Nicholas Parker came to the Wilderness Society to work on a project that dealt with potential losses in the value of ecosystem services in the Sierra Nevada due to global warming.  His principal tasks included researching the current state of the science on economic valuation of ecosystem goods and services, devising potential methods for downscaling an existing model of a few large í¢â‚¬Å“bioregionsí¢â‚¬  across the U.S., and searching for databases that could prove useful to a downscaled model.  Nicholas worked independently, for the most part, with occasional communication with a small team of TWS staff interested in the project í¢â‚¬“ from economists to GIS analysts to ecologists.  Nicholas was able to learn ArcGIS, something that he was unable to budget time for at Michigan, and use the software to work on the model.  He took part in office meetings and conference calls, communicated with outside researchers and forest managers, and acquired a good understanding of the variety of work that takes place in The Wilderness Societyí¢â‚¬â„¢s California office and across the country.

Internship Details