My
internship with Northwest Wildlife Preservation Society has been such a unique
and positive experience. It began on my very first day with the perfect
initiation into this group: a field trip to Boundary Bay to search for migrant
snowy owls, followed by a stop at Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Delta to visit an
extensive list of additional avian neighbours. Not only was it inspiring to see
so much diversity locally, but also to learn that working with NWPS would mean working with a group of
individuals genuinely fascinated by nature.
A
recent Environmental Sciences grad and looking for a direction in which to
channel my knowledge and interests, I was fortunate to come across NWPS – a
group whose mission I was immediately drawn to. The broad appeal of this society
differs from the jargon-rich scientific articles that I was used to, but I
think that the accessibility of this group’s educational resources was part of
what excited me the most! Especially, I agreed (and agree) with the importance
of catering environmental education to young and growing minds.
During
my time with NWPS, I gained an appreciation for what goes on behind the scenes
at an environmental non-profit. Partly, it was through having the opportunity
to take on a variety of roles, including, but not limited to: writing species
reports, facilitating our annual Green
Ribbon Campaign, coming up with ‘fun facts’ for facebook, and accompanying our
educator for school programs including classroom presentations, nature walks,
and stewardship events. The other part was seeing how much the few individuals
at NWPS’s core bring to the society; from our Education Coordinator, Darren’s,
limitless grasp of biology and issues pertaining to wildlife preservation, his rapport
with the students, and that extra personal touch from photos and stories of his
wildlife encounters; to our Executive Assistant, Kristine’s, ability to keep
NWPS at the front of people’s minds through the use of social media, her
collaboration with other groups, fundraising and event planning, and her extraordinary
ability to multi-task and take care of all things administrative. I have much
respect for these two!
Now,
as my internship comes to a close, I have some awesome things to take with me. I
have increased knowledge of BC’s wildlife and a few more bird species to add to
my list of wild sightings. I have a tree planting under my belt and have seen
kids who individually are not strong enough to pull out invasive Scotch Broom
or remove a gigantic piece of woody debris that is crushing native vegetation,
work together to accomplish these tasks. I have become the student when a kid
was so excited by bears that he wanted to teach me everything he knew. And I
feel thankful to know that NWPS is doing a great job reaching out to young
individuals to help get them get excited about and want to preserve our living
environment. Thank you so much to everyone who made this experience so
rewarding!
Keep
up the fantastic work, NWPS!
Nicole
Lee
