Five Student Conservation Association (SCA) interns began working in the Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Natural and Cultural Resources Branch of the Environmental Division and in the Master Planning Division of the Directorate of Public Works in fall 2024. Prior to October 2024, only two SCA interns had ever been employed at the same time.
“We found value the whole year long with those (prior interns) positions,” Natural Resource Specialist Neil Bass said when describing why the interns were hired. “That’s what led us to think it was good, and so we then expanded upon that as well.”
The interns' day-to-day roles are constantly changing, since their primary purpose is to complete various projects around Fort Leavenworth for the betterment of the installation.
“I get tied to my desk a lot as the only Natural Resources manager,” Bass said, “and so if I’m sitting here, I can’t be doing surveys, I can’t be doing management activities, but if I have an intern that can, like the ones I have now currently, I send them out to do (the tasks).”
The interns have worked on several group and individual assignments.
“We did a quail covey survey one morning out in the floodplains with the other interns,” Natural Resources intern Barbie Kalta said. “This survey is basically to identify if there are any groups of quail in the area, so we just sit outside around dawn and listen to see if we hear them communicating with each other. Unfortunately, we did not see or hear any quail that morning.”
Kalta and fellow Natural Resources intern Monique Pyle have worked on wildlife data collection projects.
“We’ve been trying to catch, not like physically catch, an otter,” Pyle said. “We set up a trail (camera) to catch a photo of the otter, because, I guess, it’s been a really long time since there’s been any recording of an otter on Fort Leavenworth.”
One of the most recent projects for the two Natural Resources interns has been collecting data for all bird species found at Fort Leavenworth and compiling it in a database. The bird data collected by the interns is being compiled with more than 6,000 other observations from over the years and will be shared in the Department of Defense’s Avian Knowledge Network to monitor endangerment status of migratory birds and habitat condition.
“There are many purposes to this project,” Kalta said. “It’s a good place to have a central location for all of our bird species data for the fort, but it also can be used for future projects or reporting. With the database, we can do various statistical analyses, and share our data with other installations or government agencies to help with bird monitoring and support conservation.”
While the two Natural Resources interns said their roles help promote better understanding and preservation of wildlife and plant life across Fort Leavenworth, Cultural Resources interns Winston Ihemeremadu and Morgan Miller and Global Information Systems (GIS) intern Adam Moore have been working on a project involving historical landmarks on Fort Leavenworth. GIS provides maps for natural and cultural resource purposes.
“We're working on Wayside Markers, which are just different points on the base giving descriptions of historical points; for example, there is one marker that I did for Corral Creek,” Inhemeremadu said. “And those markers, they're like for tourists — they have a guided tour for each Wayside Marker whenever you come onto the base.”
For the project, the interns were tasked with both updating the QR codes found at each Wayside Marker so that the information presented is up to date, while also working to write a grant for benches to be placed at each of the landmarks.
“We had revised the description to make it sound more current, because the last time it was updated was like a rough 15-plus years ago,” Ihemeremadu said. “So, we were just asked to update it to make it sound fresh compared to what it sounded like years ago.”
Moore noted that the Wayside Marker project has been his favorite since starting the internship.
“It’s just really cool, because you get to go through all the historical information about the post and a lot of old photos and old information that a lot of people don’t know anything about,” Moore said.
Moore said the internship has allowed him to obtain more experience for his dream of working in an environmental field.
“I’ve got years of experience in other jobs, but it’s nothing in environmental, so this will be kind of, hopefully, that stepping stone in environmental remediation, something in sustainability,” he said.
The other interns agreed that they applied for the SCA internships because the opportunity helped them gain the hands-on experience they were looking for prior.
“I took the internship just basically because of the opportunity,” Pyle said. “I was already looking for a job, and I just thought this one sounded really fun, and it’s very much out of my comfort zone. But Neil reassured me that I’d still be a pretty good fit. Even though I don’t have any experience in this field, I can still get stuff done and learn.”
Miller said she is excited for the opportunities the internship will provide as she applies for doctorate programs.
“We’ve been learning so much from people that this is their field of study,” Miller said. “This is what they’ve been doing for years.”
While the interns said they enjoy the hands-on experience they’ve gained through this internship, they have also appreciated that multiple other interns have been working with them.
“There (are) other people that I can share this experience with,” Pyle said. “It’s cool to see so many different personalities and faces and people who are from all kinds of different backgrounds and walks of life.”
Ihemereadu agreed that not being the sole intern has enriched the experience.
“It definitely makes the process of being new easier,” Ihemereadu said. “It makes it just nice to have people in the same shoes constantly.”
| Date Taken: | 01.15.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 01.16.2025 09:35 |
| Story ID: | 489180 |
| Location: | FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 12 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, SCA interns assist with species surveys, Wayside Marker updates at Fort Leavenworth, by Prudence Siebert, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
