Job Title: Natural Resources Biologist

Organization: Maryland Department of Natural Resources

Career Overview: Sara’s main responsibility is to be a project manager for the work her unit does to monitor the effectiveness of best management practices (BMPs) in reducing sediment and nutrients, particularly those BMPs funded through the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund.

A Day on the Job: A typical day will vary with the season and the day to day weather. Field work with the Maryland Biological Stream Survey is conducted in the summer. Leaf-off (late fall into very early spring) is the time for geomorphological stream surveys. Storm flow sampling is conducted year round and usually takes priority over anything else because these storm events are when the majority of sediment and nutrients move through the systems Sara and her unit monitors. In between there’s meetings with stakeholders/project managers, report preparation, data analysis, workshops, conferences, and so on.

Education: Most entry-level environmental science jobs require at least a Bachelor’s degree. Sara went to Towson University where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in biology with a concentration in limnology, specifically fish and stream macroinvertebrates.

Experience and Training: Sara’s initial position with the Maryland Biological Stream Survey was as the Stream Waders volunteer coordinator. She obtained this placement through her work leading volunteers with Carroll County Special Olympics and Oregon Ridge Nature Center. Through her position with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, she has received training on geomorphology and bank erosion surveys.

Personal Career Path: Sara started on her career path in high school when she volunteered with the National Aquarium in Baltimore as an exhibit guide. Throughout college, she worked as a naturalist at Oregon Ridge Nature Center. She was fortunate to get a seasonal technician position with the Maryland Biological Stream Survey immediately after graduation and moved up from there as the Stream Waders volunteer coordinator and then Trust Fund project manager.

Pay and Job Outlook: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2018 median pay for environmental scientists and specialists was about $71,000. The projected percent change in employment in the field is expected to rise 11% by 2026.

Favorite and Most Challenging Aspect to the Job: Sara’s favorite aspect of the job is the diversity. By the time she’s sick of the heat and mosquitoes it’s time to come back in the air conditioning and begin data analysis. By the time her eyes are going crossed from staring at spreadsheets for months on end it’s time to get back out and enjoy everything green and new. She likes how there’s always some new project with an interesting facet to it. On the other hand, the most challenging aspect of the job is getting training. Sara hears it from more and more professionals in her field that their employers don’t pay for training any more. She suggests that if you have the opportunity for free training, leap at it!

Advice for Young Professionals Interested in This Career: Sara’s advice is: “If you are looking to travel and go anywhere in the world (or the country), you can be more broad in your studies. If you intend to find work in a certain area, find some aspect of your chosen field that is marketable and focus on that. A good way to determine what is marketable is to find something that is the focus of policy or regulation.”