Reece Charles and Jamie Kollman have a lot in common. They both entered UW-Milwaukee as film majors, but switched their focus to environmental science. They both plan to graduate this coming May. They both want to work in conservation as a career. And they both spent the summer as interns in the 2024 Diversity in Conservation internship program.
The Diversity in Conservation internship program, run by the Natural Resources Foundation, provides undergraduates with paid opportunities to explore careers in environmental science. The program hopes to help meet the need for diverse professionals in the conservation field by hosting weekly meet-ups for the interns, taking them on field trips to various natural areas, facilitating networking opportunities, and more.
This year, the program welcomed 10 interns drawn from UW-Madison, Lawrence University, and UW-Milwaukee (including UWM student Alana Fisher, who studies public health). Charles was placed in an internship with the Zoological Society of Milwaukee, while Kollman spent her summer with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The buzz about the Zoological Society
The best part of Reece Charles’ internship with the Zoological Society was definitely the bees.
The Zoological Society works closely with the Milwaukee County Zoo to help educate the public about wildlife and sustainability and support conservation efforts. Charles, who uses they/them pronouns, worked in the Society’s Conservation Department – “specifically for their local conservation,” they said. “The Zoo has a lot woodlands, and they do a lot of monitoring of the species that live on the Zoo grounds.”
Charles assisted with bird and reptile surveys, worked on data entry and management, and helped with some public education and outreach programs, but their favorite task was conducting bumble bee surveys. Charles has been interested in pollinator conservation ever since they spent a year working at a garden center and were surprised by the variety of insects that visited the flowers.
The bumblebee survey was Charles’ biggest project. They created a database and data sheet to track sightings. They trekked out regularly to the Zoo’s two pollinator gardens and literally counted each bumble bee they saw fly through. A large part of the work was photographing the bees, and Charles got pretty good at it with just a phone camera.
After the data was collected, they submitted it to the Wisconsin DNR’s Bumble Bee Brigade, a statewide program that keeps track of bumblebee species and numbers.
“Bumble bees are an extremely important pollinator in our local Wisconsin ecosystem,” Charles noted. They were particularly excited to spot a rusty patch bumble bee, which is an endangered species.
Their internship was an impactful experience because they were able to meet new people, learn better communication skills, and gain experience with conservation field work. “It helped me learn how many different jobs there are in conservation,” Charles added. “There are a lot of very interesting things that people do (in this field), and it’s fascinating and important to know.”
Charles is contemplating graduate school after they graduate in May. They plan to specialize in insect conservation and learn more about pollinator ecology.
In the field with the DNR
Jamie Kollman has a healthy respect for geese after her internship at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Kollman spent the summer as a wildlife conservation specialist in the DNR’s Wildlife Management Bureau. Part of Kollman’s work involved serving as a wildlife educator in the Milwaukee area where she helped teach classes about identifying animal tracks or the basics of birding. She worked in the field, helping to eradicate invasive plant species and taking photographs and video of DNR workers used for their social media. She also assisted with the DNR’s duck and geese banding efforts.
“That was my first time handling wildlife. Geese was a scary one to start off on!” Kollman laughed. “They are big and they are stinky. Ducks are a lot easier to handle.”
Banding is a critical part of managing game birds across America, and especially in Wisconsin where waterfowl often breed. The process is a tricky one; DNR workers toss nets over the birds and haul them in so they can receive their bands. Volunteers can assist in the work, and one of Kollman’s favorite days on the job was when her mother came along to lend a hand.
“It was a really nice sunrise and we were waiting there, and no ducks ended up coming. So, my mom just got to meet all of these DNR people, which was fun,” Kollman recalled. “I’m a mini version of my mom. She’s a naturalist at Retzer Nature Center. She’s always wanted to work in nature, and I think I’ve adopted a lot of her environmentalism.”
It might be due in part to her mother’s influence that Kollman dropped her film major and used Letters & Science’s Committee Interdisciplinary major to design her own course of study; under the guidance of an advisor, she is working towards a major she’s named “environmental ethics, policy, and science.”
Thanks to her DNR internship, Kollman is more confident in her future career prospects with that educational background.
“I think I learned that I want to be a little more community-oriented. Maybe I want to pursue making environmental documentaries,” she mused. She’ll get to try her hand at it this autumn; Kollman is now working as the social media and communications assistant for the Office of Sustainability at UWM and will be making videos for its channels. She hopes to land a similar job after she graduates in May.
By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science