Naturalist-Land Steward Internship 

 at the Highlands Nature Sanctuary
Arc of Appalachia Preserve System

Nature ... is it calling you?

The Naturalist-Land Steward internship is for those who wish to walk the path of the Naturalist and share the gifts of Nature with others, for those who want to work hard for a good cause, and those who yearn to find balance in their lives that can lead to a sustainable future.  

The internship is an exchange program in which interns provide valuable help and support to the operation of our non-profit Preserve System. In return they receive housing, monthly stipend, hands-on naturalist and stewardship experience, and experience in helping to run a successful and bold grassroots non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and restoring wilderness in the East . 
 

Who are We ?
The Arc of Appalachia Preserve System is located in southern Ohio and has two primary missions.

One is to buy and preserve land, with the goal of accumulating  large reunited blocks of forest lands (and associated river corridors, prairies and wetlands) in order to restore and preserve habitat for America's Eastern Forest plant and animal species. Our restoration work is accomplished in the highest biodiversity area remaining in Ohio, a five county region on the south-central tip known as the Arc of Appalachia. In this area we have purchased over 3200 acres of land in eleven different preserve regions since our inception in 1995. The Highlands Nature Sanctuary, where the internship program is headquartered, is our largest preserve at 2000 acres. It's central feature is the spectacularly beautiful Rocky Fork Gorge.

Two. Our second mission is to cultivate forest literacy in the citizens of the Eastern third of the United States. We offer education to the general public at our Appalachian Forest Museum and Cave Canyon facility. We also sponsor the Appalachian Forest School, a program which offers in-depth forest education courses at the Highlands Nature Sanctuary, and Wilderness East field trips across the Eastern Forest to study the forest's regional ecological expressions.

Directions to the Highlands Nature Sanctuary can be found here.

What does the Intern program consist of ?

The program is designed to train individuals in all aspects of the daily running of a non-profit land trust and visitor education center. Interns are primary caretakers and operators of the Appalachian Forest Museum at Cave Canyon, offering visitors forest education and hiking experiences in a pristine setting.  The Arc of Appalachia Preserve System is a lofty endeavor fueled by  a very small full-time staff. Interns therefore play a pivotal role in maintaining and furthering the mission, accumulating a large number of practical, physical and administrative skills in the process. Interns are not peripheral to our organization -- they are integral to our operations, While they are on board they work as an integrated team with the full-time staff. Perhaps because of our small size, there is very little hierarchy in this organization -- everyone pitches in to do what is required and each person gives the best of what their personality and biography offers to advance the mission. Interns work here tends toward the tangible, and interns thrive in our program who enjoy physical outdoor work in an active committed work environment. Interns work a maximum of forty hours a week, and have two days off each week. Two additional vacation days are given for each three month intern commitment.

 What an intern gives...

-- Visitor Services.
Interns greet  and orient visitors, answer questions, and maintain the facility at the Appalachian Forest Museum and Cave Canyon, a forest education center that  is open to the public most days during the summer and on weekends in spring and fall. Interns are assigned to visitor services work at least 2 days a week. If an intern is interested, leading hikes to the public is also an option and in-depth interpretive naturalist training is available each June. 
  Interns staying at least four months may also learn and present the Eliza Sullivant or William Sullivant living history hike which is offered on weekends. (see photo on right) By  presenting the story of these frontier naturalists to the public, interested interns have the opportunity to demonstrate to the public the immense changes that have befallen America's Eastern deciduous forest in the last two hundred years, clarifying the conservation challenges that face us today.
   See Cave Canyon for more information.

-- Trail maintenance.
Solitary hiking trail experiences in a pristine setting are one of the many services we offer the public. Trail Maintenance is assumed by interns on the fourteen miles of trails that exist at the Highlands Nature Sanctuary, and the ten miles of trails that exist in other Arc Preserves. Almost every year we adopt the design of one or two new trail projects, and interns also help to build these trails from scratch.  Interns are assigned to trail work on an average of two days a month. For more information, see Wilderness Hiking Permits.

--Non-profit administration.
Interns perform administrative and office tasks  that further the organization's cause, including research, record-keeping, and data entry. Interns may work from zero to four days a month on office administration, depending on interest, needs and skills.  Computer software literacy and computer-communication skills are always a plus and are greatly helpful to our organization, but are not required.

-- Natural Habitat Maintenance, Restoration Work and Land Protection.
  Maintenance and restoration work is a big part of the intern's contribution, and varies from season to season - most of it being accomplished in spring and fall. In May, interns become particularly involved in removing the English immigrant, the Garlic Mustard plant, where  it is multiplying rapidly in our preserves. This is sometimes exhausting but always extremely fulfilling work that we undertake each spring. It's a job in which we can see tangible progress, and we gratefully take ourselves out of the office and into the great outdoors for approximately three weeks each May to work in the short time window afforded by the plant's natural cycle. For more information on garlic mustard, click here.
  In the fall, stewardship work occurs in several of Arc preserves, especially those in which we are stewarding native prairies - eco-systems which need a degree of natural disturbance to stay vital. Also in the fall we become involved in protecting the colonies of native ginseng and goldenseal that grow naturally in the preserve system. Because of their rarity and high market value, professional trespassers sometimes attempt to harvest and sell them for personal profit. Interns occasionally help full-time staff to find and discourage illegal root digging occuring on preserve property.
  Truth is, we do whatever comes up. Sometimes a windstorm hits and we suddenly spend the next five days on the trails. Sometimes some thoughtless person dumps a pick-up load of trash and furniture in one of our ravines by the road, and we have to jump to a solution. Sometimes things happen in our preserves....that we never have happened before! Every season brings new experiences and challenges.

 --Facility upkeep and Restoration.
To restore wilderness in a region as populated as the Eastern U.S. requires a master plan that favorably deals with not only reuniting forested tracts, but the houses that inevitably come them. As part of the over sixty purchases of separate tracts of land that we have acquired to date, we have also procured over a dozen human residences that must be blended into our mission to maintain control of the road frontages. Some of the houses we tear down. Some we rent monthly to local residents with the plan of tearing them down in the far-flung future. Some buildings are developed as educational centers which offer preserve visitors overnight lodging accommodations and educational workshop space.
  Every year we have on-going restoration and maintenance endeavors in one or more of these fields. In addition, we must maintain the education centers and buildings that we have developed in the past, work which includes occasional cleaning of the facilities after guests, building repair, and mowing of trailheads and visitor access points. Interns spend any where from 2 to 6 days a month working on facility restoration and upkeep; depending on the season, intern interests and the organization's needs.

 --Friends for Life and Animal Care.
When trying to run a pristine wilderness preserve, there is always an interface with domestic life, including the unfortunate rural practice of "dumping" unwanted domestic pets in the country. When abandoned dogs and kittens are found wandering confused and lost in the Sanctuary, and we feel we can place them in a home, interns sometimes provide foster care and assist in trying to find them a permanent human partner. In addition, interns care for a few of the Sanctuary's farm animals, including a tribe of feral barn cats that were rescued in previous operations, and a herd of Alpine goats and Jacobson sheep. 

--Assisting with Educational Events
Interns occasionally assist with the operations of the Arc of Appalachia's many educational events, helping with registration, benefiting from the curriculum, and helping with preparing healthy and environmentally-responsible meals. Click here to see our full calendar of events.
 

What you get back...

-- Community Living in a Natural Setting.
Interns co-house in modern, furnished facilities provided by the Highlands Nature Sanctuary and can partake of the joys and life lessons gained from community living. Interns benefit from living in a beautiful, rural setting within walking and biking distance of Cave Canyon, and within close proximity to a large number of hiking trails. In 2008, and we hope in future summers, we have been able to provide a weekly CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share of food to interns of fresh, organic produce raised by local Amish farmers to supplement intern's food expenses. Interns are either assigned to a private bedroom, or share a bedroom with one intern of the same gender. Interns may choose bike the 8 miles of rural roads to JR's, a bountiful Mennonite-run grocery & pantry. JR's has enough of a selection of bulk foods, deli items, and fresh produce that conceivably an intern could spend their entire season at the Sanctuary without ever having to take a car into town. However, if the town allures, the small town of Bainbridge (with a pharmacy and an IGA) is five miles away and can also be easily accessed by bike.

See Scrapbook and essays of previous interns in action

- Community Dinners and Sustainable Cooking Skills.
The Sanctuary funds a monthly dinner in which sustainable cooking skills are taught on a variety of themes, such as vegan soups and stews, mastering herbs and spices, making breads from scratch, mastering the qualities of pastries and soft wheat flour, ethnic cooking, making your own kitchen standbys from scratch (salad dressings, mayonnaise, sauces, etc), salads and sprouts as a meal, how to buy food with minimum packaging, and more. Interns have a hand in selecting each meal's agenda. If desired by the interns, additional community meals are offered each month with cooperative cost-sharing (usually a minimal cost). Community meals may occur as often as once a week if the interest is there, either with a planned cooking curriculum or a simple potluck.

-- Individual Studies
Interns will find themselves immersed in a singular opportunity for rapid learning of natural history skills. In addition to the planned naturalist curriculum, described below, interns have access to one of the finest outdoor classrooms in the East, and and may request mentorship by the Sanctuary's naturalist staff -- who are always willing to give a guiding hand to those who have a sincere interest in outdoor studies. A large nature library is at your disposal from which you may borrow books, and you are naturally immersed in nature just by virtue of your living environments. Interns fall asleep to the chanting of katydids and rose each morning to the phoebe's dawn song. Nature invites you to step into its embrace. You need only to meet her half way with your willing heart and earnest effort. 

-- A Stipend.
 A stipend of $300 a month will be issued to each intern to help support their living expenses. Interns need to provide their own linens, pillow and blanket; towels, food, and personal care items.  A bike with a bike lock is recommended to assist in transportation. While living at the Sanctuary, interns are expected to maintain a clean and peaceful atmosphere at their residence, and share house duties and chores, including the daily care of the goats and barn cats. The Sanctuary is an alcohol and drug-free environment.

- Curriculum.
 Two to four hours of curriculum is provided nearly every week, either during the day or in the evening. Curriculum topics change with each month, and offer intermediate levels of mastery upon completion. They are as follows:

March - Philosophy & Literature - Great Naturalist Writers 19th-early 20th C.

April - Wildflowers and folklore of the Eastern Forest

May - Eastern Birds by Sight and Sound: certificate of completion

June - Interpretive Naturalist Techniques, hike leadership skills

July - Eastern Trees,  ID and Recognition; certificate of completion

August - Temperate Forest Ecology - the big picture

September - Environmental Social Issues: peak oil, carbon issues, consumerism, lifestyles

October - Wood Craft: wood cookery, ID by bark and bud, wood craft and lore

November - Philosophy & Literature - Great Naturalist Writers - Modern authors

Parameters of the Internship Program

The Internship program is available from March through the first week of December. We hire two interns in the spring and fall, and three interns during our summer months. Average terms are 3-6 months. Minimum length of participation is a ten week term. Maximum length is 9 months. Priority is given to early applicants, applications from returning interns, and applicants who can work a spring or fall term in addition to the summer season.

If you wish to work the summer term (June through the first week of September), it would be wise to have your application in by March 1st. First round of applications will be reviewed at that time and the positions filled as quickly as possible after that date.

NOTE: Because internships are such an important part of our operations, and because we invest so much in the selection, hiring and training of interns; we ask from all interns who apply and accept a position with our organization that they sign a contract of commitment. Once the contracts are received for all available positions, we will turn away all future applicants.

Expectations for Internships

 This internship is best suited for people who love group work, but have sufficient individuality and initiative to stay connected to their unique inner drive and personal goals. In all cases, what an intern gets "out" of the program is proportional to the passion and self-discipline poured into the program. This program is for people who like to work hard, who have a deep and abiding love for nature, have a natural curiosity in life, have a moderate or high level of physical energy, and have a natural sensitivity and respect toward people.

   The intern is expected to perform at a level expected in a standard employment situation for the duration of the internship, 40 hrs. per week. The opportunity for extra volunteer time is available but in never required. A typical work-week is Thursday through Monday, with most of our visitor services work conducted on the weekends. Each intern will have sufficient opportunity beyond the work week to enjoy unstructured time that can be spent in education, recreation, personal chores and rest. Interns have access to the Sanctuary’s extensive environmental library, including many natural history reference books.  Expenses borne by the intern include food and personal care items, transportation, long-distance phone calls, and recreation.  Interns are expected to take a team-approach to the Cave Canyon and their co-housing residence -- being willing to share all tasks evenly -- whether administrative or physical. As primarily an intern and volunteer run business, interns should prepare themselves to take the challenge of maintaining the business seriously and professionally.
 

Applications for the 2009 season are now being accepted!  Apply Now to ensure a spot in the program.  
    Please click here for an application and send to internships@highlandssanctuary.org

For questions and to find out the status of current internship openings, please call:
    Tim Pohlar at (937)-365-0556 or internships@highlandssanctuary.org    Cell phone is 937-402-8317

We HIGHLY ENCOURAGE you to LINK UP with our organization and receive our e-magazine and Eastern Forest Nature Notes: Woodland Sprawl. This is by far the best way to be a part of this organization. To sign up, write your request to linkup.adm@highlandssantuary.org.

Project Leaders:

Tim Pohlar: Internship Coordinator,  Cave Canyon Manger

  Tim found his way to the Sanctuary by a string of fortunate  “coincidences” and became an intern in the spring of 2004, an experience that changed the course of his life.  He now has a solid foundation of the ways of nature, including recognizing most plants and animals by name, and a story to go along with them.  Time has now come for Tim to help others walk the path of the Naturalist and anchor a life of greater environmental sustainability. Tim graduated from OSU in 2006 with a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He loves caring for animals, both wild and domestic, and is devoted to his "girls" (two dogs names Usipho and Raven) and his two cats (Azure and Jasper). Tim is an outdoors-guy. He loves being busy and purposeful, learning new skills and accomplishing tangible challenges that advance the land preservation mission, protecting the natural world that he loves. His hobbies include gardening, and hearthside cooking - in which he excels and the rest of us benefit.

Nancy Stranahan &
Larry Henry, Co-Directors

  Both Larry and Nancy had their beginning careers with the Ohio State Parks, working as naturalists, chief naturalists of the interpretive program, and in the case of Larry, Assistant Chief of the Division. After ten years, they left the park system for “greener pastures,” co-founding  Benevolence Bakery in 1985 and Benevolence Café in Columbus in 1995 – a back-to-earth dinery with fresh whole grain breads and vegetarian soups served at large community tables. Larry and Nancy  founded an intern program at Benevolence Café in 2001, which became the predecessor of the current intern program at the Sanctuary.
  Perhaps their most important life-legacy was the co-founding of the Highlands Nature Sanctuary is 1995, which eventually grew to become the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System.
  Nancy, a naturalist  at heart, has an interest in all things living. To her, the greatest miracle in the world is the “seed,” and she likes planting and nurturing seeds of all kinds. After working as sustainable gardener for twenty five years, she has recently turned her physical garden under and is now concentrating her last third of her life on the flowering of seed-ideas.  Always the philosopher, she is constantly seeking always to merge science with the spirit, curiosity with ethics, lifestyle with responsibility. Nancy is best known for her writing and storytelling skills, which, with Larry's photography, is the foundation of what has made the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System a success. Nancy is also an excellent cook, specializing in vegan and  vegetarian fare and the artistic combinations of herbs. Her soup recipes at Benevolence were unusual in that often 8-10 herbs are used to create complex memorable flavors uncommonly found in vegetarian fare. Nancy attributes this skill to her many years of gardening, in which she tended a large variety of herbs from seed to mature plants. Similarly, she loves to watch other people grow to their fullest potential.
  Larry is one of those rare true naturalists. As a very young child he began what would become a lifetime devotion – a habit of spending uncounted hours in the folds of nature. As a child in rural Appalachia, he first explored nature by following his elders in the path of the hunter. Today he patiently “bears witness” to the magnificent beauty and painful destruction of the natural world with the aid of his camera, producing beautiful close up photography.  With uncanny ability, he can find the hidden nest of the ruffed grouse, call in a barred owl to hoot overhead on a dark moonless night, be the first to notice animal behaviors that less patient people would never see, and intuitively knows when something is awry in the Sanctuary that needs attention. Larry is devoted to teaching nature literacy to students with sincere and committed interest. He is deeply concerned at the diminishing numbers of trained naturalists in a world in which nature is universally becoming a mental abstraction, a mere “backdrop.” Studying environmental worldly events for several hours each evening, he brings a wide planetary view to every person that he mentors, encouraging others to strive for personal empowerment and a commitment to the earth’s healing. He is passionate about passing the torch to a small but significant number of people belonging to the “next generation.