INTERN UPDATES

Intern Updates Learning at Rushton Woods Preserve

TODD ALLEGER

From bird banding intern to agroecologist and Motus expert, Todd Alleger’s seven year progression of experience at the Trust embodies our integrative approach to conservation. It’s a bold illustration of the power of programming centered at Rushton Woods Preserve, which equips conservationists to take what they’ve learned and apply it to larger conservation issues. Todd began working at Rushton Woods Preserve as a seasonal intern at our federally licensed Bird Banding Station in 2012, where he honed his skills banding migratory songbirds and Northern Saw-whet owls for two seasons. Following his internships he worked as a bird banding field biologist in Yosemite National Park and Indiana before returning to Rushton Woods Preserve to begin work on the Rushton Agroecology Project. Todd served as the Agroecology Project Manager for five years beginning in 2014, a blended role that combined biology at Rushton Farm and bird conservation activities at Rushton Woods Preserve. The focus of the Rushton Agroecology Project is to document how Rushton Farm interacts with the surrounding ecosystem, cataloging all observed living organisms—from insects to birds, mammals and reptiles. Todd plans to formalize this five-year survey of the farm’s ecology during the winter of 2020. He believes the report, when aligned with the farm’s cultivation and crop journals, will provide a compelling narrative and starting point for additional research projects for other scholars and scientists. As a component of his bird conservation work, Todd’s mechanical skills were tapped to install the Trust’s very first Motus receiving station at Rushton Woods Preserve in 2016, part of the Motus global wildlife tracking network. The Motus system has emerged as an essential tool in the race to save rapidly declining bird populations. Todd has become the Trust’s expert on the deployment of Motus receiving stations and has been instrumental in the expansion of the network throughout North America. As one of the country’s foremost Motus technical experts, he has conducted Motus installation workshops throughout the country, including at the American Ornithological Society conference in Anchorage, Alaska. He has also personally managed the installation of over 60 receiving stations. Over the next three years, Todd will manage the installation of 50 Motus receiver stations in New England funded by a Competitive State Wildlife Grant from U.S. Fish & Wildlife and the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Todd credits the Trust with giving him the unique opportunity to combine sustainable farming with wildlife research. “Not many organizations are looking at these two things together the way that the Trust is—it has been an extraordinary opportunity,” shared Todd. “Not many organizations are looking at sustainable farming and wildlife together the way that the Trust is—it has been an extraordinary opportunity.”

Todd Alleger New England Motus Project Manager Willistown Conservation Trust

From the day he started as an intern at Rushton Woods Preserve in the summer of 2011, Ian was able to help with all aspects of programming ranging from scientific research to the growing of over 150 varieties of fruits and vegetables. He was one of the first students to serve as a Rushton Woods agroecology intern, which gave him the opportunity to work with sustainable agriculture, bird conservation, and land stewardship. Ian’s first interaction with the Trust was through a Shipley School threeweek senior service project. Ian says, “Two things still stick out in particular about the service project: planting and tagging trees along a few streams in the area and working at Rushton Farm. The service project allowed me to take the basic biological information I knew and start thinking about it in a holistic way, including how humans and agriculture fit into the ecosystem.” Most Rushton interns gravitate towards either the physical labor or the environmental studies, but Ian was an intern who excelled at both aspects. His ability to understand the interconnection between the land, wildlife and agriculture allowed him to work in all facets of the farm ranging from bird and stream studies to soil and crop work. “I learned quite a bit about ecology, land stewardship, and how humans fit into the landscape,” he says. “Working on the Trust’s Rushton Farm really gave me a sense of our place in the natural world and how we can work with, rather than against, nature.” After graduation from the Shipley School, Dombroski went on to study biology and environmental studies at Colgate University, where he was inducted into Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society and presented original research at the New York State Green Building Conference. He earned a master’s degree in environmental studies, with a concentration in environmental biology, from the University of Pennsylvania. Dombroski, who resides in Malden, Massachusetts, is now a Life Scientist with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, where he monitors excess nutrients entering estuaries from diffuse sources. On any given day, he says, he may be collecting water samples and measuring various aspects of water quality, providing technical assistance to stakeholders on diffuse pollution, or reviewing grant and contract proposals from groups looking to monitor, study, or decrease nutrient pollution. “The most rewarding aspect of my job,” Dombroski says, “is knowing that I’m working to clean up our nation’s waterways for current and future generations as well as our important wildlife. My experience at the Trust really played a part in guiding me towards my career in environmental science and my passion for environmental protection.” “Working on the Trust’s Rushton Farm really gave me a sense of our place in the natural world and how we can work with, rather than against, nature.”

Ian Dombroski Life Scientist U.S. Environmental Protection Agency