Overview
The Public Lands Transportation Fellows (PLTF) program, provides fellowships to outstanding masters and doctoral graduates in a transportation-related field. The fellows are provided with a unique opportunity for career development and public service working directly with staff of Federal Land Management Agencies (FLMAs) on key visitor transportation issues.
Fellows are assigned to work with staff at a unit or region/field office facing a transportation issue to facilitate a transportation planning or implementation project. The assigned projects help the land units develop transportation solutions that preserve valuable resources and enhance the visitor experience.
Goals
The program has four goals:
- Encourage emerging transportation professionals to pursue their career serving federal lands.
- Provide much-needed transportation expertise to FLMA units and regions to help them address critical transportation issues.
- Support the development, implementation and evaluation of viable alternative transportation for visitors to FLMAs.
- Encourage multi-agency alternative transportation programs that serve visitors to multiple FLMA units.
Background
The Public Lands Transportation Fellows (PLTF) program, previously know as the scholars program, began in 2012 and was modeled after the very successful Transportation Scholars program managed by the National Park Foundation (NPF) that served the National Park Service (NPS).
From 2012 to 2014, the PLTF served the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and was funded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) through the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks program and the USFWS and conducted in partnership with the Eno Transportation Foundation, Federal Highway Administration, BLM, NPF, NPS, USFS, and USFWS. From 2014 to 2020, the PLTF has been funded directly by and served only the USFWS. From 2020 to present, the program has been funded by and served both USFWS and NPS.
Join our distribution list
- Interested in staying up-to-date on the program? Join our distribution list here.
Contact us for more information
- PLTF Manager: Jaime Sullivan
- Email: jaime.sullivan2@montana.edu