Working with Blue Hill Heritage Trust as a summer intern has been an amazing experience, and a dream come true. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with the trust this summer, experiencing what it’s like behind the scenes of a land trust, and all the work that goes on.
One of the many great things about the summer was the diversity of the work week. Each day there would be a new task at hand to accomplish. I spent a lot of time this summer maintaining some of the many hiking and walking trails on the peninsula. I worked with our associate director monitoring conservation easements. Additionally, I worked with our conservation forester doing forest inventory in Meadowbrook Forest, as well as inventorying the restored wetland in Surry Forest.
During my time with the trust, I also got to experience and help with some of the outreach and development tasks this summer, including events such as the annual meeting, and the heritage society event. Working with outreach and development, some of my summer tasks were to use my skills with Google Maps to produce custom maps for the trust’s website, as well as produce trail summary videos, giving visitors an introduction to each trail.
Working for a small, motivated land trust was a great experience, and it was one where I was excited to come to work every morning, to see what the day was going to bring. Overall, this internship provided me with a wide variety of skills and knowledge and has definitely shaped me for the better. I hope to use a lot of the skills I learned to further myself in my future career. I feel as though I now have a new perspective on conservation, where the local community is a big factor in the process of conservation. Thank you very much for welcoming me with open arms from day one into the BHHT family! I loved my time with Blue Hill Heritage Trust and would do it over again in a heartbeat!
Andrew Czwakiel was one of two James W. Dow Interns, along with Miranda, the summer of 2020. Andrew was partially funded through the Maine Coast Heritage Trust internship program. Originally from Vermont, Andrew is a senior at the University of Maine in Orono studying Ecology and Environmental Sciences.