An important part of our advocacy and community engagement work is providing high school, college, and graduate internship opportunities for young people to gain real world job training in the environmental field. Every year, we welcome legal, policy, and coastal advocates into our internship program to gain experience in environmental policy, law, advocacy, community science, and education.
These mentoring opportunities not only provide a meaningful and applicable experience that can be applied to future education and career goals, but they help to foster the environmental stewards of the future who will help protect the resilience and health of the natural world.
This year we mentored six Coastal Advocate interns: Briana Muschi (spring), Eli Hanft (summer), Julian Durante (summer), Rachel Mueller (summer), Nuala Willis-Shore (fall), and Michael Gottlieb (fall). Each of them were tremendously helpful in the implementation of the Marin Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Watch community science program and public outreach about ocean conservation.
They surveyed MPA monitoring sites, trained new volunteers, educated visitors, entered and organized program data, created education and outreach materials, and collected water quality samples.
Our summer interns’ deep-dive capstone projects included reviewing and organizing data from MPA Watch camera monitoring, creating eelgrass and aquaculture lease GIS overlay maps on Tomales Bay, and presenting information about MPAs and MPA Watch to the Tomales Bay Watershed Council.
“I gained valuable skills in local surveying, data entry, and mapping, became comfortable discussing all-things-MPAs, and developed an even deeper appreciation for (and responsibility to protect) California’s coastal ecosystems. The relationships I was fortunate enough to build with staff, my fellow interns, volunteers, and community members are inspiring and meaningful. My teammates truly supported me in building a strong foundation for my future as an environmental advocate, and introduced me to the work it takes to be a powerful steward for our coasts, lands, ecosystems, and planet. Thank you EAC for an outstanding summer experience!” - Julian Durante, Coastal Advocate
This year we also mentored five Legal and Policy interns: Rachel Clyde (spring), Madison MacLeod (spring), Allison Pritchard (summer), Lauren Richards (summer), and Karura Njoroge (fall). They spoke at public meetings, drafted legal and policy memoranda, participated in beach clean-ups, drafted public comments, and advocated to the California legislature on key ocean issues as part of Oceans Day.
Their capstone projects focused on extensive research related to elk management, eelgrass habitat, domestic fisheries, economics, and aquaculture that forwarded our mission.
Interns are able to dive deep into research projects, which helps inform our public comments to agencies like the California Coastal Commission and the National Park Service on key program areas like Healthy Tomales Bay and Protecting Public Lands, and helps them hone their research, fact-checking, and communication skills.
“EAC is a small, but mighty organization. The team is incredibly passionate and in tune with the threats and opportunities facing West Marin. I learned a tremendous amount, made meaningful contributions to EAC’s mission, and had fun doing it! Thank you for such a wonderful internship experience, and for all that you do to keep West Marin wild.” - Allison Pritchard, Legal & Policy Intern
Thanks to the J.W. & H.M. Goodman Family Charitable Foundation and the Lloyd Scholars Fund, our Legal and Policy interns were offered paid internships in 2022.
A big thank you to each of our interns for helping us expand and fill in gaps in our programs and advocacy work. We look forward to hearing about all the places you go. In addition, we send our deep appreciation to our donors for making this mentorship and career experience possible.
