Summer interns join Center staff

Two student interns are bringing unique backgrounds in horticulture, environmental education and research to the Leopold Center this summer. The interns are Davenport native Ellen Cook and Amy Oliver of Des Moines.

Cook has been attending college in Massachusetts and will receive her degree in biology and environmental studies from Williams College this summer. Oliver, who has a horticulture degree from Des Moines Area Community College, is a senior at Iowa State University in public service and administration in agriculture.

"I found the Leopold Center while doing research for class," Cook says. "I was extremely interested by its projects and goals and what they might mean for farming and communities in Iowa."

A friend's apprenticeship for several organic farms sparked Cook's interest in sustainable agriculture. Class trips also gave her an opportunity to visit various farms in the Berkshires, and class projects turned into award-winning research papers.

Cook has combined research with other internship and summer opportunities. While an intern at an environmental center near Big Bend National Park in south Texas, she studied flora and land use. She also looked at air quality problems along the U.S.-Mexican border caused by coal-fueled power plants in the aftermath of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). During an internship with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, she taught ecology and low-impact camping to 12- to 14-year-olds in the Catskill Mountains.

Oliver has studied prairie ecology the past two summers at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory at Lake Okoboji, and is assistant garden manager for Meredith Corporation in Des Moines. As manager, she maintains the extensively landscaped gardens that illustrate some of the publishing company's national magazines and television programs. In 1995, she was a volunteer in the Oklahoma City Memorial tree planting. Her ISU degree will include a minor in botany.

"I've worked in botany, horticulture and agriculture, and the Leopold Center brings all these things together," Oliver says. "Eventually, I want to be a specialist in agriculture extension and extend my work to community issues such as groundwater protection, soil conservation and air quality."

Oliver says one of her life-long goals is to help people understand the importance of agriculture, and that agriculture can be developed without threatening natural resources.

Now in its eighth year, the summer intern program at the Leopold Center provides students with hands-on experience in sustainable agriculture. They also meet producers at field days, and work with educators from the Leopold Center's partnering organizations on various projects.

This summer they will help Center education coordinator Rich Pirog summarize conference and workshop evaluations and work on several local food system projects.