Action | Student News
Mr. Andeck Goes to Washington
MEM Candidate Networks with Nicholas Alumni
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Greg: Tell me about projects you’ve worked
on recently.
Robert: In North Carolina, there
was a real need for private landowners to protect and restore
habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker. … They needed to
use prescribed fire, they needed to use selective forest management,
they needed to plant longleaf pine, they needed to control
hardwoods, they needed to drill artificial cavities for red-cockaded
woodpeckers. And those landowners felt that the Endangered
Species Act was telling them that if they did these things
and the redcockaded woodpecker showed up that their reward
was going to be increased regulation. As we began this operation,
the idea was to create incentives for landowners to protect
habitat. As we got down there, we realized that we had to
deal with the disincentives.
Nori: Since I’ve been on the
Hill, one thing that we accomplished was voting a marine debris
bill out of committee. It’s been really interesting to start
with an idea and move through the whole drafting of a bill
and moving it through committee and convincing other senators
that this is something that they should be interested in.
There is a certain amount of satisfaction when you can convince
someone and they say, “Yeah, you’re right, we should be moving
on this.” So, that’s been really neat.
Elizabeth: At The Nature Conservancy,
one of the things that I was most proud of occurred last fall
when I had a major role in bringing together everyone who
deals with invasives at TNC. We called it the “All-TNC, All-Invasives
Workshop.” No one within the organization had ever done this
before. Additionally, a lot of federal government, international,
and academic partners came and joined the conversation about
the work TNC is doing and our future direction on invasive
species issues.
Guy: As part of a team project
undertaken within the Stepping Up to Leadership program for
FWS employees, I recently surveyed some of our conservation
partners for their thoughts on the federal Duck Stamp Program.
The Program essentially allows access to Refuge land for those
individuals who buy Duck Stamps. In the past, the main purchasers
have been hunters, but we feel that there is a real opportunity
for Duck Stamps to be sold to conservationists or birdwatchers.
Because 98 percent of the revenue from the Stamps goes towards
buying more land, nonhunters can get access to the land and
help conserve birds at the same time.
Becca: I calculated the area
of coral reef ecosystems using GIS and remote sensing skills
that I picked up at Duke. ... We used nautical charts and
had them digitized. For the freely associated states, we used
LAND SAT imagery and figured out where the shallow water was
and used that imagery to calculate the area. This is the first
time that this has ever been done, which is exciting.
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