Public Lands Stewards: Conserving Biodiversity

Public Lands Stewards: Conserving Biodiversity

When it comes to our nations natural resources many career environmentalists are faced with similar questions to very different situations. One question that is often presented to managers, biologists, and field technicians is “conservation or preservation?” These two...
Public Lands Stewards: Seeking Refuge

Public Lands Stewards: Seeking Refuge

Arriving at Conboy Lake National Wildlife in the spring is a spectacle unlike anything I had ever experienced. Growing up in Florida the transition from winter to summer appears to happen overnight, what may have been a month of cool weather immediately turns to an...
Meet Dakota, 2020 Public Lands Stewards Intern!

Meet Dakota, 2020 Public Lands Stewards Intern!

My name is Dakota Miller, I grew up in the beautiful state of Florida and love fishing, hiking, camping, and being on the water.  After graduating high school I enlisted in the United States Air Force and completed a six year enlistment with the Air National Guard....
Meet Lisa, 2020 Public Lands Stewards Intern!

Meet Lisa, 2020 Public Lands Stewards Intern!

I grew up in a family that loved to play outdoors and go camping as often as possible. I always had a fascination for wildlife, and I knew that I wanted to explore my passion for nature for my life’s work. It was not until I had almost completed two years of my...

Public Lands Stewards: Water is Life

Water is Life May, water is abundant Meandering through channels and Man-made ditches It comes up to your chest Don’t top! July, water is disappearing Forced to a stop By the disputes of men Mud and duck tracks are reminders Of what once was Some strongholds remain...

Public Lands Stewards: My First Month at Tualatin

  My first month at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge began with lots of training and learning. For the last couple of weeks I have been surveying at Wapato Lake for two main invasive species – Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) and Iris...

Public Lands Stewards: Wildlife Management

Conboy Lake is not really a lake. Mice can maneuver into the inside of cars and eat emergency ramen rations. Use one hand to catch bullfrogs. Toads breed in hordes. Bring a plank for crossing streams. And lastly, unless you’re over 50 years old, don’t even try to play...

Public Lands Stewards: Let’s Talk About Fish

It is now October and Conboy Lake is painted with beautiful hues of orange, yellow and red as the quaking aspen leaves change to their fall colors. The wildlife is in full force; I can barely sleep through the sounds of elk bugling and owls hooting through the night....

Public Lands Stewards: Lessons from Conboy Lake

I’m writing this as I wait for the sun to go down so that Hannah, my AmeriCorps partner, and I can begin our nighttime bullfrog hunt. I’d really like to use a better word than hunt, say survey or monitoring, but hunting for all intensive purposes is what we do....