Funding for Interns
Each year, the Friends of South Slough (FOSS) pay stipends and travel expenses for interns to work at South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. Internships not only assist the Reserve in accomplishing priority work, but they allow interns to gain valuable work experience. The Friends collaborate with the Reserve to ensure that interns are fairly compensated for their work. Interns may also be funded through grants administered by FOSS.
Ashtin Bowden
Home town: Snellville, Georgia.
School: Ohio State University (BS, Interdisciplinary Studies)
Sponsored and funded by AmeriCorps & FOSS
Mentor: Jaimie Belanger, Education Program Coordinator
Ashtin worked with local high schools and the Oregon Coast STEM hub to recruit high school student interns and worked with them to create, modify and present environmental lessons to elementary- and middle-school students. He also presented South Slough’s Estuary Explorers after-school program at North Bay Elementary School, in collaboration with third-grade teacher Ed Nichols and with help from Abbie Halverson, a North Bend High School student intern.
Ashtin also:
• Presented Estuary Explorers at the Boys and Girls Club after-school program and at Blossom Gulch Elementary School, assisted by Destinations Academy intern, Rachel Christofferson.
• Recruited adult volunteers for AmeriCorps civic projects, including pulling weeds at Millicoma Marsh trail and natural area in Coos Bay, local food drives, and a community clean-up in Roseburg.
Oregon Coast STEM Hub is sponsored and administered by Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. It collaborates with the South Slough and others to engage students with career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math.
Destinations Academy is a public alternative high school in Coos Bay.
Hira Hammad
Home town: North Bend, Oregon.
Studied at: Oregon State University (BS, Environmental Science)
Internship sponsors: Oregon State University & FOSS
Mentor: Eric Dean, Education Program Specialist
Hira led field trips to introduce elementary students to the ecology of the South Slough waterway. She also developed a streamlined, online evaluation tool that education staff will use to fine tune strategies for workshops, field trips and other events. Hira reformatted the evaluation and developed it in a new form that was entirely on line.
“She provided invaluable assistance to staff,” said Public Involvement Coordinator Deborah Rudd. “Converting to a shorter online format makes it easy for participants to fill out – and so much easier for the education team to collect and analyze the comments.”
Fiona Carey
Home town: Sherwood, Oregon
Studied at: Seattle Pacific University (BA, Biology)
Portland Community College (GIS/UAS certificate)
Internship sponsors: National Estuarine Research Reserves System & FOSS
Mentors: Jennifer Kirkland, GIS/UAS Specialist
Jenni Schmitt, Watershed Monitoring Specialist
Fiona, a Sherwood, Oregon, student, took up an Estuary Monitoring & GIS internship that co-funded by a grant from the National Estuarine Research Reserves System and a grant from the Friends of South Slough. She helped to plan and conduct landscape studies using drones and high-precision, satellite-linked elevation surveys.
Tasks included:
• Flying and operating drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs
• Conducting satellite-linked, high-precision elevation surveys
• Collecting and processing the elevation data using satellites and GIS software
The data will contribute to a better understanding of stream temperatures and flows, soil elevation and carbon content, and how wildlife use the various marsh, forest and upland habitats of the South Slough waterway.