Southeastern Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies: Minorities in Natural Resources Conservation

My father and I with my buck.

In early September I was doing some research on my project like I usually do on:  Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and various other social media sites. I ran across a facebook group called "Minorities in Natural Resources." I was surprised that I had never heard of this group before. Twenty-two years of being outside, twelve of those which I consider my professional career.

I like to think that my career in wildlife started the first time I went hunting, which was when I was thirteen years old.  I was fortunate enough to be a part of Texas Wildlife Association's Texas Youth Hunting Program. I was about to go hunting on the King Ranch for whitetail deer. Being from an urban city and not having that much of a background in agriculture, I did not know why being able to go hunting on the King Ranch was such a big deal. I was just happy to be able to say that, "I was going hunting."

I remember feeling like an early settler as I, along with my guide, Marc Bartoskewitz, stalked my deer from 220 yards down to 40 yards. We were upwind, so the deer was unable to smell us. As we got closer, Marc pulled out a pair of shooting sticks, and I laid my rifle on them and sighted in on my deer. Boom! I had a clean shot and had harvested my first deer. It was at this time that Marc took the time to name all of the deer’s anatomical parts to me. This is when I realized I wanted to do “that”.

Being in graduate school, I still don’t know what “that” is. I know it involves being outdoors, sharing my knowledge, looking at clouds, birds, plants, insects, livestock and wildlife. I love it. I find myself slowly realizing where I want to go in life and what I want to do. I want to recruit for different state/federal agencies or non-profit organizations. I think the reason why I have loved working for different employers is because I love what they stand for and what they have to offer.

I digress, I found the facebook group “Minorities in Natural Resources Conservation” and there was a student application to attend the Southeastern Association for Fish and Wildlife Agencies as a minorities in natural resource conservation or MINRC. The application was due in two days, so I had to work quickly to put my application together along with two recommendation letters. I was able to get my application in and was selected to attend!

After serving as a GLOBE intern with The Nature Conservancy, I have been so stoked for anything with diversity in the field of natural resources. Being Hispanic and a female, I’ve felt I’ve always struggled to find my identity not only as a student but as a professional. I jokingly quote back to the movie Selena, where her father tells her, “We have to be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans, both at the same time! It’s exhausting!”

I learned this week that according to the National Science Foundation (2007), only 2% of scientific careers are held by Hispanic females.

It’s a little scary out there now that I think about it. I am a woman, who is Hispanic, in a predominately white male profession.

Caviar

I have always felt myself as an equal to my classmates as an undergraduate, but as a graduate I know the academic field has changed because there are fewer Latinos who go into research after receiving their first degree.

Being selected to attend the Southeastern Association for Fish and Wildlife Agencies annual meeting as a MINRC  student was definitely an honor and place where I truly felt comfortable in my own skin. Meeting students who were undergraduates and graduates that were interested in the same things that I am, was great. I also met various professionals from different state agencies in SEAFWA. Not only was I able to make new friends and connections by networking, but I also got to see old friends!( I also got to try some Oklahoma Paddlefish Caviar. It was delicious. )

Selfie of myself at the Finish Line Tower and Oklahoma River

   Attending this conference has definitely     helped my professional development, as the MINRC committee did an excellent job in helping students with resumes, cover letters, interviews, etc.
This conference also laid the stones for my identity as a graduate student professional within the field of natural resources.  I love seeing biological diversity in the natural world, and it is disheartening at times, that as natural scientists, we do not do more to mimic that within our profession. I am hopeful, that will change.

“We should preserve every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity.” E.O. Wilson

2013 SEAFWA MINRC Students and Committee Members

Graduate School

As I am sitting here in a graduate seminar for “How to do a literature review”, I am shocked at how much new information I’m learning.  Who would’ve thought the library was more than just books and computers you can use while you’re on campus.

Having this new knowledge is a little intimidating. I don’t know how I went through four years of college without knowing all this information. I can’t help but wonder what my overall GPA would be if I had known this since the start of my freshman year.  

The transition into graduate school is definitely a lot more demanding than I was expecting. Before the semester started, I thought all I needed was a new backpack to really, as they say, “Fake it ‘til you make it”. I can’t lie, I’ve been stressed out and the littlest things annoy me. I know they shouldn’t and as I get into the groove of things, I’m learning to just go with it.

Things I do find annoying:

•  BlackBoard 9 – I just don’t like it
•   Not having a personal chef, massage therapist or chauffer
•  Pants with fake pockets
• Vine videos that aren’t funny and truly waste my time  
•  Bicyclists who ride their bikes on the sidewalk and almost run me over

Here is a #Selfie of myself at my desk.

I really enjoy all my classes this semester. I feel that each one plays an important role in not only developing my project, but myself.

Graduate School Project
Though this is only my first semester of graduate school, I would like to focus my research on how minorities get into careers in natural resources and related sciences. It has been a big leap from the physical sciences into the social sciences and I am quickly adjusting. As I am exposed to new literature every day, I get a better handle on how I want to study this. I have also improved in several areas, all of which I am pretty proud of myself for:

• APA Citation
• Googling relevant topics to my research
• Multitasking 

I'm excited about my research topic even though I haven't gotten everything quite figured out. I'm glad that I was convinced to stay here to do my Master's on this cross-disciplinary topic. I think it would have been much more difficult if I had gone elsewhere. Wreck'em!

Aside: I honestly thought in graduate school, I’d get more sleep.I don't know what made me think that. 

Flowers Everywhere - Summer 2013

When one thinks of New Mexico, one is quick to think of aliens, Billy the Kid, caverns and maybe even a desert. Lying in the southeast corner of New Mexico, is the tiny town of Milnesand. In this small community, I was  stationed to help with the management of the Milnesand Prairie Preserve. I was given the opportunity to have a great hands-on learning experience with Tish McDaniels, my supervisor. Upon my arrival on June 9, 2013,I felt that it was more arid then one would expect. It turns out that the area has been in a drought for the past three years. This has been the same just an hour east in Texas.

Luckily, Milnesand and the surrounding communities received a few inches of rain the second week of my internship to hold them over for the summer. During our first week, Matt DeAngelo, (the other intern) and I drove around to map trees that will be taken down, due to them not being native to the southern shortgrass prairie area. In my search for non-native trees, I was more excited to see the forbs that were coming up from the recent rain. Forbs, like purple prairie clover, scarlet globemallow, silverleaf nightshade, rushpea, and Indian blanket were very showy. Being a girl, I was overly joyed and excited for the forbs.

What girl doesn’t love flowers, especially when mother nature hand delivers it (and it's your middle name; Florentina). I understand though that it was the recent rain in the summer that helped these flowers bloom. I was hopeful that more rain would come as the summer progressed

The community has been very receptive of The Nature Conservancy and their goals in southeastern New Mexico. I feel blessed that the community has welcomed us as interns with open arms. I know that in other areas or even other organizations this might not happen. It’s been great to sit down with the locals and listen to their families history of being homesteaders, to farmers. From that, they advanced to being interested in conservation for species like the Lesser Prairie Chicken and Dunes Sagebrush Lizard. I truly admire them, because I know how hard as a farmer/rancher it might be to veer away from the norm, for the bigger picture of protecting nature and preserving life.

My first week with The Nature Conservancy

I am a 2013 G.L.O.B.E. Intern. The GLOBE Internship program as its known, stands for growing leaders on behalf of the environment. This summer The Nature Conservancy has over thirty interns all over the country from Washington D.C. to Hawaii( I'm thinking about a 2014 GLOBE internship there). Through this program all of the interns were flown into Arlington, Virginia for a week of training. For me this was a great opportunity because in our free time we got to network with other interns as we visited the different tourist sites around Arlington,VA.

I am so grateful that people's donations help The Nature Conservancy put on things like this; especially so that they can spoil their interns (me) with an all expense paid training. I truly would have not been able to just go and visit the Washington D.C. area on a whim.
During our training we did a diversity training activity. This activity was done by having all the interns stand in one land and then socio-economic questions were asked. Depending on the question, interns were asked to take a step forward or a step back. This showed to the group that we came from all walks of life, thus collectively we contribute diversity to the organization. To me this showed that even though I might come from an area that is predisposed to abuse, crime, drugs and alcohol, teenage pregnancy, I was able to overcome those obstacles and be able to stand in the same room with other interns who might have come from a more advantageous background.

It truly made me feel blessed to have been selected to intern on The Nature Conservancy's Milnesand Prairie Chicken Preserve in Milnesand, New Mexico. I am excited for this summer as I know I will learn an abundance of information from the ecosystem of south eastern New Mexico to professional development skills.

Dustin & Jake

A flooded out county road.

This week, Milnesand got more rain! I am so glad that everything is greening up. The downside of rain - county roads get flooded and you might need a paddle.

This week we did some prairie chicken vegetation monitoring. It was definitely a great time as I got to work with my mentors Dustin and Jake. Dustin works for NRCS(Natural Resources Conservation Service) and Jake works for Pheasants Forever. Charles Dixon with the NRCS also joined us this week and provided valuable information on plants.

I like to think that I have a love-hate relationship with any kind of vegetation work. I love learning new plants and knowing how valuable they are for wildlife and livestock. I hate the repetitiveness of it.  However, I know that at the end of the day this information is valuable for everyone involved.

It has been great to work with Charles, Dustin,  and Jake because they answer all my "Why?"  and "What kind of plant is this?" questions. They also give me background information on the land we are doing vegetation work so that I can see how slight changes in the ecosystem can change the vegetation makeup of a plant community.

Dustin(L) and Charles (R) on the side-by-side that stalled out.

My first day of working with Charles, Dustin, and Jake definitely turned into an adventure with the recent rain. Even though some of the roads were covered in water, we persisted with a can-do attitude.

Dustin (L) and Jake (R) after towing the stalled out side-by-side.

The lesson I learned this week was to make sure all your materials for any project are in working order. Luckily, all the side-by-side needed was a good charge to continue the week's work. I have one more week of working with these three gentleman and hope to learn more plants.

One part of taking this internship with The Nature Conservancy is that we must create a project to show what we have learned over this summer. Hopefully I can put together a plant collection this coming week to use as my internship project.





Stay tuned for next's week blog as I prepare my plant collection.

The Nature Conservancy: New Mexico

This summer, I was selected to serve as an intern on the Milnesand Prairie Preserve in southeastern New Mexico. I am having an adventurous summer working with different agencies and even private landowners. Not even halfway through with the internship and I feel so privileged to be working with Tish McDaniels as she has broaden not only my professional skills but the ecosystems I have been exposed to.

I am looking forward to what's left of my internship but will definitely be sad that I have to go back to school in the fall. Luckily, I will be starting my Masters at Texas Tech University and hopefully focusing my research on minorities in natural resources.

Blogging

So I have been meaning for quite some time to start a blog and actually keep up with it. I thought to myself the Summer of 2013 will be my time to shine. Half of the summer has passed and I finally took the time to start up the blog I've been meaning to do since the start of social media.  There might be times when I reflect on old stories. I'll try my best to keep everything in chronological order (which probably won't happen because I jump tenses all the time).