MINONG- The Good Place

28 Jul MINONG- The Good Place

What the Ojibwe once called “Minong” or roughly translated to “The Good Place”, Isle Royale is not only a refuge for species located on the island. It plays the dual role of refuge for preserving a human connection to the natural world. During this season, there have been plenty of skills I have developed. Everything ranging from basic survey techniques to learning the ropes of ArcGIS, the skill I am incredibly excited to utilize after this internship is my interpretation skills.

Back home, I am the Education and Outreach Chair for the Texas A&M Chapter of The Wildlife Society. Since COVID, my position had been out of commission for roughly two years prior to my arrival, leaving it fairly difficult to understand the exact approaches I should have taken to properly execute activities, workshops, and so on. This does not mean that this semester was not successful however, this internship has definitely changed my perspective on everything.

Now I have a firm understanding and approach to how to direct outreach opportunities. Not only how to do this but also make these activities appealing and meaningful to those interacting with them! I have already started thinking of ideas and possible events for this upcoming semester! Another amazing skill I learned from this experience is preparation for the future of programs. Setting foundational work for the future leaders of the program you are curating will help with the consistency of the program and possibly new projects that branch from it! Another aspect that I am extremely excited about is the skillset to improve meaningful interactions with those around me.

With the introduction of roving and dialogic questions, I can get my conservation from the younger generation out of a surface-level position and dive deeper into why natural resources are important to us as a collective. However, this does not only apply to the people of a younger generation! I can very much still apply this logic and conversation structure to those of my age and older! I can not wait to use these tools for workshops, birding events, and other activities!