Labor Day weekend is a reminder that the end of summer is near. As students head back to school and leaves start to turn, we would like to acknowledge the dedicated interns and volunteers who were part of the Craighead Beringia South team this summer! Volunteer and internship programs provide students with hands-on experience that enhances their continuing education and work in the wildlife field. This summer we hosted two high school interns with our education program, one University intern with our sage-grouse project, and five volunteers with the Teton Cougar Project’s Non-invasive Monitoring study. See below for information on each of these devoted individuals putting science to work for wildlife!
If interested in future internships and volunteer opportunities click here.
Coleman signed up to make the most of the summer before entering his senior year at Jackson Hole High School through an internship with Craighead Beringia South. He had a keen interest in marine biology and impressed us with his knowledge of insects, fish and his overall awareness of nature. This summer he focused on gathering aquatic insects to compare current data with historical data to archive the health of streams over time. He also gained field experience with the Teton Cougar Project tracking and downloading a GPS collar. When Coleman is not tracking down cougars and aquatic insects he enjoys wakeboarding and golf.
Wilton, a falconer and sophomore high school student, has an interest in birds, their habitat and environmental impacts on their survival rates. He produced an impressive documentary film on bald eagle poisoning in Southeastern Wyoming. Summer duties at Craighead Beringia South included setting cameras for the Teton Cougar Project and assisting with eagle trapping for our Pinedale Eagle and Energy Development study. Wilton tracked and located a cougar family group while in the same day, fished the Gros Ventre River to acquire bait for the avian crew!
This summer Jessica was the field intern for the Sage Grouse Project. Volunteering for Craighead Beringia South in 2008, she fell in love working and learning about mammal and sage grouse ecology. After completing her summer internship Jessica will begin her junior year at Chadron State College for a wildlife biology/management degree. Born and raised in Wyoming, Jessica loves the mountains and enjoys every opportunity to be outside fishing, hiking, canoeing, camping, playing sports, and making memories!
This internship position was funded by a grant from the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole.
Born and raised in upstate New York, Anna received her B.S. from Cornell University in May 2012 with a focus on applied ecology. Her main interests lie in carnivore biology, most specifically wild felids. She has worked on a variety of projects ranging from sea turtle nesting behavior in Costa Rica, suburban deer ecology in New York, predator-prey interactions in Panama, and cheetah-lion-hyena interactions in Botswana. She hopes to pursue graduate school in the next few years with a focus on felid ecology and conservation. When not hard at work in the field, she enjoys salsa dancing, competitive orienteering, climbing mountains, and playing as much basketball and soccer as possible.
Peter is from Hanover New Hampshire and recently joined the Beringia team after graduating from the University of New Hampshire with a degree in Wildlife Ecology. Peter has extensive experience on research projects ranging from black bears to Atlantic Bluefin Tuna. He spends much of his time reading, observing wildlife, and identifying and following tracks. Peter also enjoys building his own digital video and still photo wildlife cameras to better document and understand wildlife ecology.
Sophie was born and raised in a small town in southern New Hampshire and graduated with B.S. in Wildlife Ecology from the University of New Hampshire. She has a variety of experience ranging from tracking and conserving the endangered black rhinoceros in Namibia, Africa, creating enrichment activities for medically exploited chimpanzees in Bend, Oregon, and caring for several different types of penguins at the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts. She has been working as a volunteer on the Teton Cougar project for 2 months and hopes to continue her education by pursuing a Master's degree in Animal Behavior. When not working, Sophie enjoys running, knitting, playing with her dog and homemade pizza.
Zach has been studying and loving wildlife; the lands, waters, and skies that are home to all of them, since a very young age. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and has since been held captive in a cubicle while working in various fields of technology. He now has been released back into the wild and couldn’t be happier. With a particular passion for big cats and raptors, he loves to roam outside in search of whatever stories the land has to tell so he can be a voice and advocate. Zach enjoys watching, learning, photographing and writing about wildlife, singing, playing, writing and listening to music, playing outside, and learning about, practicing and sharing whole-body wellness techniques.