| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | CONTACT: Jan McArthur |
| March 8, 2007 | (406) 444-3144 |
Agriculture Department Seeking Summer Interns
HELENA, Mont. — 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 fwolf@montana.edu;
the Griz eRecruiting website at 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: agr@mt.gov.
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