by Audrey Kruse, Community Engagement Director
Looking to launch your career in conservation, advocacy, or environmental justice? Come work for the Grand Canyon Trust. Each year, a handful of interns bring their wit, passion, and energy to our most important initiatives, from protecting the Grand Canyon to supporting Native economies. You’ll dive into policy, community organizing, on-the-ground research, field work, data analysis, event planning, and more.
Most internships are 12 weeks and start in May and end in August to accommodate university schedules. In addition to completing your specific internship project, you’ll develop professional skills, work alongside seasoned staff, build community, and make a difference for the lands and peoples in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.
We typically post summer internships in January or February each year. Find current openings ›
Grand Canyon Intern Meranden Numkena organized a Native arts and crafts vendor market at the Grand Canyon in 2023.
Forget fetching coffee and making copies. Grand Canyon Trust interns contribute their skills and know-how to projects that matter. Past interns have organized an arts and crafts vendor market at the Grand Canyon, trekked all over Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments documenting grazing impacts, studied groundwater in northern Arizona, and more. Internship experiences range from interviewing Native business owners one day, to attending a climate change conference the next.
Being able to create a market for some very talented artists and performers has been an honor. As an undergraduate student still trying to figure out my future, this internship has definitely helped me explore my interests. The Grand Canyon Trust is full of amazing, compassionate people and work.
– Meranden Numkena, Grand Canyon intern 2023
There’s a lot of room for creativity and autonomy too. Interns select projects that play to their strengths and collaboratively find solutions for conservation’s thorniest issues. And at the end of their time with the Trust, interns present their research, project, or community event to staff and partners.
FUN FACT: The Trust’s executive director, Ethan Aumack, was our very first intern in 1998. He started a restoration project around Flagstaff’s San Francisco Peaks that grew into our Volunteer Program. Decades later, the Trust’s Volunteer Program helps hundreds of volunteers every year give back to the Colorado Plateau.
North Rim Ranches Intern Jaycee Cappaert collects data on grazed landscapes.
Yes! The Trust is committed to compensating interns equitably. We pay all interns a living wage, adjusted annually. In some cases, interns might work for us in exchange for educational credits at an academic institution, but we make sure no one works for free.
The opportunity to intern with the Trust has left a lasting impression on me in the most positive way. I didn’t know that an organization that does such impactful work could also facilitate the most healthy work environment I’ve ever witnessed.
– Jaycee Cappaert, North Rim Ranches intern 2023
The Trust provides technology, gear, and training, along with stipends for travel, living, and professional development. For interns working exclusively in the field, we also provide food stipends.
Turn your passion into a lifelong career. Sign up for internship notifications ›
Utah Land Advocacy Intern Natalie Winward on a field project restoring wetlands.
From one-on-one writing coaching, to career guidance, to resume hot tips, interns receive mentoring and training throughout their time with the Trust. Conservation careers can take many paths, and interns get to meet a range of community leaders, traditional knowledge holders, scientists, and change makers.
I learned so much about myself, conservation nonprofits, public land reform, and returning authority to tribes. I will forever look back at this internship as one of the most fulfilling summers [I’ve had].
– Natalie Winward, Utah land advocacy intern 2023
But the mentoring and connections don’t end when the internship is over; we stay in touch with past interns, often writing letters of reference.
Past interns sometimes go on to serve on our Rising Leaders Advisory Council or as a leader-in-training with one of our field-based programs.
Utah Monuments Intern Kaya McAlister collects data near Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
During the summer, we host potlucks and happy hours so interns can meet in person, build community, and swap stories.
Networking and professional connections are a big part of career development too. We make sure interns have the chance to meet with land management agencies, community groups, grassroots leaders, and other experts during their internships.
My internship with the Trust deepened my knowledge of the Colorado Plateau, taught me how to effectively interact with public land agencies, and gave me practical tools that will be used in service to my greater ecological community.
– Kaya McAlister, Utah monuments intern 2023
If you are ready to intern with the Trust or know someone who would be a great fit, check out our jobs and internships postings. The Rising Leaders Program also hosts many other projects related to stewardship and leadership, so sign up for our newsletter to stay informed and find out when internships are posted.
Looking to launch your career in conservation, advocacy, or environmental justice? Come work for the Grand Canyon Trust.
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