On April 9, Conservation Research welcomed our new crew of interns: Lucy Keehn, Abbie Harold, and Nadav Mouallem! We have already put them to work, and they have gained valuable experience planting Kincaid's lupine in Douglas county and monitoring Bradshaw's lomatium in the West Eugene Wetlands.
Lucy graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in Geology with an interest in geomorphology and ecology. While completing her undergraduate degree, she attended field camp in Earth and Environmental Science in Hawaii through Cornell University, where she had the opportunity to intern at an native dry forest preserve in Waikoloa and learn about conservation ecology on the islands. Since graduation Lucy has worked for the USGS earthquake science center as a GIS consultant, and as a field assistant on a paleo-seismic trench investigation of the Peninsular San Andreas fault. In her free time, Lucy loves fixing bikes, exploring Oregon, gardening and cooking food with friends! She is thrilled to be working with the IAE for this summer!
Abbie Harold graduated from Oregon State University in March with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences; her interests are in ecology, conservation, and herpetology. Much of her experience has been focused on wildlife, so she's excited to gain an ecosystem perspective of conservation efforts. The IAE Internship position is her first position straight out of college, so she is eager to start her career and get professional experience in ecological conservation. Things she does for fun include sketching, snowboarding, gardening, and training with her dog.
Nadav graduated from Reed College in Portland, OR, with a BA in Biology in December 2016. During his time at Reed he developed a tremendous interest in botany and environmental studies. For his senior thesis, he studied the characteristics of extant and extinct non-native plant species in an effort to determine the traits that facilitate the persistence of non-native species in foreign environments. He also had the opportunity to work for the Reed College Herbarium over the summer of 2016. Outside of academia, Nadav enjoys spending time in the outdoors skating, hiking, and fishing. Nadav is looking forward to expanding his field experience as an IAE intern this season!
For their first week of their internship, the crew traveled down near Canyonville, OR to help outplant over 4,000 Kincaid's lupine seedlings at several sites managed by the Roseburg BLM! Pictured from left to right, with a cargo van full of Kincaid's lupine: Lucy Keehn, Emily Erickson (volunteer), Abbie Harold, and Nadav Mouallem.
We're incredibly excited to start our field season with our new crew! Throughout the season they'll be posting to our "Adventures in Conservation Research" blog, so stay tuned!
