So you've voted or made plans to do so; you've reached out to a few friends or relatives to remind them to do and offer to help. As a modest thank you from Madison Audubon, how about some good news? As far as I'm concerned good news these days has the status of cold water in the midst of a desert hike. And the news concerns a righteous Madison Audubon act this summer.
As summer approached Madison Audubon had to decide if we were going to employ ecological restoration interns at our Goose Pond and Faville Grove Sanctuaries, as we have each year for many years. COVID presented challenges in ensuring that our interns and sanctuary staff had safe working conditions. Many organizations were not able to employ interns. Losing our summer interns would have been a big loss for Madison Audubon… and these budding ecologists. Our interns are a key reason why our sanctuaries are so healthy. Without the work of these many hands, our wonderful prairies would have many more invasives and less healthy habitat. If you've ever had to walk through stands of wild parsnip, you'll know why the rarity of that plant is such a blessing at our sanctuaries. We could not collect the early prairie seeds we need without our interns.
Faville Grove Sanctuary interns 2020, photo by Drew Harry
And the door swings both ways. Almost all of our interns major in environmental and biological topics as necessary steps in having conservation careers. Another vital step is a series of internships. No public, non-profit, or private conservation organization hires anyone for any permanent field position, even at the entry level, unless that person has hands-on conservation experience—the more and more varied, the better. I'm stunned and humbled by, for example, the range of internships that young DNR biologists had to accumulate before they won their jobs. If Madison Audubon had not employed our interns, they would have lost a summer of gaining important field experience to progress in their field.
At both sanctuaries, all the interns performed to the exceedingly high standards we've come to expect. That's a tribute to them, our staff, and the excellent colleges they've attended, most of which are in the UW system (take a bow, Badgers, Pointers, and Pioneers). I watched and helped with collecting wood betony seeds at Goose Pond; those willing minds, young backs, and supple knees performed way better than me. We also owe all our intern thanks for fully complying with some cumbersome safety measures for transportation and work. Those made the hard work of our interns more difficult but they kept themselves and our staff safe. Thank you!
Collecting wood betony at Goose Pond Sanctuary is no small task… unless you’re 20 and excited! (I’m pictured here on the left). Madison Audubon photo
Many of our interns and staff at the sanctuaries have gone on to great starts in what will be productive careers in conservation. Several weeks ago Maddie Dumas (below left), a fabulous intern and then staff member at Goose Pond, was featured in the Wisconsin State Journal. Maddie was operating the new electric bicycle/cart the City of Madison is using in some of its parks and public lands. Maddie is now a key city employee improving the habitat and sustainable management of many of those lands.
Similarly, Sienna Muehlfeld (below center) was a fabulous intern at Goose Pond and was just hired as the Mississippi Valley Conservancy’s new Restoration Coordinator. One of the all-time best interns to come through Faville Grove is Brenna Marsicek (below right), Madison Audubon's amazing Director of Communication and Outreach.
Those are just a few examples of the scores of students who through the years studied and worked on Madison Audubon’s prairies, to go on to do great things. Our annual intern program always and even more this year depends on our patient, kind, knowledgeable, and very hard-working sanctuary staff. Huge thanks to Roger, David, and Drew at Faville Grove, and Mark, Sue, and Graham at Goose Pond!
Our interns remind us that when Madison Audubon is doing its job, our sanctuaries are places where folks—along with the flora and fauna—can flourish.
Written by Topf Wells, Madison Audubon board of directors and advocacy committee chair
