The UCSC-FERP is a living laboratory that provides opportunities for experiential and inquiry-based learning. A beautiful 25-min walk takes students from Science Hill classrooms through forest and chaparral habitats to the FERP. Class field trips, senior theses, independent studies, and internships are all welcome and encouraged on the FERP. For questions, contact FERP and Campus Natural Reserve Manager Alex Jones or FERP Director Greg Gilbert.
Internship opportunities
FERP interns get hands-on experience doing field ecology while contributing to the long-term ecological monitoring of the forest, including growth, recruitment, and mortality of trees, spatial and temporal patterns in understory vegetation, forest phenology, population dynamics of herps and small mammals, trait-based ecology, soil, water, light, and meteorological monitoring, etc. We are able to take up to 40 interns every quarter (no experience necessary), and have some paid positions available for experiences FERPers to take leadership roles.
We have internships every academic quarter, most days of the week, in 6-hour shifts:If you are interested in joining the FERP team please fill out this Google form with your availability for the upcoming quarter, and we will get back to you very soon!
Winter quarter 2025 shifts (6 hours each) are still TBD, but likely include:
Wednesday 9:30-3:30
Friday 9:30-3:30
Saturday 10:00-4:00
How to enroll in an ENVS 84 FERP Internship (2 units, 6h/wk)
FERP internships are available to all UCSC Students, with credit given through the Environmental Studies internship program as ENVS 84. [Rachel Carson College students can alternatively get credit by enrolling in CRSN 55 through their college; participants should not enroll in both ENVS 84 and CRSN 55.]
Fill out this form to submit your internship contract to the ENVS internship office.
That form will generate two forms, with links you receive by email:
1. Agency Sponsor form: send to Alex at the Campus Natural Reserve at asjones@ucsc.edu
2. Faculty Sponsor form: For Winter Quarter 2025 only, you should select either Scott Winton (scwinton@ucsc.edu) or Weixin Cheng (wxcheng@ucsc.edu) as your faculty sponsor.
If you run into any problems, or have any questions, contact the ENVS Internship Office at Email: esintern@ucsc.edu Phone: (831) 459-2104 Internship office: 491 ISB
Complete instructions on internship enrollment here
Internship overview and expectations:
A FERP internship will allow you to learn about your local environment, participate in ecological research with global impact, meet new friends and make connections. We are here to mentor you, and the more you interact with your crew mates, crew leader, Greg Gilbert, and your agency sponsors at the Campus Natural Reserve, the more you’ll get out of your experience.
Your crew leader will train you in the specific duties you’re expected to perform. Expect that you will be challenged with a wide variety of tasks and conditions while out in the field. Some areas we’ll be working in will have very dense vegetation, uneven terrain (downed logs, steep slopes), wet ground if it rains (puddles, mud, saturated soil), lots of poison oak, etc. It might be wet, cold, or hot, there may be spiders, ticks, vegetation in your face. We don’t mean for any of this to scare you away, because it will also be gorgeous. You will see something new each time we’re out there, especially if you’re paying attention and looking outward beyond yourself and into the wild, with your wild and open ears and eyes!
We expect you to:
•Show up on-time to 490 Natural Science 2 (= 5 minutes before shift starts), prepared with everything you need for your shift (appropriate clothing, food/water, etc.) and having already used the restroom.
• Communicate with your crew leader. Text/call/email to communicate absences in advance. If you have to cancel at the last minute, e-mail and call or text your crew leader so that we don’t wait for you or think something happened.
• Learn as much about the forest and the trees and shrubs as you can.
• Collect accurate data. Ask questions when you have them
• Be a good team player
• Review our safety protocols and tips. Be safe. If there is a doubt, then there is no doubt.
• Take the initiative to make up missed shifts (see options below).
Specific FERP internship requirements
1. Preparatory work. This assignment helps orient you to the physical layout of the FERP. The FERP is based on triangles and circles. Learn how the FERP is set up while dusting off your trigonometry. Due by Sunday at the end of Week 2.
•Watch the FERPonometry training video. (17 min)
•Complete the FERPonometry worksheet (45 min) Download worksheet, complete it, and upload it to this google form (use ucsc login)
•Complete the Responsible Conduct of Research handout and certification. (10-20 min) (use ucsc login)
2. Complete 9 field shifts of 6 hours by the end of Week 10.
Alex will certify your hours when you turn in your time sheet.
That means that you only need to attend 9 of the available 10 field shifts per quarter (although you are welcome to attend them all!). Beware, while it is tempting to sleep in and miss a shift towards the beginning of the quarter, many of you will likely miss shifts towards to the end for holidays, strikes, or inclement weather. If you miss more than one shift, you need to make up those hours before the end of the quarter (see options below).
3. ENVS Internship Program requirements include:
(a) attend an internship program orientation seminar,
(b) keep a weekly journal (~500 words a week),
(c) Keep track of your time on this time sheet,
(d) a midterm report (doc) (pdf),
(e) attend a midterm seminar,
(f) turn in a final 4-page analytical paper, and
(g) complete and Evaluation of the Agency. Detailed information on these expectations is available through the Internship Handbook. Due dates are here.
What to bring to your forest shifts
•Water (1 or 2 liters)
•Food (lunch and snacks)
•Clothing
– Layers appropriate for weather and how long you’ll be in the field. Long pants are best.
– Hat: A baseball hat or a warm hat in cold weather is a great idea.
– Footwear: FERP-specific boots or shoes will help contain poison oak oils. If you prefer, we have a fairly large collection of rubber FERP boots in 490 NS2 for you to borrow on your shifts!
If it’s raining or if it might rain
•Rain jacket (a must) and rain pants (less of a must, but still important)
•Rain boots (trails and the FERP can get very wet and muddy—12” deep puddles)
•Avoid cotton: Wet cotton clothing drains your body heat and can bring on hypothermia.
•You can get cheap rain gear downtown at Outdoor World or online (<$20 for cheap PVC gear). More expensive but more durable options are available online from REI or at the Patagonia outlet on River St. in Santa Cruz.
•Cotton coverall suits for poison oak protection
•Nitrile gloves
•Tools (calipers, compass, DBH tape, tags, etc.)
•Tecnu and Fels-Naptha soap and alcohol-based hand sanitizer to wash off poison oak oils
Note on jumpsuits/coveralls: If we are working in an area with poison oak, you are required to wear a suit, even if you think you are immune. This is partly to protect you, but mostly to protect the large number of highly sensitive people across campus from the oils that would be on your clothes. We’ve already sent at least one person to the ER with systemic reaction to PO through secondary contact. Take off your cotton jumpsuit before coming back to the lab or office. Peel off your suit from the inside, so as not to let the outside touch your hands and clothes, then fold it up (inside out) and put it in the hamper in 490 Nat Sci 2 (FERP lab). Use Tecnu or Fels-Naptha soap to wash exposed skin if you’re worried about contact with poison oak oil.
FERP Protocols and training materials
FERP contact information
Alex Jones, UCSC Campus Natural Reserve Manager asjones@ucsc.edu 831.459.5798
Greg Gilbert, ENVS Professor & FERP Director ggilbert@ucsc.edu 831.459.5002
Missing work and making up missed shifts
Canceling shifts
Though we work in the rain, we will occasionally have to cancel workdays due to high winds. If extremely stormy weather or other issues require that work be canceled, a supervisor will email all crew members, so please check your e-mail in the morning before heading to the lab. If you don’t receive an email and the weather is uncertain, we will still meet at the normal meeting place at the scheduled time and make our final decision then. We’ve called off too many shifts in advance only to have the sun come out and the wind die down a half hour later! We typically offer FERP shifts on Strike days for those who choose to come, but make sure to check your email prior to your shift to hear about the plan and your options.
If you can’t make your shift
If you know in advance that you cannot make a shift, please e-mail the shift leader as soon as possible. If you have to cancel at the last minute, you should e-mail and call or text your crew leader so that we don’t wait for you or think something happened.
Two ways to make up a missed shift
Between weather, illness, and all those other things that come up in life, there is a fair chance that you’ll miss a shift sometime during the quarter. Each quarter there are 10 planned shifts, and you must complete 9. You have two options to make up missed shifts. For either option, make sure to communicate with your shift leader and Alex, and keep track of your hours on your time sheet. Communicate early and clearly with Alex to help make sure you don’t fall further behind.
Option 1. Join another crew for a week. Check in with Alex and/or one of the other crew leaders and join their crew for a week. Please let the crew leaders know in advance that you will be doing this.
Option 2. Learn more about the FERP: Write a short paper on scientific reasons for the FERP and Create a FERP Field Guide. Send each of these (short paper and field guide) as an email to Greg (ggilbert@ucsc.edu), noting that it is a make-up for a missed shift.
(a) Short paper: Read one of these two papers: Gilbert, G.S., S.G. Carvill, A.R. Krohn, and A.S. Jones. 2024. Three censuses of a mapped plot in coastal California mixed-evergreen and redwood forest. Forests 15(1), 164; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15010164 or Gilbert, G.S. et al. 2010. Beyond the tropics: forest structure in a temperate forest mapped plot. Journal of Vegetation Science 21:388-405 mixed and then write a 1-2 page essay that includes 3 things you see as interesting or important contributions of the FERP project and 3 questions you have.
(b) FERP Field Guide: Create an illustrated field guide of at least 6 woody plant species from the FERP. Turn in a physical copy or a pdf of the guide to faculty sponsor Greg Gilbert (ggilbert@ucsc.edu) noting that it is a make-up for a missed shift. Each species should have its own page, and should include:
(a) Sketches of the plant’s leaves, growth form, and any other unique features or plant parts (flowers, fruits, bark). Make drawings from live plants in the forest (on or off the FERP). This is not about your expertise as an artist – it is about looking closely to capture detail and information.
(b) Common, scientific, and FERP 6-letter code names. Resources include woody plant species from the FERP and Calflora.
(c) Identification information: Annotate the drawings the descriptions of the features that are most helpful to you when you’re distinguishing this species from others. Please don’t copy from a book or the internet—this info is often technical go from your direct observations and field training as much as possible.
(d) Natural history notes: Published field guides can provide some of this info, but please use your own observations of the species. Where do you mostly see it? In sunny or shady areas? Is it an understory or canopy tree? What have you noticed about its size and distribution on the plot? Are there lots of saplings? That kind of stuff.
FERP interns take a break from mapping trees