Legislation Campaign Intern @ The Pew Charitable Trust (Remote)

This is not a position with Macalester College, rather it is a position at an outside organization. This position was shared with us by Andrew Werthmann, Midwest Consultant at The Pew Charitable Trusts. Andrew shares, “The goal is to provide students with hands-on experience working on real federal legislation while accommodating summer schedules, whether students are traveling, taking other courses, or working another part-time job.” If you apply to this role, it is highly recommended that you reach out to Andrew at andwerth@gmail.com let them know you are interested.

This Handshake post was created by Macalester and applications will not be seen by the employer unless they are submitted outside of Handshake: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScKOziSnDQcjfG7SAnrWdIMKXRyzGkGMQEYhq4D47rjZz300Q/viewform 

Legislation Campaign Intern @ The Pew Charitable Trust

Internship: Building Bipartisan Support to Reauthorize the Legacy Restoration Fund – Fixing Crumbling Infrastructure in America's National Parks, Forests, and Wildlife Refuges

Internship Details:

Student internship opportunity working with The Pew Charitable Trusts' regional representative, Andrew Werthmann (based in Eau Claire, WI). This is a remote, flexible, paid internship for Summer 2026. The position requires approximately 5-10 hours per week.

Important note on compensation: The internship begins with a short, unpaid trial period (approximately 2 weeks) to ensure a good fit for both the student and the campaign. Following this trial period, the position becomes paid for the remainder of the internship. Ideally, this would be an internship from mid-May through mid-August, with the option to continue into the 2026 Fall Semester.  

This is an excellent opportunity for students interested in environmental policy, public advocacy, outdoor recreation economies, and bipartisan conservation work.

About the Campaign:

The Great American Outdoors Act's Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) provided $1.6 billion annually from 2021 to 2025 to address deferred maintenance across five federal land management agencies: the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Indian Education. The LRF expired at the end of fiscal year 2025.

The problem: Decades of underfunding have left America's public lands with a massive backlog of deferred maintenance — deteriorating roads, unsafe bridges, aging buildings, and outdated visitor facilities. In Wisconsin alone, the backlog exceeds $456 million. When infrastructure is crumbling, it hinders people's ability to access these places safely and harms local economies that thrive on visitors and tourism.  

Solution: Congress can reauthorize the Legacy Restoration Fund through the bipartisan America the Beautiful Act (S. 1547), which has 26 Republicans, 26 Democrats, and 1 Independent cosponsoring in the Senate. A House companion bill is expected soon.

Our campaign goals include:

• Building bipartisan support in the House for reauthorization
• Engaging local elected officials, business owners, chambers of commerce, and outdoor recreation advocates to voice their support
• Drafting letters of support and op-eds that demonstrate the economic and recreational importance of well-maintained public lands
• Supporting congressional outreach and meeting preparation

Internship Responsibilities:

Primary tasks will include, but are not limited to:

• Researching and identifying key stakeholders – Finding local elected officials, chamber of commerce leaders, downtown development directors, outdoor recreation business owners, and hunting/angling advocates who would be strong voices for reauthorization
• Supporting congressional outreach – Preparing for meetings with House member offices, including drafting background memos, talking points, and run-of-show documents
• Drafting letters of support – Writing letters for community leaders (mayors, DDA directors, chamber presidents) to send to their members of Congress supporting reauthorization
• Compiling data and managing contacts – Organizing stakeholder information and tracking outreach efforts
• Remaining flexible and responsive as campaign needs evolve
   

This is a fantastic opportunity for students seeking hands-on experience in public policy advocacy, campaign strategy, and bipartisan coalition building. Relevant policy areas include conservation, outdoor recreation economics, infrastructure funding, and federal land management.

How to Apply:

Please fill out this form with your interest: Internship Application

Timeline: Ideally, I would like to start working with new intern(s) in the last two weeks of May - so please fill this out by May 15th and no later.

Please email me with any questions at andwerth@gmail.com.