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Project Coordinator for Targeted Mosquito Management and Marsh Condition Project

The Nature Conservancy
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Project Coordinator for Targeted Mosquito Management and Marsh Condition Project

 

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is hiring a graduate student intern as the “Project Coordinator” for a pilot project through which real-time and spatially explicit data on mosquito larval production in the Accabonac Harbor saltmarsh complex in East Hampton can inform Suffolk County’s weekly pesticide applications and identify locations for minimally invasive marsh restoration. This is a new and potentially transformative collaboration between the Town of East Hampton, the East Hampton Trustees, TNC, & Suffolk County. It came about because of Town Trustees’ and residents’ concerns about the non-target impacts of the pesticides and the amount and frequency of larvicide application (weekly during the season). This pilot program will test whether a citizen science effort can achieve multiple “wins” including protection of human and environmental health, engagement of the local population in a solution, reduction in the concerns of residents, and even a significant cost savings to Suffolk County with reduced pesticide spraying.

 

The Project Coordinator will report to Nicole Maher, Senior Coastal Scientist in TNC’s Cold Spring Harbor office, however, because the field component of this position is located in East Hampton, the Coordinator may prefer to work out of TNC’s East Hampton office. The Project Coordinator will oversee and supervise a team of volunteer weekly larval samplers, communicate among the project partners and public, and deliver timely mosquito breeding data in GIS format to SC Vector Control so that it can be used to inform weekly treatment decisions. Candidates interested in becoming volunteer mosquito larvae samplers will be interviewed and selected by a committee including TNC, Town of East Hampton and Suffolk County before the larval season starts. A total of 6 or more volunteer larval samplers will be enlisted so that the entirety of the Accabonac Harbor marsh system can be simultaneously sampled by 3 teams of 2 paired samplers on Monday mornings each week. The Town of East Hampton or the EH Trustees will pay stipends to the volunteer larval sampling crews and supply them with GPS devices sufficient for marking sampling locations. SC Vector will train the sampling crews and the Project Coordinator in how to conduct larval dips at the beginning of the season. SC Vector and the other Project Partners will also help design the sampling routes proposed for each team so that all of the Accabonac Harbor Marsh Complex is sampled each week during the summer. Award of this internship includes a stipend.

 

Responsibilities of Project Coordinator may include:

  • Oversee team of larval sampling volunteers trained by SC to dip for mosquito larvae and photograph locations of breeding.

  • Organize logistics for and supervise weekly larval sampling outings on Monday mornings (approx. 7-11am). 

  • Substitute for larval samplers should one of the 6 samplers be absent on any given sampling day.

  • Alert EH Town when the field crews are on and then safely off the marsh each day.

  • Data management and delivery of mosquito dip data to SC Vector each week in a timely manner (before 12-noon) and in a useful format (likely GIS map) such that it can be used to inform weekly spray decisions.

  • Preparation of data summary reports in the form of maps to inform patterns of breeding and photographs of breeding hot spots.

  • Communication among the Project Partners (TNC, SC Vector Control, SC Legislature, Town of EH, EH Trustees), relevant County committees (e.g. Public Works, Environment), and relevant neighborhood stakeholders (e.g. Accabonac Protection Committee).

  • Produce a Final Report summarizing the distribution of breeding data, characterization of breeding hot spots, potential or actual cost savings and pesticide reduction as a result of this citizen science data, and recommendations for possible expansion of this program in the future.

  • Final Presentation(s) to Project Partners and neighborhood stakeholders

  • This position will require some travel in the Coordinator’s own vehicle. The Coordinator will be reimbursed for miles driven in their personal vehicle beyond the distance from their home to the TNC office.

  • Target dates: Start Monday, June 4th and finish mid-August.