Hi everyone! My name is Joey Garcia and I am part of EFTA's batch of winter interns in RAP cohort number 6! I started in early February and have already had some fantastic experiences. I work from home here in Michigan, and my work location...

January, 2023: This month, I helped survey Redwood Creek for spawning (breeding) salmonids. “Salmonid” refers to any fish species in the taxonomic family Salmonidae, which includes salmon, trout, and a variety of other “salmon-like fish.” Salmonid spawning activity was close to zero during our survey,...

January was packed with new experiences! I got to do an intern swap with Ana, the natural resources intern, and got to experience a day in her work life. We started the day off by meeting Ana's coworkers, some who are interns for other organizations,...

One of my favorite things I get to do in this internship is host a bilingual (English/Spanish) preschool program every last Saturday of the month. I get to choose the topic, create the program and of course, have fun with it! This last program was over...

Time flies when you're working in a park as gorgeous as Golden Gate. Almost four months have flown by, and I’ve spent the beginning of my internship learning the hydrology ropes, hopping around doing work with other interns, and helping with a couple projects. Let’s...

 Species spotlight: Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) Western Snowy Plovers (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) are a shorebird found along coastline, bays, estuaries, and rivers on the Pacific coast.  They forage on aquatic invertebrates.  Due to habitat loss, their population has been decreasing and in 1993,...

I love working with the local community and learning more about them. Luckily this job focuses a lot on building and maintaining those relationships established between USFWS and the communities that the wildlife refuges are in. The Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex covers four different...

Time goes by incredibly fast. This is especially true when it is spent doing new things, in a new place, with new people. I can’t believe my first month here in Oregon is over. At this point, I am used to the rain every day...