Internship provides opportunity to delve into Cibolo conservation

My name is Sherlin Mendez-Lopez, and I am a soon-to-be graduating senior at the University of Texas at San Antonio with a Bachelor of Science in environmental science. Last fall I had the great opportunity to intern at the Cibolo Center for Conservation as a conservation intern.

Within this internship, I had the opportunity to work closely with the land manager and the research scientist. Both have taught me new things, while I was able to apply what I have learned at UTSA into realworld scenarios. As an Austin native, I arrived in San Antonio in 2022 for college with limited knowledge of the environmental organizations and companies around me that offered volunteer and internship opportunities.

One of those volunteer opportunities was to volunteer at Herff Farm by removing plant species, watering plants and fertilizing the garden. I volunteered several times at Herff Farm and enjoyed the sense of community it creates.

Last summer, I began to investigate fall internships near San Antonio. I looked for possibly longterm projects or internships where I could grow my experiences outside the classroom.

I found the Cibolo Center for Conservation, and luckily, they had an email where I could express my interest in applying for an internship. I applied and the next thing I knew I was a conservation intern at The Cibolo.

This internship not only allowed me to grow my experiences and build up my resume, but also taught me new things every day.

This internship was an unpredictable ride. Each day I had a different task. Some days were spent in the office and others in the field, with tasks ranging from water quality monitoring to GIS projects, inputting data and cutting down invasive plant species.

One of the significant projects I was involved in was the Wildlife Field Research Week, hosted every May and October. During this week, community science volunteers interested in nature gather to collect data in various fields.

The field survey I participated in was the prairie vegetation survey. We observed and collected data on the type of vegetation in the area. This data is later compared to past data and used to manage the land in case of invasive species.

Another significant highlight of this internship was learning how to test water quality using a standard protocol. Water quality testing is used to identify issues and monitor water quality in various areas and contribute to a statewide database.

CIBOLO CENTER FOR CONSERVATION

SHERLIN MENDEZ LOPEZ

FORMER CENTER INTERN This internship also taught me about the resources around Texas, such as the Texas Stream Team, which I plan to get certified in to expand my knowledge of citizen science initiatives and water issues in Texas.

Obtaining a certification in water quality monitoring will help me not only be involved in my community but also further my education. My long-term goal is to be involved in research; in hopes of getting certified, I plan to join a research project.

This internship aligned with the learnings and discussions I had during my academic semester. One of the courses I took this semester was conservation biology, where I learned how humans need to have stewardship relationships with nature, which is something I constantly saw throughout my internship from the land manager and the research scientist. They were one with nature. They manage the land by analyzing information and strategically removing invasive plant species, planting native plants, and creating habitat.

This internship combined all that I have learned in college into a few months. I am grateful to have been a conservation intern and helped the Cibolo Center for Conservation mission in promoting nature conservation through education, stewardship and community connections.