During the Summer of 2010, Bethany worked for the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) as their Restoration Practices Adaptive to Climate Change Safeguards Intern at their Great Lakes Regional Center in Ann Arbor, MI.  Her supervisor was Melinda Koslow, the Regional Campaign Manager for the Climate Change Safeguards Program and a graduate of SNRE.  Bethany researched current climate change projections for Southeast Michigan and restoration practices adaptive to climate change.  She wrote several reports including í¢â‚¬Å“Projected Climate Change Impacts on the Great Lakes: Michigan,í¢â‚¬  which outlined the impacts that climate change will have on Southeast Michigan within the next 50 to 100 years.  She discussed the changes in temperature, precipitation, shifting of species and land cover and spread of invasive species in this document.  She worked with the in-staff graphic designer to construct this into a valuable resource that local restoration practitioners can use to adapt their restoration projects.  Another document she wrote entitled í¢â‚¬Å“Adapting Ecological Restoration to Climate Changeí¢â‚¬  discussed current restoration practices that integrate climate change projections.  She also planned the í¢â‚¬Å“Local Restoration Practices Adaptive to Climate Change Forumí¢â‚¬  in order to gather people who work on restoration in Washtenaw County to think about how climate change can be integrated into their work.  Each participant was given a packet that included the two aforementioned documents and other useful NWF documents on climate change and restoration practices.  This forum was highly successful and brought together representatives from the Huron River Watershed Council, Natural Area Preservation, Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Nichols Arboretum, the US Geological Survey, Legacy Land Conservancy and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  She began the forum with a short PowerPoint presentation on the meaning of adaptive restoration practices, the purpose of the discussion and an introduction of the participants.  There was a fruitful discussion about current adaptive practices, successes and challenges in adaptive restoration practices and what further information is needed to better construct successful restoration projects. Throughout this internship, Bethany improved her skills in professional writing, networking, event planning and public speaking.  She experienced what ití¢â‚¬â„¢s like to work for an environmental non-profit and overcame challenges associated with embarking upon a new career.  She increased her team-building abilities through working collaboratively on developing technical papers and organizing the adaptive restoration practices event.  She also attended the í¢â‚¬Å“Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force Public Meetingí¢â‚¬  at the EPA office in Chicago, Illinois to learn about how other Midwest organizations are adapting their work to climate change and networked with representatives from those organizations.  Additionally, she helped out during NWF's í¢â‚¬Å“Great American Campout,í¢â‚¬  an overnight event held at Leslie Science center designed to help families reconnect with nature.  Bethany learned a great deal about the mission of National Wildlife Federation, í¢â‚¬Å“inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our childrení¢â‚¬â„¢s futureí¢â‚¬  and took an active role in advancing that mission.

Internship Details