Wild Basin Acoustic Biodiversity Monitoring Project Interns

Wild Basin is seeking enthusiastic and responsible students interested in conservation biology and urban ecology to assist with a new biodiversity monitoring project beginning in early 2017. Wild Basin will install an array of bioacoustics recorders to track bird and anuran communities in the preserve. Students working on this project will work as a team with Wild Basin staff to install acoustic recorders in the field, identify species by sound using bioacoustics analysis software, and use GIS data and other data sources to quantify human activity and urbanization surrounding Wild Basin. This project will also include a science communication component to share the results of this project with students and the public with videos and digital storytelling techniques. To apply, please send a resume and short cover letter to Dr. Belaire at jbelaire@stedwards.edu. In your cover letter, please indicate your spring schedule and availability during the week.

Austin Wildlife Watch Interns

Wild Basin is seeking students with an interest in conservation biology and urban ecology to assist with a new wildlife tracking project in Wild Basin and other Austin green spaces. This is a collaborative effort between Wild Basin, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, and the Urban Wildlife Information Network of cities across the U.S. The goal is to study and quantify how urbanization affects the habitat dynamics and distribution of wildlife, especially mammals. Students working on this project will work as a team with Wild Basin staff to install wildlife camera traps in green spaces across Austin, review and classify images from the cameras, and use GIS and other data to quantify the extent of urbanization surrounding each camera site. This project will also include a science communication component to share the findings with students and the public. To apply, please send a resume and short cover letter to Dr. Belaire at jbelaire@stedwards.edu. In your cover letter, please indicate your spring schedule and availability during the week.

Wild Basin Stewardship and Mapping Intern

Wild Basin Creative Research Center is seeking enthusiastic and responsible students who love the outdoors to assist with environmental management at Wild Basin. Intern responsibilities will include land stewardship tasks and data collection about the flora and fauna at Wild Basin. The internship will also include a mapping component, in which the intern will help Wild Basin Land Steward create a spatial record of stewardship activities and information. Previous experience with ArcGIS and using handheld GPS units is strongly preferred, but not required. Hours are flexible, but we require a commitment of 10 hours per week. To apply, please send a resume and short cover letter to Dr. Belaire at jbelaire@stedwards.edu. In your cover letter, please indicate your availability during the week and preferred semester for internship.

Wild Basin Stewardship and Sustainability intern

Wild Basin Creative Research Center is seeking a student with an interest in conservation, sustainability, and outdoor adventure to assist with stewardship activities and sustainability education at Wild Basin. Intern responsibilities will include assisting and coordinating stewardship activities, such as invasive species removal, trail restoration, site clean-ups, water quality monitoring, and protection of rare plants. The internship will also include a sustainability education component, including developing social media posts, printed materials, or signs, and/or organizing events that educate visitors about the stewardship and sustainability elements and practices of Wild Basin. Hours are flexible, but we require a commitment of 10 hours per week. To apply, please send a resume and short cover letter to Dr. Belaire at jbelaire@stedwards.edu. In your cover letter, please indicate your availability during the week and preferred semester for internship.

Wild Basin Outreach and Public Relations intern

Wild Basin Creative Research Center is seeking a student with excellent communication skills to assist with outreach to students and the general public. Intern duties include organizing outreach activities, such as tabling in Ragsdale Student Center and student Stewardship Days at Wild Basin, as well as writing blog posts and creating social media posts that appeal to students and the Austin community. This internship could also include graphic design, video, photography, writing articles for local newspapers, or other components depending on the student’s interests and abilities. Hours are flexible and will require some time spent at Wild Basin and some time spent on campus. To apply, please send a resume and short cover letter to Kim Johnson at kimj@stedwards.edu.

Wild Basin Environmental Education intern

Wild Basin Creative Research Center is seeking a motivated student interested in environmental education, especially for younger visitors to Wild Basin (K-12). Intern duties including helping to develop educational, interpretive, and promotional materials for K-12 students on field trips or on family visits to Wild Basin. This internship can include designing and creating additional educational resources space in the visitors’ center, development of printed or digital media as well as materials for hands-on activities for children, depending on the interests and abilities of the intern. Other duties as assigned. Hours are flexible and will require at least 5 hours at Wild Basin per week, although some work can be done from campus. To apply, please send a resume and short cover letter to Kim Johnson at kimj@stedwards.edu.

Wild Basin was awarded a Scientific Product Grant from the bioacoustic monitoring company, Wildlife Acoustics. This quarter, Wildlife Acoustics received 55 grant applications, covering 25 countries and 6 continents, and Wild Basin was chosen as one of 3 grant recipients.

A team of Wild Basin researchers and St. Edward’s University students will deploy equipment provided by Wildlife Acoustics to track changes in bird and anuran communities as the surrounding landscape becomes increasingly urbanized. They will analyze the data from four Song Meter SM4 recorders using Wildlife Acoustics’ new Kaleidoscope Pro 4 software.

Read more here.

“Birds, Yards, and People” lecture at Travis Audubon
Thursday, September 15, 6:30pm-8:30pm

Dr. Amy Belaire will be giving a presentation at Travis Audubon this Thursday at 7pm on her research that explores the dynamics between people and birds in urban ecosystems.  All are welcome!  Click here for more information about the event.

Citizen Science eBird Walk
Saturday, September 17, 7:00am -10:00am

Join us for our quarterly eBird walk to help record the bird species that we see and hear along the trail and log them in the eBird citizen science database.  Bring a field guide and binoculars (if you have them!).  All experience levels are welcome!  Please RSVP to jbelaire@stedwards.edu, as group size is capped at 12.

We are excited to announce the hire of Dr. Barbara Dugelby as the Director of Wild Basin Creative Research Center.  Dr. Dugelby is an ecologist and educator with over 15 years of U.S. and international experience working with large, multi-stakeholder conservation and science programs, educational program development, and teaching.  She has a strong background in collaborative science-based conservation planning, climate adaptation, restoration ecology, and community-based conservation.  Dr. Dugelby has held previous positions with The Nature Conservancy, Round River Conservation Studies, and Organization for Tropical Studies.  She has deep roots in Central Texas and attended the University of Texas as an undergraduate; she was selected by Austin’s mayor and city council to serve on the first City Endangered Species Task Force in the 1980s.  She received her master’s degree and Ph.D. from Duke University.  Please welcome Barbara to St. Edward’s University and Wild Basin!

• Wild Basin is hosting an Earth Day scavenger hunt on April 22, followed by a full moon yoga class on the porch of the visitors center from 7-8pm.  For more info, click here.  RSVP for the yoga event here.

• The golden-cheeked warblers have arrived in Central Texas after spending the winter in the tropics.  Four males have established territories at Wild Basin, so now is a great time to hike on the trails and listen/look for these endangered songbirds.

• We submitted grant proposals for continuous water quality monitoring equipment in Bee Creek as well as new signage along the trails to support delivery of dynamic, smartphone-based interpretive content to students and visitors. SEU students in several courses, including Dr. Goering’s Writing About Science, Dr. Bilinski’s Ecology lab, and Dr. Beck’s Intro to Sustainability, are working to create content that will be shared with Wild Basin visitors using the Google Field Trip app and QR codes.

• Two of the Spring 2016 Wild Basin interns were selected to participate in REUs this summer:  Stephanie Perez (Georgetown University – environmental science & policy in Washington, DC) and Amanda De La Rosa (University of Virginia – field-based ecological research at Blandy Farm).

• Dr. Amy Belaire was invited to be the keynote speaker at the British Ornithologists’ Union 2016 conference.  She presented a keynote address titled “The dynamics between people and birds in urban landscapes” at the conference on April 7 in Leicester, England.

• Several new exhibits have been installed in the Wild Basin visitors center recently, including a set of microscopes, “A Year in the Life of A Golden-cheeked Warbler” exhibit, and touchscreens to explore iNaturalist.  Come check them out when you get a chance!

• For any planned research activities at Wild Basin or other BCP tracts, remember to submit permit applications at least 30 days in advance of your planned field work.  Please find permit application info on our website here: http://think.stedwards.edu/wildbasin/resources

• Last but not least, the winners of the 2016 Hook Scholarships will be announced this week.

Fellowship guidelines and application form can be found on the Wild Basin homepage, www.wildbasin.org.  Contact Amy at jbelaire@stedwards.edu, 512-327-7622, with any questions.  Applications are due at 5pm on March 11.