Conservation Intern

The end of a productive summer outdoors!

August 13, 2026

By Fiona Southers

Summer’s end is approaching and we are sadly in the last week of our internship. So much has been going on working on my Middle Creek project to create a watershed plan, hike the trails, and create a public outreach document for Boone County Conservation District’s website.

 

Through July we had L.E.A.F. academy which is an educational program for ages 13-17 to take them to different outdoor areas to learn about conservation and the outdoors. This year we focused on history and conservation. 

First we took them to Middle Creek park to hike, understand how to protect stress, what stream restoration is, how to identify trees, and going to the stream to find fish, amphibians, reptiles, and macroinvertebrates. The students learned how every species plays a part in the ecosystem and keeps it stable. They also learned what species may be indicators of stream health such as water pennies, mayflies, salamanders, and hellgrammites. 
First we took them to Middle Creek park to hike, understand how to protect stress, what stream restoration is, how to identify trees, and going to the stream to find fish, amphibians, reptiles, and macroinvertebrates. The students learned how every species plays a part in the ecosystem and keeps it stable. They also learned what species may be indicators of stream health such as water pennies, mayflies, salamanders, and hellgrammites. 
On Tuesday, we took the kids flyfishing in Gunpowder Creek and I caught two fish! The other kids did very well and most of the kids all caught fish as well. Later in the day, the kids got to go snorkeling in the creek to see the fish up close.
On Tuesday, we took the kids flyfishing in Gunpowder Creek and I caught two fish! The other kids did very well and most of the kids all caught fish as well. Later in the day, the kids got to go snorkeling in the creek to see the fish up close.
On Wednesday we went to Big Bone Lick state park to cut down invasive Honeysuckle, get a tour of the salt lick by Maggie from Big Bone, hear Claire from Big Bone talk about the Bison, and then played in the creek after to see if we could find some fossils.
On Wednesday we went to Big Bone Lick state park to cut down invasive Honeysuckle, get a tour of the salt lick by Maggie from Big Bone, hear Claire from Big Bone talk about the Bison, and then played in the creek after to see if we could find some fossils.
On Thursday we went to Shawnee park to teach the students about the mounds there and the history of the Native Americans such as Hopewell and Shawnee. We also saw a lot of fruiting Pawpaw trees. After this, we went to Carriage House Farm to see their garden, try some homemade honey, and see the compost piles.
On Thursday we went to Shawnee park to teach the students about the mounds there and the history of the Native Americans such as Hopewell and Shawnee. We also saw a lot of fruiting Pawpaw trees. After this, we went to Carriage House Farm to see their garden, try some homemade honey, and see the compost piles.
On Friday, we kayaked along the Ohio River from the mouth of Woolper creek and stopped at Spilt Rock to see a natural geologic formation.
On Friday, we kayaked along the Ohio River from the mouth of Woolper creek and stopped at Spilt Rock to see a natural geologic formation.

Aside from camp and working on my project, I have been doing some gardening in my personal garden as well as on the property to remove invasives, taking stream samples of Middle Creek, finding wildlife, electrofishing with Liz and Boone County Parks, doing hydromods to measure stream changes with Liz and her Interns from TMU, putting up bat detectors, going to meetings about watershed planning and stream health to meet people from other organizations, and getting help with GIS from Jack and Blane from Boone County GIS to make LiDAR maps. 

Catching a frog
Catching a frog
Snorkeling with the TMU interns
Snorkeling with the TMU interns
Me holding a common water snake.
Me holding a common water snake.
One of the LEAF students holding a Common Water Snake (Week 2)
One of the LEAF students holding a Common Water Snake (Week 2)
Putting up the Bat detector with Susan and Evie from BCCD, and Julia who was a TMU Intern this summer
Putting up the Bat detector with Susan and Evie from BCCD, and Julia who was a TMU Intern this summer
Scaly Inky Cap
Scaly Inky Cap

I presented my project on August 2nd for the start of the first Middle Creek focus group at the Boone county parks in front of a group of environmental professionals to show the research I have done, future suggestions that I have for Middle Creek, and how we can all work together to start planning and work started to protect Middle Creek in Boone County. I started a preliminary watershed plan document and created a public outreach document that I started to put on the website to give more information about stream restoration and how to protect streams. 

 

For our final week we did a moth/bat/frog night where we set up sheets with UV lights or regular LED lights point at the sheet to see which attracts the most moths. I also went to the vernal pool to look for any kinds of frogs that were still around before the water dried up. Here we found tree frogs and tadpoles. We saw two bats and through the bat recorder, we heard hoary bats and big brown bats. 

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This summer has been one of the best that I have ever had and I am incredibly grateful to have spent the summer learning from so many amazing people and being able to gain new learning experiences that I have never done before that will be useful for the rest of my career. I will really miss working here, but I plan to stay in contact for a very long time and help out with any events!

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