Volunteer & Internship Opportunities

The Department of Environmental Protection offers volunteer and internship opportunities throughout the year.

Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteer to Help Our County Waterways

Keep our waterways clean!

  • Organize a Community Cleanup
  • Join our Plogging program
  • Participate in Storm Drain Marking
  • Make Storm Drain Art

Learn more about Waterways Volunteer Opportunities

Recycling Volunteer Program

Montgomery County has a goal to reduce waste and recycle more, aiming for Zero Waste. To extend the reach of the Montgomery County, Maryland, Recycling & Resource Management Division’s (RRMD) resources, the Recycling Volunteer Program in was created in 1991 to educate neighbors, friends, and co-workers about the County’s waste reduction, reuse, and recycling programs.

Learn more about the Recycling Volunteer Program

Internships

The Department of Environmental Protection has a limited number of unpaid internships available for students to help further enhance their skills and career goals. Internship assignments will be developed in an effort to combine the applicant's interests and goals with the Department needs. Our intent is to provide interns with real-world experience and training while at the same time obtaining much needed help on our most pressing challenges. The vast majority of our internships are suitable for undergraduate or Master’s students, but qualified high school students may be considered. Internships can be limited to a semester or year-round, except for the biological monitoring internships which are only in summer.

Department areas of focus:

  • Water, Watershed Restoration and RainScapes
  • Biological Monitoring Internships (available over the summer season)
  • Outreach, Education and Communications
  • Energy
  • Trees and Air Quality
  • Sustainability and Climate Change
  • Compliance and Community Concerns

Submit your resume and cover letter by email to AskDEP@MontgomeryCountyMD.gov. You will hear from DEP if there is an interest in your application. We are unable to respond to everyone.

Biological Monitoring Internships (Summer)

Each summer, DEP offers specialized volunteer internships to work with stream monitoring crews to collect biological, physiochemical and habitat data. The internships are unpaid.

Download an application (PDF) for the summer biological monitoring internship (PDF)

The deadline to apply for the Summer Biological Monitoring volunteer internship is April 12, 2024.

Duties may include:

  • Fish sampling
  • Habitat assessments
  • Physical chemistry sampling
  • Amphibian & reptile surveys
  • Temperature meter deployment
  • Benthic macroinvertebrate sub-sampling
  • Data entry and database querying
  • Public outreach projects