Tropical Conservation, Permaculture & Research Internship (Ecuador)

Winter Internship Dates: January 8th – March 15th

Winter Application Deadline: Monday November 4th



Third Millennium Alliance Third Millennium Alliance (TMA) was founded in
2007 with the purchase of 100 acres and the establishment of the Jama-Coaque
Reserve (JCR) in the western province of Manabí, Ecuador, between the cities
of Jama and Pedernales, and four kilometers inland. Now encompassing over
1000 acres, the Jama-Coaque Reserve actively protects one of the last
remaining fragments of Pacific Equatorial Forest, which is considered to be
one of the most threatened tropical forests in the world.



Internship Opportunities: Interns are encouraged to take on high-impact and
dynamic projects; we are a young organization forging our path as we
discover it. There is a tremendous amount of work to be done and experience
to be gained – for interns and for us. Above all, creativity, innovation,
and self-motivation are the fuel of our intern program. Immediately
surrounding the house we are designing/growing/building a living laboratory
of sustainable resource management (i.e. permaculture), which also serves as
our field headquarters for biological scientific research and forest
monitoring.In addition to work managing the agroforestry production zone and
organic vegetable garden, each intern is assigned a personal project, which
is akin to a "thesis" of sort, but of a much more practical nature.
Generally speaking, there are three categories of personal projects: 1)
conservation biology research and 2) permaculture/sustainable food
production and land management, and 3) appropriate technology. The following
is a list of some of the projects we're looking to tackle during the
upcoming sessions. Some are new projects and others are ongoing and
multi-year projects. Projects with stars next to them are of high interest
and priority.

When applying please prioritize three projects from the list below in the
order of most interest.



Flora & Fauna Research:

• *Ethnobotany* (requires strong Spanish-speaking skills)

• *Camera trap survey of wild felines* (ocelot, jaguarundi)

• *Monkey Troop Survey (Howler & critically endangered White Fronted Capuchin)

• *Investigation of Endangered Avifauna - (Ornithology experience and strong
Spanish-speaking skills required for community surveying)



Permaculture/Re-forestation/Food Production

• Green Building - Learn to use natural, recycled and sustainable building
materials. Upcoming projects include building an earthbag (aka super adobe)
retaining wall, use cob to plaster walls, another cob layer on the pizza
oven, re-floor the the field station with bamboo.

• Reforestation - Last year we planted 6,500 trees in one portion of our
re-forestation plot. We want to keep this momentum going this year to plant
even more trees and expand the project. Help manage tree propagation and
planting efforts.

• Production Zone Intensive – Focused on increasing food production, crop
zonification & rotation, plant propagation, care/maintenance, integrated
pest management and food preservation (ie, canning)


Appropriate Technology:

• *Working with natural materials *(mainly, native bamboo and mate gourds)
to build home appliances (e.g., cutlery, drinking cups, bowls, garden pots,
balcony boxes, candle holders, etc.)

• *Design and build a non-electrical refrigerator*

• Design and build a solar food dehydrator



 Winter Internship Dates: January 8th – March 15th

Application Deadline: Monday November 4th



 To see a complete program description, please visit our "Internship" page
at our website at www.tmalliance.org. Here you can download the application
form and contact details, as well as other media, such as the
intern-maintained blog, and the program FAQ. We look forward to working with
you!



 Jordan Trujillo

 Internship Coordinator

Third Millennium Alliance

Jama, Ecuador www.tmalliance.org