Michael S. Jastremski interned with the Manlius Greenspace Coalition.

"With the help of the Edna Bailey Sussman Foundation, I was able to spend the summer of 2007 working for a fledgling open space conservation organization in my hometown of Manlius, New York, called the Manlius Greenspace Coalition. During the course of my internship I worked on two separate í¢â‚¬Å“task forcesí¢â‚¬  for the organization. One of these was the í¢â‚¬Å“Onondaga Escarpment Nature Corridorí¢â‚¬  task force, which concerned itself mainly with exploring ways to create an open space connection between Clark Reservation State Park, in the Town of Dewitt, and Green Lakes State Park, in the Town of Manlius. The other was called the MOSAIC project. MOSAIC stands for the Manlius Open Space Assessment and Inventory Committee. The committee is composed of people from the Manlius Greenspace Coalition and the Town of Manlius, as well as an outside consultant hired with a grant co-written by the town and the organization. The goal of this project is to create a í¢â‚¬Å“vision mapí¢â‚¬  of the remaining open space resources in the town, for use in planning decisions by the town. My role in both of these projects varied greatly over the course of the summer, and included research, field data collection, data analysis, and creation of hand and computer-based graphics and maps.

Overview of Research Experience:
For the Onondaga Escarpment Nature Corridor Project, I started out the summer making maps and power points for presentation, particularly at the 4th of July booth the organization had in the town center, and at a meeting of representatives from the two towns in which the proposed corridor ran. I also attended Board, Planning Board, and Zoning Board of Appeals meetings for both the Town and the Village of Manlius. As the summer went on, the focus of this task force switched almost entirely to 3 Falls Woods, a remnant forest patch that is a key part of the proposed corridor. This particular patch of land became the í¢â‚¬Å“patient on the operating tableí¢â‚¬  when the developer that owns the land submitted a sketch plan for a subdivision. My work for most of the rest of the summer was divided between research concerning this parcel of land, including historical precedents for its preservation as open space, guiding visiting experts around the woods, including a Karst hydrologist and a glacial geologist, and recording spatial data in the woods with a GPS unit. I also created maps of the area for use in presentation to citizens and town/village board members. Towards the very end of my time in Manlius, I expanded my walking and data collection to other areas included in the proposed Nature Corridor, including the very beautiful Limestone Creek Valley. I wish I had had more time to do this kind of thing, but in the end the work that I conducted in and about Three Falls Woods contributed to its designation as a Critical Environmental Area, which is a New York State designation that acknowledges its ecological, aesthetic, and practical value as open space. I also continued to attend various board meetings throughout the summer.   

For the MOSAIC project, I spent the summer organizing and teaching a volunteer protocol for spatial data collection, recording, and transfer. By economic necessity, the MOSAIC project plans on using almost exclusively volunteer labor, as well as expertise, to collect information about the remaining open space in the town. While being an interesting opportunity to tap citizen knowledge about the area, it also presents a challenge in making that knowledge, manifested as data collected spatially with a GPS unit, and expressively on paper, into a coherent whole. I worked on standardizing the procedures for use of the GPS unit; division of survey units and documentation of what has been surveyed; data collection, especially which data was most important to record; and data transfer into the computer GIS database. In addition, I conducted a series of volunteer orientations to familiarize interested citizens with the protocol.       

Overall, I found my experience this summer to be a good one, although there were some aspects that were frustrating. The organization, being a grassroots effort that is fairly young, was often disorganized, and my role wasní¢â‚¬â„¢t clearly defined. There was often little warning when I was expected to have some type of product for presentation, and I had little to no technical support when I ran into problems with production.

At the same time, the exposure that I had to the way that a grassroots organization functions, particularly in the face of what seemed like one crisis after another, was invaluable. I also had the opportunity to learn a lot about the tangled web of local government, which I found both disturbing and fascinating. There were also benefits to the occasional unclear definition of my role, in that I had lots of opportunity for self direction, and the ability to expend effort on tasks that I felt were important.

I also made the acquaintance of many people involved in the same kind of work that I plan on pursuing for the rest of my career, in the area where I stand a good chance of ending up when Ií¢â‚¬â„¢m finished with school. These contacts will be invaluable to me as I endeavor to make a living, and a positive difference on the land, in central New York.

The best part about this summer was that I was able to reconnect with the landscapes of my youth, places where I learned to love and respect the world. Not only that, I was able to contribute to the preservation of some of those amazing places for future generations of Manlius residents, who hopefully will have the opportunity to have those places move them like they have moved, and continue to move, myself.

I maintain contact with the organization and planning on assisting them in the future. In fact, I am currently enrolled in a GIS class for which the term focus is a spatial analysis project of the students choosing. I am continuing and expanding the work I conducted this summer in this class.

I caní¢â‚¬â„¢t thank the Sussman Fund enough for this amazing experience!"    

Internship Details