Interpretation Members - White Sands National Park

Overview

Interpretation Members - White Sands National Park

Summary

American Conservation Experience, a nonprofit Conservation Corps, in partnership with the National Park Service, is seeking 2 Members to contribute to paleontology and archeology interpretation projects alongside NPS Staff.

For more information about ACE, please visit our website.

Start Date: May 4th, 2026

End Date: May 1st, 2027

* a 52-week minimum commitment is required *

Location Details/

Description:

Like No Place Else on Earth

White Sands National Park is like no place else on Earth. Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world’s great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert, creating the world’s largest gypsum dunefield. White Sands National Park preserves a major portion of this unique dunefield, along with the plants and animals that live here.

The nearest local community to White Sands National Park is Alamogordo, New Mexico, about 15 to 20 minutes from the park. Alamogordo has restaurants, major grocery stores, shopping, and hospitals. There is no public transportation access to the park. The next closest local community is Las Cruces, New Mexico, about 45 minutes to one hour from the park. Las Cruces has restaurants, major grocery stores, shopping, and hospitals.

If one cannot find something in Alamogordo, they can find it in Las Cruces.

For more information about White Sands National Park, please visit the NPS website.

The primary focus of this position within the Division of Interpretation, Visitor Services, and Outreach at White Sands National Park is to provide exceptional interpretive and front-line visitor services. You will provide orientation, information, and informal interpretation at the visitor center desk, provide interpretive programming about the park's natural resources and cultural history, and represent the park at outreach events. Your internship project will be developing interpretive programs and products about the ice age era human and mammal fossilized footprints found in the park that date back between 21,000 – 23,000 years ago.

We are seeking an individual who is looking to grow their interpretive skillset, learn more about operations at a busy national park site, and gain knowledge on a variety of topics including geology, biology, paleontology, archeology, indigenous history, and military history. Park staff will provide formal and informal training and mentorship for the intern participating in the ACE project throughout the year.

These positions meet an unmet need at White Sands National Park as the interns will create new interpretive programs and provide hands-on training for future interpreters that the permanent and seasonal staff do not have the capacity to establish. Without these internships visitors will miss opportunities to learn about groundbreaking Ice Age discoveries, reducing public engagement and understanding of these rare resources.

This individual placement is meant to facilitate professional development and promote exposure to land management agencies and networking with professionals. This could include gaining experience in different conservation fields and shadowing different work groups.

Two 52-Week interns will work eight hours a day, five days a week including evening and weekend work with an anticipated work schedule of Friday through Tuesday for one position and Wednesday through Sunday for the other position. The days/hours may vary throughout the position. The park is in the Mountain Time Zone. Work hours typically include 8:30 am – 5:00 pm or 8:45 – 5:15 pm for visitor center shifts.

If conducting the Sunset Stroll guided walk program, your shift will vary but typically do not go beyond an end time of 8:30 pm. Moonlight Hike programs, Full Moon Night events, and Astronomy events can have ending work shifts between 10:00 pm – 12:00 am although those events are only hosted during certain times of year

Living Allowance: The ACE Member is expected to contribute ~40 hours/week and will receive a living allowance of…