Public Safety and Education Intern
This position is split between Falls Lake and B.E. Jordan lake, both in central North Carolina, near Raleigh. Both lakes are managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers and various state agencies. Each hosts over 1 million visitors annually who boat, swim, camp, and picnic in our recreation areas.
You will provide educational outreach and interpretive programming to the public that that encourages water safety and facilitates environmental education. The primary focus is on water and boating safety for all ages, but with an emphasis on, and targeting of, the highest risk group - 18-35 year old males. Your primary responsibility will be educating public visitors regarding public safety through face to face contact. This personal contact will take place at beaches, boat ramps, boat patrol, campgrounds, and other venues where you have direct contact with the visitors. Your secondary responsibility is to provide environmental education programs of various topics to public visitors. You will be responsible for summarizing all contacts by utilizing a provided spreadsheet. Other responsibilities will be to: develop outreach tools and programs for the public, update bulletin boards, maintain life jacket loaner stations, assist with special events and school programs as needed, interact with park visitors and potentially serve as a second (safety) person for boat patrols made by park rangers. Moreover, you will increase safety awareness through communication, and lead by example anytime you are near the water or participating in water-related activities, providing valuable information on how to improve our programs by maintaining open communication with rangers and managers, passing on ideas for improvement gathered during daily contact with visitors, and finally, keep our parks friendly places for outdoor recreation and socialization by assisting park rangers and other employees as they perform their routine tasks pertinent to their natural resources/recreation management and public safety programs.
