Greetings from South Dakota!

22 Jul Greetings from South Dakota!

Greetings! My name is Brooke and I’m a recent graduate of Cornell University with a B.S. in Environmental Science. I grew up in the suburbs of Irvine, California where I wasn’t surrounded by much nature or wildlife, but my parents always made it a point to go on family trips to national parks such as Grand Canyon, Sequoia, and Joshua Tree. My love for the environment deepened after taking AP Environmental Science in high school, and I knew I wanted to pursue a career in protecting wildlife and our natural resources.

For the next five months, I will be working as a Wildlife Habitat Survey Assistant at Wind Cave National Park, Mont Rushmore National Memorial, and Jewel Cave National Monument. I will be using camera traps to study the presence or absence of several small carnivore species that are rarely seen in the Black Hills region of South Dakota. This position aligns very well with my interest in studying mammals and builds upon my previous experience working with camera traps.

I’m looking forward to sharing more about my upcoming work here in these national parks! Until next time 🙂