Southern Environmental Law Center

The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) is accepting applications for summer internships in its offices located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Asheville, North Carolina, or Charlottesville, Virginia. The goals of the internship program are to involve students in environmental advocacy from the perspective of a public interest law firm and thereby to assist SELC in achieving its mission. The successful applicants will work with SELC's attorneys and its client organizations on environmental advocacy projects. The projects (described below) will involve matters pending before state or federal regulatory agencies and courts, as well as public education. SELC anticipates that each intern will focus on at least one major project during the summer and also may be actively involved in additional minor projects. Through this structure we aim to give each intern an in-depth exposure to one of our priority advocacy areas while also possibly enabling the student to deal with a wider range of environmental issues.

SELC'S MISSION

SELC is a non-profit regional environmental advocacy organization founded in 1986. Our mission is to protect and restore the quality of the land, air and water of the Southeast for future generations, and to increase appreciation of and generate support for protection of the natural environment and landscape of the region. SELC is also explicitly committed to complementing the environmental protection efforts of a wide array of partners with ties to local places, resources, and people throughout the region. Our work is focused on five areas of environmental concern: 1) coastal/wetlands; 2) forests; 3) clean water; 4) energy and clean air; and 5) transportation and growth management. SELC currently has eleven attorneys in Chapel Hill who work mostly in North and South Carolina, nine attorneys in Charlottesville who work primarily in Virginia and Tennessee, five attorneys in Atlanta who work primarily in Georgia and Alabama, and two attorneys in Asheville who work primarily in North Carolina and Tennessee.
www.southernenvironment.org

Project 1: Southern Appalachian
National Forests
**Phone Interviews**

Project 2: Growth in Western North Carolina
**Phone Interviews**

Project 3: Transportation and Growth Management

Project 4: Air Quality

Project 5: Environmental GIS Analysis

Project 1:
Southern Appalachian National Forests

**Phone Interviews**
Please place Resume and Cover Letter in Folder in Career services office. SELC will phone-interview selected students.

Forest Plan Revisions:

Background/ Project Description: The Forest Service recently has overhauled its regulations and policies regarding National Forest management and planning. The George Washington National Forest (VA) is beginning to revise its management plan, which will guide on-the-ground decisions for the next 10-15 years. The George Washington will be the first national forest in the Southern Appalachian mountains, and will be among the first in the country, to revise its plan under this new regulatory regime, and the outcome of this plan will have a national impact on forest planning and management. A coalition of environmental groups, including SELC, are working to analyze key environmental, social and economic trends on the George Washington and surrounding area, to make management recommendations, and to inform and involve stakeholders

Responsibilities: An intern is needed to assist in analyzing these trends, to analyze and critique the scientific and policy underpinnings of the Forest Service's approach, and to assist in evaluating, developing and promoting recommendations regarding significant issues, including: natural ecological processes in these forests; the protection of old growth forests and at-risk species and habitats; the protection of watersheds and riparian areas; the inventory and protection of roadless areas and the development of recommendations for new or expanded Wilderness areas. The project likely will involve analysis of these regulations, policies and draft planning documents, in-depth research, written reports, and interaction with attorneys, activists and experts on these issues.

National Forest Project Reviews

Background/ Project Description: Several other National Forests in the Southern Appalachians recently have revised their forest plans and are proceeding with site-specific projects pursuant to those plans.

Responsibilities: An intern is needed to analyze and critique specific projects and to prepare written comments or other responses. The intern also will research and investigate issues which frequently arise at the project level. These issues may include: the role of National Forest management in the condition of declining species; the Forest Service's claim that logging is needed to create more "early successional habitat" (0-10 year old forest) to promote certain wildlife species; the effects on water quality and aquatic species; and the economic factors involved (both external and within the Forest Service).

National Forest Economics

Background/Project Description: It is apparent that National Forest management increasingly is driven by the constraints of the Forest Service budget. It is also apparent that our advocacy for conservation of forest resources should address economic factors, for example, the economic benefits of conserving mature forests and scenic views to promote and enhance outdoor recreation, and the economic benefits of ecosystem services such as clean air and water. The intern would research the local and regional economic benefits of outdoor recreation and ecosystem services and compare them with the economic benefits of timber harvesting.

Responsibilities: An intern is needed to research the convoluted Forest Service budget process and the constraints on how funds may be spent. The intern would track funds as they make their way from Congress to the local ranger districts where they are spent and would investigate how funds are spent at a sampling of local districts. In addition, the intern would research the local and regional economic benefits of outdoor recreation and ecosystem services and compare them with the economic benefits of timber harvesting.

Location: The intern could work either in the Charlottesville office or in Asheville.

Supervisors: David Carr and Sarah Francisco (434) 977-4090 (Charlottesville, VA); DJ Gerken (828) 258-2023 (Asheville, NC)

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Project 2:
Growth in Western North Carolina

**Phone Interviews**
Please place Resume and Cover Letter in Folder in Career services office. SELC will phone-interview selected students.

Background/Project Description: Western North Carolina is developing rapidly and faces a steady increase in the frequency of large second home communities.  These communities increasingly are near or adjacent to public lands and other sensitive resources.  Population trends suggest this growth will continue and accelerate in the coming decades.  Most local governments in Western North Carolina lack comprehensive planning or effective land use regulations to prepare them for this growth, however.  SELC is working with local governments, state officials and citizen groups around the region to craft and to disseminate sensible policies to address the environmental impacts associated with the rapid development of rural areas and sensitive lands. 

Responsibilities: An intern is needed to assist with this work by collecting and analyzing studies and policies related to steep slope and ridgetop development, groundwater availability, conservation-based subdivision design, regional planning models, tax incentives for conservation, and other issues.  The project likely will involve analysis of scientific studies, surveys of policies adopted in other jurisdictions, and interaction with experts, attorneys, citizen groups and government officials on these issues.  

Location: Asheville, North Carolina

Supervisor: DJ Gerken (828) 258-2023

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Project 3:
Transportation and Growth Management Intern

Background/ Project Description : Transportation Reform: The South is growing more rapidly than any other region in the country, resulting in tremendous impacts to our natural resources and quality of life. Transportation and other public infrastructure investments greatly influence the pattern of development in our communities, especially in areas lacking effective land use controls. Poorly planned projects can exacerbate urban sprawl and contribute to degradation of air and water quality. SELC takes a two-pronged approach to reforming transportation policy and promoting sound development in North and South Carolina. We work with our client groups to identify the most environmentally destructive highway and other infrastructure projects, which we then challenge on a project-by-project basis in the administrative process and, if appropriate, through litigation. Equally important, SELC is engaged in a broader advocacy effort aimed at reform of state policy to better link transportation investments with land use planning and to promote healthy and sustainable communities.

Responsibilities: A transportation and land use intern will assist in performing the research and analysis to support our advocacy efforts in North and South Carolina. Candidates from either the Law School or the School of the Environment, as well as joint J.D./M.E.M. students, are encouraged to apply.

Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina Office.

Supervisor: David Farren (919)967-1450

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Project 4:
Air Quality Intern

Background/ Project Description: North and South Carolina Air Quality: As a result of pollution from a wide array of sources, mainly coal-fired power plants and motor vehicles, the Southeast suffers from some of the worst air quality in the nation. Among its other ill effects, air pollution poses serious risks to public health, reduces visibility in our mountains, and damages ecosystems through acid rain and mercury deposition. SELC has been working on air quality issues across the region for several years and has recently focused on the Carolinas. For example, we have been actively engaged with state agencies and EPA in an effort to clean up ozone and fine particle pollution in key urban areas such as Charlotte, NC and Greenville-Spartanburg, SC. We will continue to work with local, state, and federal officials in these areas to ensure that they protect public health. We are also evaluating litigation possibilities relating to soot and smog pollution in our region and are leading the legal and policy fight against proposed coal-fired power plants in North and South Carolina that would use outdated technology that produces high levels of pollution, including gases that contribute to global warming.

Responsibilities: An intern would provide assistance with litigation-related research and document drafting, as well as with policy work on the broader issues involved in our multifaceted effort to clear the air in the Carolinas.

Location: Chapel Hill North Carolina Office.

Supervisor: Marily Nixon or Gudrun Thompson (919) 967-1450

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Project 5
Environmental GIS Analysis

Project Description: SELC uses GIS to analyze environmental issues and bolster arguments in legal and legislative settings. An intern trained on ESRI ArcGIS 9.x software is needed to support a variety of projects from each of SELC's five focus areas. The intern will have to be highly versatile and conversant in a range of environmental and public policy issues. Each project requires gaining a thorough understanding of the case, its details, strategies, and potential outcomes, developing a geo-spatial strategy, acquiring the necessary data, using the software to interrogate the information, and producing a series of digital and/or hard copy products (maps, graphics, reports, etc). Strong preference will be given to applicants with training in Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator. Knowledge of ArcIMS, Google Maps API, or other web application programming is desired but not required.

Responsibilities: Specific project details will depend on SELC's needs at the time. Projects will be timely, complex, and at the van of pressing environmental issues in the Southeast. Additionally, SELC will expect the intern to be able to design and carry out an investigative or analytical GIS-based project that contributes significantly and directly to SELC's mission. Examples of what a GIS intern project could be include mapping all lands protected by private easement in South Carolina; geo-referencing estuarine shoreline stabilization projects in North Carolina; or plotting sedimentation control permits from tabular data.

Location: Chapel Hill North Carolina Office

Supervisor: SELC GIS Analyst, Jovian Sackett

Additional Information: The intern will work closely with various SELC attorneys, as well as with members of partner environmental organizations, and representatives from state and federal agencies.

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Project 6
Private Forest Protection Projects

Project Description: Most forests in the U.S. are found on privately-owned lands, not in federal or state forests, refuges, or parks. Accordingly, the fate of these forests and their associated ecological values rests largely with the millions of non-industrial forest landowners, few of whom have access to consulting foresters or other natural resources professionals for management advice. Finding effective mechanisms to enlist these landowners in conservation-oriented management is essential to ensure that private forests continue to produce public benefits such as clean water, wildlife habitat and carbon sequestration. This is especially true in light of ongoing conversion of forestland to developed uses, increased fragmentation and parcelization, and acceleration of timber harvests.

SELC is working to develop and promote appropriate public policy responses to ensure the maintenance and restoration of functioning forest ecosystems across our region. Significant public dollars are expended each year to provide an array of financial incentives to forest landowners. These range from cost sharing of certain forest practices to favorable tax treatment of forestland. However, significant questions exist regarding whether these incentive programs are appropriately crafted to maximize the ecological services from private lands. With the Farm Bill (which authorizes many of the federal programs) due for re-authorization in Congress in 2007, and various state legislatures and agencies considering new policies, a number of timely research topics are available for focused intern projects. SELC is especially interested in the application of incentive-based approaches at the landscape scale. We have a special commitment to the forests of the Cumberland Plateau and restoration of the longleaf pine ecosystem across its range.

Applicants with backgrounds in law, public policy, wildlife biology, and resource economics are welcomed along with those studying forestry. Interns can expect to work closely with their supervisor, in addition to having a range of independent opportunities, including generating written work products and interacting with other forest stakeholders in governmental and private sectors.

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