U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Inside this Issue:Student Ambassadors and Interns ......... 2

Cherokee Youth Explore Heritage.......... 2

Wolf Creek YCC ........................................ 3

Cabo Rojo YCC .......................................... 3

Coral Reef Conservation Program ......... 4

Got Bats? .................................................... 4

Students Hit the Water ............................. 5

Students Bring Back Spruce Trees......... 6

Caribbean Pathways Intern ..................... 6

Georgia’s Camp Charlie............................ 7

North Carolina Pathways Interns........... 7

Conservation Connectors Program ........ 8

South Carolina Volunteer Program ........ 8

Kentucky Volunteer Program .................. 9

2013 Youth ProgramsHighlights across the Southeast Region

IntroductionWelcome to our first Southeast Region youth newsletter! At the end of 2013, we asked you to submit highlights of young people working and volunteering for your field stations to be considered for publication in the Service’s 2013 Youth in the Great Outdoors (YGO) Report.

Although we received many excellent highlights from the field, we could only submit four for the YGO Report. So we decided to compile all of your submissions into one Regional newsletter to showcase all the exciting work that is being done by our young students and volunteers across the Southeast Region.

Enjoy the highlights and photos and start thinking about submissions for the next YGO request coming in late fall or early winter. We hope to continue to use those submissions and make this an annual Southeast Region publication.

Sharon Fuller-Barnes Student and Youth Programs Coordinator Refuges – Southeast Region sharon_fuller@fws.gov

Nikki LampPathways Program CoordinatorEcological Services – Southeast Region nikki_lamp@fws.gov

4th Annual Arkansas Endangered Species Day Art Contest Winner10th - 12th Grade - Demey T. - Cabot High School

Arkansas ES Field OfficeAnnual Endangered Species Art Contest The Arkansas ES Field Office hosted its 4th Annual Endangered Species Art Contest. Contestants were required to highlight an Arkansas threatened, endangered, or candidate species. We worked through the schools to encourage class-wide participation. We received 1,360 entries from 28 schools and one home school. We provided teachers with curriculum and endangered species resources to make it more of a learning experience.

Winners can be viewed on our website: http://www.fws.gov/arkansas-es/esdaywinners2013.html

Contact: Erin Leone, erin_leone@fws.gov

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Southeast Regional Office, Office of Diversity and Civil RightsStudent Ambassador ProgramThe Southeast Region Student Ambassadors conduct a monthly outreach effort to increase interest in and knowledge of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on their college campuses.

The student ambassadors work to increase the number of students applying for Service positions through a number of activities including presentations with relevant academic departments, meeting with key faculty and staff, and individually advising students and student clubs. Our 2013 students included: Garon James Brandon–The University of Georgia, Shana Mullins–Louisiana Tech University, and Kerian Trice–University of Arkansas Pine Bluff. These student ambassadors have been providing student contact lists and holding marketing meetings with campus clubs like The Wildlife Society, Society of American Foresters, Society of Conservation of Biology, MANRRS Chapters, and non-traditional diversity/ethnicity students.

Contact: Courtney Williams, courtney_williams@fws.gov

SCA intern Valerie Salmon (second from left) and Refuges staff Deborah Jerome, Sallie Gentry, and Garry Tucker at an outreach event.

Southeast Regional Office, Refuges Student Conservation Association (SCA) InternValerie Salmon began her internship in the Service’s Southeast Regional Office - National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) Program in June 2013. She was hired for her web-design skills. So far, she has single-handedly migrated six NWR websites to the new Content Management System (CMS) and has helped others throughout the Region migrate their own Refuge websites.

Valerie says the highlight of her internship has been getting to visit refuges and spend time with the staff while training them on the new system.

She’s taken trips to the Okefenokee NWR in south Georgia and to the refuges in North Carolina. She’s been on a tour of the Okefenokee Swamp and was able to see red wolves up close. She says, “It’s been a great pleasure to be a part of something so worthwhile, and I hope the skills I’m learning and sharing, along with the new websites, will help generate the interest and attention each Refuge deserves.”

Contact: Sallie Gentry, sallie_gentry@fws.gov

Asheville ES Field Office, North CarolinaCherokee Youth Explore Heritage North Carolina’s Tuckasegee River valley was once dotted with Cherokee settlements.

Today, the basin is still home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, as well as reminders of the Cherokee’s historic presence, including a remnant, stone fish weir – a downstream-pointing,

Cherokee youth takes a closer look at a stonefly. Credit: Gary Peeples

V-shaped stone pile that directed fish into a basket that would be placed in a gap at the tip of the “V.”

Each year, the Asheville Field Office helps the local watershed group, Watershed Association for the Tuckasegee River, work with Cherokee youth to learn about the river and recreate a traditional fish harvest as the students line up across the river and wade downstream, driving fish into the weir, and then into a fish basket at the weir’s tip.

Contact: Gary Peeples, gary_peeples@fws.gov

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Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery, KentuckyYouth Conservation CorpsDuring the summer of 2013, Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery (NFH) employed a total of four Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) students: Daniel Hadley, James “Austin” Hadley, Kinley “Logan” Shearer, and Danielle Hachey. All four students worked with the hatchery’s day-to-day production of rainbow, brown, and brook trout along with the rearing of imperiled species.

These four individuals were also involved in helping plan and prepare the hatchery’s annual Catch a Rainbow Fishing Derby that registered over 1,350 children ages 1 to 15 on June 1, 2013.

These students completed

specific projects on a daily

basis and filled staffing voids,

which enabled this station to

complete annual goals and

provide a quality experience

to the American people.

Contact: James Gray, james_gray@fws.gov

YCC students working at Wolf Creek NFH.

Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge, Puerto RicoYouth Conservation CorpsCabo Rojo NWR used new media to promote their YCC opportunities far and wide. Recruitment flyers were prepared in Spanish and distributed around the surrounding communities and posted on the Cabo Rojo and Laguna Cartagena NWR Facebook pages. The Refuge received 200 applications, and although they could only host 10 students, this was a huge step in continuing awareness efforts in the local community and employing youth.

The students worked on a variety of projects including maintenance assistance to the Puerto Rico Police Department and Cabo Rojo Municipality, upkeep of the Refuge’s greenhouses, various educational trips, and transplanting and reforesting areas of the Refuge.

Contact: Gisella Burgos, gisella_burgos@fws.gov

YCC student working on a restoration project at Cabo Rojo.

Cabo Rojo YCC student working on a tropical bird data and monitoring project.

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Cabo Rojo NWR and Caribbean ES Field OfficeSunia Coral Reef Conservation Summer Internship Program 2013 Sunia interns, María Cristina López and Mariana C. León Pérez, contributed to a broad project to expand habitat restoration efforts in Puerto Rico’s Rio Loco/Guánica Bay watershed and adjacent areas, including Refuge lands. Their projects included developing and implementing restoration/planting plans with two farmers and developing a Story Map to visually present restoration efforts NGOs, state, and federal agencies are conducting in the Rio Loco/Guánica Bay watershed.

This was the second year in a row the Service’s Southeast Region partnered with the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, the Department of Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, and the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico to hire student interns as part of the Governor Tauese P.F. Sunia Coral Reef Conservation Summer Internship Program. The Sunia Internship recognizes the late Governor of American Samoa for his outstanding leadership and contributions to the conservation of U.S. coral reef ecosystems.

Contact: Silmarie Padrón, silmarie_padron@fws.gov

Sunia interns Mariana C. León Pérez and María Cristina López at a restoration site.

Sixty-one students, faculty, and volunteers participated in an action packed, hands-on educational experience primarily focused on bat conservation. Participants in the “Got Bats?” event were exposed to many different facets of biology (e.g., bats, fish, macro-invertebrates, snakes), ecology (e.g., karst, cave and upland stream ecosystems, sampling techniques), conservation management (e.g., building bat boxes, discussions on mitigation and restoration), and outdoor recreation (e.g., hiking, camping) all in one day. Additionally, all participants were educated about endangered bats, living in karst, white nose syndrome, decontamination, and careers and internships in the conservation field.

This type of event advances the practice of interpretation and education by providing youth with more than just an introduction to an outdoor activity, organism, or habitat; instead it provided

Arkansas ES Field OfficeGot Bats? Building Bat Boxes and Educating Youth about Bat Conservation at Grotto Springs Ranch, Mtn. View, Arkansas

Got Bats? Participants in an action packed, hands-on educational experience primarily focused on bat conservation.

a hands-on, comprehensive ecosystem style approach to learning about science and the outdoors that encompasses many different aspects of nature. Service biologists, Pathways interns, and partner agencies all contributed to the success of this Connecting People with Nature (CPwN)-funded project.

Contact: Tommy Inebnit, thomas_inebnit@fws.gov

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Asheville ES Field Office, North CarolinaFifth-Grade Students Hit the Water The fifth-grade students balked at entering the water as their toes touched the river’s surface and they realized how cool it was; however, within minutes they were gleefully turning stones, searching for stream insects. The Toes in the Toe Festival, named for the North and South Toe Rivers, brings out every fifth-grade student in North Carolina’s Yancey and Mitchell counties for an outdoor experience in line with the North Carolina standard course of study. The students rotate through river-themed stations, including art and farming, and have an opportunity to wade the river searching for aquatic macroinvertebrates. The river basin is home to the endangered Appalachian elktoe mussel, making aquatic-centered educational programs a priority in these areas. The Asheville Field Office was one of the founding organizers for this annual event, working with local non-profit Toe River Valley Watch.

Contact: Gary Peeples, gary_peeples@fws.gov

Asheville ES Field Office, North CarolinaEighth-Grade Students Hit the Water Fish, stream insects, water chemistry, and watershed health - through the Kids in the Creek program, eighth-grade students get hands-on, in-the-field experience with each of these. This year, the Asheville Field Office helped partner organizations Haywood Waterways and the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee with Kids in the Creek events in the Pigeon River and Little Tennessee River watersheds, both in the Southern Appalachians. The students rotated through four stations – each exploring an aspect of river health, with the fish and stream insect stations providing an opportunity to get in the water to catch and identify animals. Between the two events, every eighth-grade student in two counties was able to get wet and explore a river in a watershed that’s home to the endangered Appalachian elktoe mussel.

Contact: Gary Peeples, gary_peeples@fws.gov

Service biologists John Fridell, center, and Mark Endries help students with kick seine. Credit: Gary Peeples

Service biologist Dan Everson helps students identify stream insects.Credit: Gary Peeples

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Asheville ES Field Office, North CarolinaCollege Students Bring Back Spruce Trees Just off the ridgeline in North Carolina’s Unicoi Mountains, wildlife and forestry students from Haywood Community College joined Asheville Field Office staff and state of North Carolina biologists as they fanned out through the forest and planted hundreds of red spruce trees. These peaks are among the highest in the east and home to the endangered Carolina northern flying squirrel, which needs conifers for food and shelter. Eastern hemlocks in the forest are succumbing to hemlock woolly adelgid.

In response, a partnership dedicated to restoring spruce in the Southern Appalachians is moving to plant native red spruce, once the dominant conifer on these peaks. Planting hundreds of red spruce trees would be a daunting task but for the contribution of scores of college students, who got a first-hand look at the interaction between forestry and wildlife management.

Contact: Sue Cameron, susan_cameron@fws.gov

Haywood Community College student plants red spruce. Credit: Gary Peeples

Caribbean ES Field Office, Puerto RicoPathways Intern In 2012, Jennifer Valentín-Traverzo began volunteering for the Service’s Caribbean ES Field Office. Jenny is a graduate student at the Inter American

Pathways intern Jennifer Valentín-Traverzo and a volunteer planting a tree.

University in Puerto Rico. She came on board as a volunteer for a short period of time to help achieve the goals of the Habitat Restoration Programs (Coastal and Partners for Fish and Wildlife).

However, her dedication and

great job during that year led

us to maintain her as a Student

Trainee under the Pathways

Program starting in 2013.

Her work responsibilities included: Collaborate with CESFO staff to achieve the goals of the Sun to Shade Coffee Conversion Initiative in collaboration with several partners (NRCS, PRDNER, NOAA, NGOs, and private landowners); collaborate on habitat enhancement, improvement, and restoration projects; and facilitate program implementation, including the Endangered Species Program.

Jenny provides a valuable addition to the CESFO staff with her high level of enthusiasm for her work and her never-ending smile.

Contact: Marelisa Rivera, marelisa_rivera@fws.gov

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Asheville ES Field Office, North CarolinaPathways Interns The spruce-fir moss spider is an endangered, BB-sized spider that lives in a certain type of moss mat growing beneath the spruce-fir forests on the highest peaks in the eastern United States.

This past summer, David Caldwell, a Pathways intern in the Asheville ES Field Office, joined Service biologists and researchers from Auburn University and the University of California-San Diego on hands and knees in this dense forest, searching for the spider.

For five years, the Asheville Field Office has made extensive use of STEP, now Pathways, interns. Each student is ensured exposure to a wide range of responsibilities, ranging from managing the office recycling program, to developing site management plans, to teaching students about stream insects. After their internship, students have become permanent Service staff, continued to graduate school, or, in one case, became a high school biology teacher.

Contact: Gary Peeples, gary_peeples@fws.gov

Pathways intern David Caldwell searches for spruce-fir moss spider. (Note: David was recently converted to a permanent biologist position in the Georgia ES sub-office in Fort Benning.)Credit: Gary Peeples

Georgia ES Field OfficeGeorgia’s 2013 Camp Charlie Program

Father and son canoeing at Camp Charlie. Credit: Garry Tucker

Funded by the Service’s National Conservation Training Center (NCTC), Georgia’s 2013 Camp Charlie program reached out and engaged underserved families, two interns, and ten college volunteers in educational, outdoor adventures.

At Camp Charlie, families learned about local wildlife, habitat, and conservation. Volunteers and interns helped families set up their own tent, make a fire, cook outdoors, and use a compass.

They all hiked, acted in campfire skits, sang songs, and still had free time to

roam the woods. The families were excited to go fishing and canoeing together for the first time and shoot targets with a bow and arrow.

Through this program, Georgia ES and partner, Georgia Wildlife Federation, hope to give families confidence to explore their local, natural areas and spark an interest in the youth for natural resource careers. One camper said, “We learned a lot about animals that I was afraid of before Camp Charlie. Now I am so very educated.”

Contact: Debbie Harris, deborah_harris@fws.gov

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The South Carolina Field Office

(SCFO) provides volunteer

opportunities in a variety of

fields: contaminants assessment,

biological surveys, environmental

education, habitat assessments,

and restoration activities.

During FY 2013, the SCFO continued to utilize the volunteer services of our former Youth Ambassador (a College of Charleston student) for field work and

Arabia Mountain H.S. Natural Resources Management class with their teacher, Josh Rogers, Arabia Mountain “Ranger Robbie”, and Service biologist Tamara Johnson.Credit: Katherine Taylor

Clemson student volunteer, Tyler Edwards. Credit: Thomas Rainwater

South Carolina ES Field OfficeVolunteer Program for Ecological Services, as well as Refuges and Hatcheries

Georgia ES Field OfficeArabia Mountain High School “Conservation Connectors” Program The Georgia Field Office is engaging in an on-going program with Arabia Mountain High School, an environmentally-focused high school that is located on a nature preserve in the middle of metropolitan Atlanta. The granite outcrops of the nature preserve house the pool sprite and black-spored quillwort, two of Georgia’s federally listed plant species.

Working with students enrolled

in the Natural Resources

Management course, Service

biologists are using a combination

of presentations, environmental

education games, and field trips

to teach the students the history

of the Service, the careers and

internships available, and field

techniques that biologists use to

fulfill the Service’s mission.

assistance with environmental education activities.

Additionally, the SCFO worked with a Clemson University student, engaging him in volunteer services not only for the SCFO but also for South Carolina’s refuges and hatcheries (Ernest F. Hollings - ACE Basin NWR and Bears Bluff NFH).

The involvement of these two volunteers continue in FY 2014 as both individuals want to remain involved with our activities and hope to actively seek employment with the Service one day.

Contact: Jennifer Koches, jennifer_koches@fws.gov

The objectives of this program are to: 1) increase awareness and ownership of the natural resources within the metro-Atlanta community, and 2) expose and

attract excellent candidates to the field of natural resources.

Contact: Tamara Johnson, tamara_johnson@fws.gov

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Students on a natural resources-themed scavenger hunt on Arabia Mountain, Georgia.Credit: Katherine Taylor

Kentucky ES Field OfficeVolunteer ProgramIn FY 2013, the Kentucky Field Office (KFO) was fortunate to have three volunteer interns: Jonathan Baxter, Cabrina Pennington, and Bijaya Shrestha.

Jonathan and Cabrina both assisted staff biologists with fish surveys in the upper Kentucky River watershed to establish occupancy rates for rare species like the Kentucky arrow darter and helped with data entry, basic project reviews, and other field activities.

Jonathan also assisted Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program staff with interagency prescribed burning activities while Cabrina conducted surveys of Kentucky glade-cress, a proposed threatened species, with staff biologists.

Bijaya, a practicing attorney, assisted the Environmental Contaminants specialist with preparation of the administrative record for a Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) case.

Contact: Diane Caudillterry_caudill@fws.govBijaya Shrestha and Cabrina Pennington, both volunteer interns with the Kentucky

Field Office, look for freshwater mussels in the Green River using view buckets.

KFO volunteer intern Jonathan Baxter samples for Kentucky arrow darters and other fish species in the mountains of eastern Kentucky and caught this surprising fish instead – a sizeable largemouth bass.