Agriculture Department Seeking Summer Interns

The Montana Department of Agriculture is offering paid
internships in several programs this summer for students who have
completed two years of college course work.

Interns are being sought for the following programs and locations:

— Four pest survey interns will assist the Cooperative Agricultural
Pest Survey program with insect trapping and other surveys, working out
of department offices in Helena and Missoula.

— Two marketing interns in the Agriculture Marketing and Business
Development Bureau in Helena. One will assist the bureau in coordinating
exhibits at trade shows and summer fairs, and assist in marketing
strategy and development. A second intern will work with the division’s
international marketing specialist.

— One intern for the department’s pesticide program will be based in
Billings and will assist with program compliance and worker protection
issues.

— Three interns in the department’s noxious weeds program in Helena
will work with Noxious Weed Seed Free Forage education, weed monitoring
at fishing access sites, and noxious weed management grants
administration.

Applicants must be enrolled in a college or university, possess a valid
driver’s license and have basic computer skills and a general knowledge
of Montana agriculture. A science background is preferred for some
positions. All positions require oral and written communications skills
and the ability to work cooperatively with private landowners and the
general public.

The agricultural marketing intern will coordinate exhibits at trade
shows, expositions and fairs to expose Montana’s agricultural and food
products to the public and industry representatives. The intern also
will assist in the development of marketing and promotional campaigns
and conduct research to develop new markets for Montana commodities and
food products.

The pesticide intern will travel throughout the state and distribute
pesticide compliance assistance information to licensed pesticide
dealers as well as to retailers that sell home, lawn and garden
pesticide products. The intern will also serve as an outreach to Montana
State University Extension agents by providing information on the
federal Worker Protection Standard and the USDA Restricted-Use Pesticide
Record Keeping program.

Pest survey interns will assist with the department’s statewide
Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey program. Duties include trapping,
monitoring and surveying for pests such as cereal leaf beetle, gypsy
moth, Japanese beetle and other exotic insect pests, as well as work
with biological control efforts. Familiarity with Global Positioning
System (GPS) is required for mapping to locate insect trap sites.

The Noxious Weed Seed Free Forage program intern will provide outreach
and information at county fairs and equestrian events. The noxious weed
management intern will monitor and evaluate cooperative weed management
projects statewide. The fishing access site intern will monitor and
evaluate sites administered by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife
and Parks for the presence of noxious weeds.

For more information, contact a Montana Job Service office; Montana
State University Career Services at (406) 994-4353 or by email at
mailto:[email protected]; the Griz eRecruiting website at
http://www.umt.edu/internships; or the Montana Department of Agriculture
employment website at http://agr.mt.gov/dept/employ.asp, by phone at
(406) 444-3144 or by e-mail at: mailto:[email protected].