INHF's summer 2005 interns

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This article appeared in INHF's Summer 2005 magazine.

by Nic Young

From the Loess Hills along the Missouri River to the limestone bluffs along the Mississippi, from the countryside to the heart of Iowa’s capital city, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation’s summer interns are protecting Iowa’s natural lands.

				INHF’s Central Iowa land stewardship crew includes Dave Thilges of Algona, Shannon Lydic of Des Moines, Marcy Card of Urbandale and (behind) Bill Martin of Luther.
	INHF’s Ding Darling Interns are Casey Jeffries of Urbandale, Jacob Rogers of Tiffin, Elizabeth Ward of Epworth and crew leader Jessica Nanke of Decorah.
	The “indoor crew” works at INHF’s Des Moines office. They include Graphic Design Intern Kim Smith, Land Program Intern Ryan Marquardt and Communications Intern Nic Young. INSETS: Trail Website Intern Vasudha Pinnamaraju and Legal Intern Justin Rammell.

In the field, INHF supports two land stewardship crews, one based in eastern Iowa and the other in central Iowa. The eastern Iowa crew, known as the Ding Darling Interns, travels extensively throughout the eastern portion of the state—working on lands owned by INHF and on private property protected by INHF conservation easements. Because the crew often works in remote locations for several days at a time, they frequently camp nearby the work site.

The central Iowa crew works primarily on INHF’s Snyder Heritage Farm in Polk County and other areas in the region. Like the Ding Darling Interns, they spend their days under the hot Iowa sun—clearing brush, removing invasive species and reseeding prairie.

Five other Iowa college students serve as INHF’s  “indoor interns,” working alongside INHF staff in our Des Moines office. Their tasks include building an interactive trail website, monitoring conservation easements, writing grant proposals, designing INHF’s 2006 wall calendar, writing news releases and magazine articles, maintaining INHF’s website and researching conservation policy.

The R.J. McElroy Trust of Waterloo, the internship program’s key supporter, has funded INHF’s Robert R. Buckmaster Interns since 1986. The Ding Darling Interns, a new program in 2005, received major funding from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust given through INHF’s Ding Darling Educational Fund. INHF’s land stewardship fund supplements the outdoor intern budget.

Meanwhile, the Svare Family Trust of Iowa City provides primary support for one intern per year, while the Iowa Department of Transportation provides primary support for the trail website intern. INHF’s legal intern is entirely supported through the Drake University Agricultural Law Center Summer Service Learning Internship program.

Nic Young is a Drake University student, the Svare Family Intern and a Robert R. Buckmaster Intern at INHF.

 

For more information, e-mail Cathy Engstrom, Director of Communications, or call (515) 288-1846.