is a National Park Service grant action under the U.S. Department of the Interior focused on natural resources work at Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve (often abbreviated as ORCA). The project is structured as a cooperative agreement, meaning the National Park Service expects to be actively involved in guiding or supporting the work rather than simply issuing funds and stepping back. The core intent is to create a youth stewardship and workforce-development experience by placing Student Conservation Association (SCA) interns into real, hands-on biological resource projects alongside National Park Service subject matter experts.

The internship experience is designed for students and/or recent graduates in biological sciences, with an example specialty area called out as chiropterology (the study of bats). The opportunity emphasizes practical training that connects academic skills to field and data work. Interns are expected to gain experience applying classroom-learned competencies such as scientific writing, acoustic analysis (commonly used for wildlife monitoring, including bat call detection and identification), and population analysis. Just as importantly, the work is described as taking place in both field and database environments, which suggests interns will likely participate in on-the-ground monitoring or surveys and also help manage, organize, and analyze the resulting datasets for park use.

Administratively, this notice is labeled a "Notice of Intent to Award" and explicitly states it is not a request for applications. In other words, the announcement functions as a public transparency notice rather than an open competition. The National Park Service indicates it will fund the project under an existing cooperative agreement with SCA, implying that the partner organization is already in place and the award is being made within that established relationship. Eligible applicants listed for the opportunity are nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status other than institutions of higher education, which aligns with SCA's nonprofit status and explains why the funding is directed through that type of organization rather than directly to a university.

In terms of scale and timing, the award ceiling is $25,000 and the expected number of awards is one, reinforcing that this is a single, targeted internship project rather than a broad, multi-recipient grant program. The funding opportunity was created on September 19, 2017, with an original closing date of September 29, 2017; however, because this was not open for applications, those dates mainly reflect the public posting window and internal processing timeline rather than an applicant submission period. Overall, the opportunity is best understood as a small, project-specific cooperative agreement action meant to support supervised, career-building biological fieldwork and analysis at Oregon Caves, while simultaneously advancing the park's natural resource monitoring and data needs.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Biologist Internship at Oregon Caves" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.931.
• This funding opportunity was created on Sep 19, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Sep 29, 2017 NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD. This is not a request for applications. This funding announcement is to provide public notice that the National Park Service will fund the following project under an existing Cooperative Agreement with SCA. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $25,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education.

Apply for P17AS00822

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