FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 2, 2021

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GLENVILLE, WV - Sixteen Glenville State College (GSC) Department of Land Resources students took part in internship opportunities this summer. Those students recently shared information about their summer work experiences with others as part of a Land Resources Seminar Series.

The Department offers a Summer Work Experience course for all of its academic programs in Forestry, Land Surveying, Environmental Science, Energy and Land Management, Criminal Justice, and Wildlife Management.

“We believe that these internships provide our students with hands-on experience that serves as a valuable foundation for a career in natural resource management in the future. To complement the student’s academic experience, we specifically request that the employment covers any of the activities related to certain disciplines in natural resource management and the student’s major,” said Dr. Rico Gazal, Chair of the Department of Land Resources.

The following students participated in an internship during summer 2021:

• Jacob Amick, from Nettie, West Virginia, is a Land Surveying Technology student. He was and is employed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Geospatial Section out of their Huntington District. Amick says he learned a great deal about land surveying and surveying practices during his time with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. His work with the Corps has included completing boundary surveys, instrumentation surveys, easement surveys, and mapping and research. He was also awarded a “Commanders Coin” from Colonel Jason Evers, former District Commander of the Huntington District, for his work on the Stanislaus River Project in California.
• Jared Bishop, from Princeton, West Virginia, is an Environmental Science student. He worked with the West Virginia State Parks system at Pipestem State Park. While working at Pipestem, he led hikes, designed and led informational and recreational programs, interacted with park guests in the nature center, aided in the caretaking of animals, housekeeping and maintenance at the nature center, and planned and constructed a vernal pool outside of the nature center. He says that the most enjoyable part of the internship was interacting and conversing with park guests and his coworkers.
• Asa Dick, from Frankford, West Virginia, is a Land Surveying Technology student. For the past two summers he has worked for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Geospatial Section out of their Huntington District. He says that working with the Corps has given him field experience that he knows will be invaluable in terms of professional growth. He was able to work on boundary, encroachment, instrumentation, easement, and topographic surveys throughout West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, New Mexico, and California.
• Hunter Hayes, from Salem, West Virginia, is an Environmental Science student. He worked for Core Solutions, a small-scale well-tending business with an eye on reducing environmental impacts. He was able to tend wells, clear access roads, and studied software that tracks royalties and well sites. Hayes says that the small scale of the internship gave him an in-depth, personalized experience that gave a lot of hands-on involvement. 
• Ciera Heine, from Beckley, West Virginia, is a Forest Technology student. She worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, primarily on the Winnebago Reservation in Nebraska. As part of her internship, she completed a 100% inventory of black walnut trees on trust land. That project entailed collecting GPS data for the trees, including location, diameter, height, and grade. The information is used for management plans, timber sales, and baseline information. Heine observed several prescribed burns on the Winnebago and Omaha Reservations. She also completed her pack test for the wildland firefighting red card. She says she enjoyed the internship and that it is helping guide her career path decisions. She has plans to work on one of the Agency fire crews next summer.
• Evan Jedamski, from Sand Fork, West Virginia, is an Environmental Science and Land Surveying Technology student. His summer internship was completed with Smith Land Surveying. Along with the field work for boundary surveys, he was also able to assist with construction projects, deed research, and Computer Aided Drafting work.
• Heather Moore, from Duck, West Virginia, is a Forest Technology student. She completed her internship with Waco Oil & Gas. As part of the internship, Moore was able to complete timber cruises, title abstracting, and GIS work, in addition to learning about oil and gas production. She said the experience was a positive, well-rounded opportunity to apply what she had learned in the classroom.
• Della Moreland, from Augusta, West Virginia, is a Wildlife Management student. She worked with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Section at the Big Ugly Wildlife Management Area in Lincoln County. She worked with the wildlife manager and had experience managing public access areas and wildlife/land management. She was able to assist with sampling a whitetail deer for chronic wasting disease, responded to a wild boar nuisance call, helped set up a bear trap, monitored elk trail cameras, and repaired elk pens. Moreland also learned how to operate a bulldozer, worked to prepare food plots, and helped capture and relocate 150 geese. 
• Cole Murphy, from French Creek, West Virginia, is a Wildlife Management student. He worked for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources out of their Stonewall Jackson Wildlife Management Area. His internship allowed him experience with nuisance bear and deer calls and tractor operation for fertilizing, brush hogging, and disking purposes. He was also able to assist in the timbering of Red and Sugar Maples to prepare an area for Woodcock management. Murphy says that the internship gave him a better idea of what a career with the Division of Natural Resources would entail and hopes that he is able to pursue it as a career.
• Adam Osborne, from Rupert, West Virginia, is a Forest Technology student. He worked with Weyerhaeuser Timberlands. His internship included survival checks/regeneration cruises to ensure sustainable regeneration following harvest, cruising forest stands, delineating and marking Streamside Management Zones to meet Sustainable Forestry Initiative guidelines, laying out timber harvest units, checking on logging contractors, and conducting research to improve forestry activities and longevity. Osborne has spent the past three summers with Weyerhaeuser Timberlands, giving him what he calls invaluable experiences to start off his career. From laying out harvest units and dealing with logging contractors to researching new ideas, Osborne says he has learned many skills that will help to give him an advantage as he continues to learn going forward.
• Lexi Pletcher, from Sutton, West Virginia, is an Environmental Science and Forest Technology student. She continued her internship with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Stonewall Jackson Lake, where she has worked for two summers. Pletcher received a Pathways internship position at Sutton Lake in August 2021. The Pathways position with the Corps will help her secure a permanent job upon graduating. Through the internship she was able to work on trail maintenance, signage installation, invasive species control, water safety, inter-agency surveys, and more. The internship has allowed her to learn about the broad range of duties that are included in the park ranger career.
• Marc Radcliff, from Elkview, West Virginia, is a Forest Technology student. For his internship, he worked for the Plant Industries Division of the West Virginia Department of Agriculture. Plant Industries aims to protect the state’s forests and fields from destructive species through a number of monitoring and control methods. He worked with the “Slow the Spread” program that is concerned with monitoring and controlling gypsy moths throughout the eastern half of the state. 
• Hayden Richards, from Grantsville, West Virginia, is a Land Surveying Technology student. He completed his internship at Hupp Surveying LLC. He worked on boundary surveys and construction sites. Richards was able to run the instrumentation and worked on finding and setting corners during surveys.
• Katlyne Rollyson, from Sandyville, West Virginia, is an Environmental Science and Forest Technology student. She completed her internship with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture. She worked to set and service Gypsy Moth traps, which included building and placing the traps, navigating with ArcGIS online to her target set points, talking with landowners, checking traps mid-season, and then doing final checks and collecting traps. Rollyson said the internship was a fun experience that allowed her to not only work with new people, but also to develop skills to use in the future.
• Kasee Smith, from Culloden, West Virginia, is a Natural Resource Management student pursuing a concentration in Criminal Justice. She worked at Beech Fork State Park and alternated between working the gate and the office. Both involved working with people and helping solve problems within the campground.
• Benjamin Sturtevant, from Salem, West Virginia, is a Land Surveying Technology student. He completed his paid internship with Civil and Environmental Consultants at their Bridgeport, West Virginia office. Sturtevant worked on topographic mapping, commercial boundary surveying, and slip repair stakeouts. He also gained knowledge on safe, efficient, and quality work methods and says that he feels strongly that the internship will lead to a career after graduation.

As an intern, the students were registered for the Summer Work Experience course that requires a minimum of 160 hours (unpaid) or 320 hours (paid) of internship. The hours must be related to the natural resource management discipline throughout the duration of the internship. Students are also required to submit a Summer Work Experience Report every two weeks that provides the details of duties accomplished, number of hours spent for each task, and relevant academic courses applied. The internships usually begin as soon as the spring semester has ended.

For more information about the programs within the Department of Land Resources at Glenville State College, contact the Department of Land Resources at Land.Resources@glenville.edu or (304) 462-6370.