WildPlaces Welcomes New AmeriCorps Intern – February 2, 2009

WildPlaces welcomed its newest AmeriCorps Program Intern, Ian Herrick, to the Southern Sierras recently, and is gearing up for a great year of ecological restoration and education events.

“I’m looking forward to becoming involved with the community and working with kids outdoors, especially high school students,” said Herrick, who applied for the position serving WildPlaces partly because he wanted to move from the city and live in a smaller, more affordable community. “I wanted to find a job doing socially and environmentally responsible work,” he said. Some of Herrick’s previous experience includes working as an Environmental Educator at the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose, as the Wetlands Education Intern with the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, and as an Urban Forester. You may also see him around town occasionally playing the guitar; other hobbies include hiking, bird watching and “anything historical.”

A 2004 graduate of Prescott University with a degree in Environmental Education with an emphasis in ethno-ecology, Herrick’s focus will be on WildPlaces’ Immersed in the Wild program, which provides environmental education to youth through outdoor, hands-on wilderness experience. Herrick will also assist with other WildPlaces’ programs and projects, including the Rio Limpio Tule River clean-up events, Adopt-A-Sequoia, and many others.

“We are eager to get Ian working for Immersed in the Wild and our other projects,” said McMillan. “His impact here for our community and for the Southern Sierras will be tremendous. He has a great background, and we can give him some small-town old-fashioned experience in community and participation.” McMillan stresses even with Herrick’s input, WildPlaces will continue to need help from many volunteers and donors.

Volunteers are currently needed for an upcoming Nursery tree-planting day in February, with the group’s annual WildAppreciation concert in March, and with the upcoming Southern Sierra Educator Conference in May. Help is needed creating and distributing flyers, doing mailings, and other event production assistance.

Ian Herrick is WildPlaces’ second AmeriCorps Intern through the Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership (SNAP). WildPlaces’ first Intern, Ian Herdell, served in 2007 and 2008 before moving on to a position with Visalia-based Sequoia Riverlands Trust this year. The State Budget challenges prevented WildPlaces from receiving a planned-for third Intern in 2009.