Upcoming volunteer opportunities with the Galveston Bay Foundation

Lots of opportunities to get volunteer experience coming up!
http://galvbay.org/volunteer.html

Volunteer News
Abandoned Crab Trap Removal February 16, 2013 Ft. Anahuac Park Volunteers with boats/airboats needed! GBF's Young Professionals CAST Happy Hour February 19, 2013 Location - TBA Trash Bash - Armand Bayou March 23, 2013 Bay Area Park Land-based volunteers and paddlers (with your own vessel) needed! Bay Day Festival June 1, 2013 Kemah Boardwalk Environmental exhibits and volunteers needed!   Many companies have volunteer grant programs: monetary grants given to nonprofits based on employees' volunteer activity. For example, for every ''X'' hours of time you volunteer with GBF, your company donates $''Y'' to us. Check with your HR department!	GBF's Volunteer Opportunities Abandoned Crab Trap Removal - VOLUNTEERS AND BOATS NEEDED! Please consider joining GBF staff as we work to remove abandoned crab traps from Trinity Bay. Volunteers with boats will pull crab traps, and individual volunteers will remain on-shore to disassemble the found traps. DATE: Saturday, February 16, 2013 TIME:  8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. LOCATION: Ft. Anahuac Park boat ramp, Anahuac We ask that all volunteers sign up for this event. Feel free to email Julie or call (281) 332-3381 x207 with any questions. Each year, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) closes crabbing in all Texas waters for a 10-day period in February--this year from February 15-24. Any traps left in the water during these ten days are presumed abandoned and considered litter under state law. During this time, it is legal to remove any found crab traps and return them to the designated crab trap disposal receptacles. 'Clean It Like You Mean It' at Trash Bash 2013 Grab your family and friends, and spend the day cleaning up the Armand Bayou watershed with GBF! Trash Bash 2013 is Saturday March 23, and we have determined several cleanup sites along Armand Bayou and its tributaries. There are opportunities for land-based clean-up at parks and alongside trails and roadways in the Armand Bayou watershed, as well as opportunities for kayakers/canoers to collect trash from their personal watercraft. LOCATION: Bay Area Park, 7500 Bay Area Blvd., Pasadena SCHEDULE: Registration & Orientation  -  8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.  Watershed Clean-up  -  9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Lunch & Fun  -  12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. We ask that all volunteers sign up for this event. Feel free to email Julie or call (281) 332-3381 x207 with any questions. Wildlife Workday - Prairie Restoration GBF is recruiting volunteers to help restore coastal prairie. Volunteers are needed to help plant prairie grasses at a newly created monitoring area, owned and maintained by University of Houston Coastal Center. Please consider joining us. DATE: Saturday, February 23, 2013 TIME:  8:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. LOCATION: University of Houston's Coastal Center We ask that all volunteers sign up for this event. Feel free to email Julie or call (281) 332-3381 x207 with any questions. Save-the-Date: Bay Day 2013 Please "Save the Date" for the Bay Day Festival on June 1, 2013. GBF is looking for additional education exhibits as well as volunteers to come out to this bay-related festival at the Kemah Boardwalk. If you would like to volunteer to join the committee to help plan the event, volunteer on the day of the event, or know of a potential exhibitor, please email Julie or call (281) 332-3381 x207. We ask that all volunteers sign up for this event. Stay Tuned! Marsh Mania dates and sites will be announced in February.
p: (281) 332-3381 f: (281) 332-3153 www.galvbay.org gbf@galvbay.org

GIS/RS Research Associate position at HARC

HARC (Houston Advanced Research Center) is hiring a GIS/RS Research Associate. Go to http://mitchell.harc.edu/About/Jobs/Job?jobID=123 for more information

Graduate Programs Open House at University of Houston

The University of Houston Department of Biology and Biochemistry is hosting a Graduate Programs Open House. The purpose of the Open House is to expose local students to the exciting, cutting-edge research going on in the department, and encourage them to join their diverse graduate programs.  The Open House will take place during the morning of Wednesday, December 5, 2012. 

If you are planning to apply to graduate school in the areas of Biology and/or Biochemistry this is a perfect opportunity to learn about research-intensive graduate programs and meet UH's distinguished, internationally recognized faculty.

The Open House will consist of:

9:00–9.30am: Meet and Greet. Students meet Dept. of Biology and Biochemistry faculty and students, the department Chair, and the Dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. (Free continental breakfast will be provided.)

9:30am–12:30pm: Guided tours of the department and the research laboratories.

12.30–1.30pm: Pizza lunch (free for all participants).

If you would like to participate please register here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDZDNEdSUkFJX0lRZl9GRUJhaTFWcXc6MQ

Student positions with EPA in Gulf Breeze, FL

Follow this link for more information. Application deadline is December 3, 2012.

Interns needed to help with wetland assessment project

Galveston Bay Watershed Wetland Mitigation Assessment

Interns needed!

The Texas Coastal Watershed Program (TAMU) and the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) are conducting an assessment of wetland mitigation under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act in the greater Houston area (8 county region). We will assess the nature of mitigation for authorized wetland fill activity: Is it required where it should be? Is it documented? Is there follow up? And finally, how much of the required mitigation is actually successful in the long run?

We are seeking at least two student interns to work on this project. Much of the work will involve tedious examination of many records, but there will be opportunity to be involved in some ground-truthing later in the project.  Familiarity with Excel, Access or other spreadsheet and database software packages required. GIS experience preferred.  Most of the work will take place in the offices of the TCWP in Clear Lake.  With time, some of the work could be accomplished off-site.

20 hours a week. Work will commence in January 2012.

Contact John Jacob, jjacob@tamu.edu 

Wetlands lab in the news: mangroves and whooping cranes

As mangroves expand on the Texas coast, they may be displacing marshes that are used by endangered whooping cranes. I discuss this ecosystem shift in the Houston Chronicle article linked here.  

A whooping crane foraging near a newly-recruited mangrove tree (photo credit Dr. Lee Smee).

The research mentioned in this article is supported by grants from Texas Sea Grant and NASA.

Undergrad Internship in Waterbird Ecology at TAMUG

WATERBIRD ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT

Two Undergraduate Internship Opportunities (484 credit possible)

Spring 2013

Being offered in conjunction with Audubon Texas:

Preference will be given to students with strong interests in:

·       Coastal Ecosystems

·       Waterbird Ecology

·       Wildlife Management

·       The majority of work will be directly related to management/surveys of Audubon’s coastal rookeries, interns will assist with:

o   Rookery surveys and monitoring via boat mainly in the West Bay area, but occasionally at other locations on Galveston Bay or beyond. Accommodations will be provided if an overnight trip is required.

o   Management of Audubon owned or leased islands: fire ant control, vegetation work, predator management, construction of nesting platforms, volunteer workdays, etc.

o   Spring 2013 work will include coordinating and helping with a TPWD grant to install signage at major boat ramps to educate the public on rookery islands

o   Prep work/ compiling of data for the Texas Colonial Waterbird survey database

o   GIS work documenting management activities

o   Occasional office work entering data or related tasks

·       Interns will gain experience in all aspects of colonial waterbird management, boat safety and operation and wildlife research

·       Applicants must be able to work in challenging field conditions- areas prone to mosquitos and rattlesnakes; be able to lift 40 pounds; be able to work independently; be available to work hours other than 8-5 Monday- Friday as needed

To apply: email Dr. Kim Reich, reichk@tamug.edu.  Write “waterbird” in the subject of your email, attach a brief statement of interest, your resume, and include relevant course work and your current G.P.A.  Please respond NO LATER THAN 13 NOVEMBER 2012;  a time and location for an informational meeting to be held the evening of Nov. 15th and 16th will be sent to all who respond by the deadline.  Interviews will be scheduled at the informational meeting.