Practicum Location: Wye Research and Education Center (Virtual) Practicum Supervisor: Dr. Luke Macaulay
I found this research opportunity through the University’s website which lists all of the research opportunities on campus and at campus extensions, like Wye. This website can be found at https://mcur.umd.edu/mcur-programs/maryland-student-researchers-database. I went through the list of the programs that were on this website and narrowed it down to ones that interested me through the filters and by reading the descriptions. I then applied for this opportunity by emailing my supervisor and then interviewing with him at a later date. If any Scholar wants to find research for their practicum in the future, I would suggest using this website, and finding the ones that interest you the most. Typically, there is contact information given on these listings, so if you find one that you like you should go ahead and email, or call where applicable, the person listed and express your interest in the position and why you want it and ask about how to get it.
As my practicum was completely virtual, most of the tasks that I completed were based around doing internet research. The project that I worked on explored state landowner wildlife policies. For this project, I did both data collection and organization. For data collection, I sourced material from government-based websites about both property tax incentive programs and public access hunting programs. From this data that was collected, I assigned a classification for each program based on their general principles, to represent these graphically in the future. For the data organization, I was tasked with creating a summary part of the spreadsheet that we had to make the work previously done neater and to check that all of that was done correctly and not in need of updating. This spreadsheet will serve to inform landowners about the different programs that their state offers in a cleaner and more concise spreadsheet.
This experience has allowed me to learn a lot about wildlife policies and the science surrounding the implementation and reasons for these policies. There are large varieties in the wildlife policies in different states, and what I learned depended on the problems present and the wants of the other stakeholders, like hunters. One of the other main takeaways that I had from this project was related, that there are regional variances in these wildlife policies. For example, deer management assistance programs are mainly available in the Southeast, and the reason for this is the overpopulation of deer in the southeast. This overpopulation needed to be addressed, so these programs have been implemented. This experience has also really helped me to gain a basic understanding of these different programs, going beyond what I have learned in the basic wildlife management classes. This will be really helpful to me in the future since I know more about wildlife management policies, which is very important considering my concentration in ENSP is wildlife ecology and management.
This experience has affected me in many ways. I definitely gained an appreciation for how these policies and the science behind them affect landowners who are affected by them. I have gained a greater understanding of why they are important and how they can affect these people. This experience has solidified that I want to pursue a career in the wildlife management field. As a result, I will focus my future studies here on these topics, and potentially explore graduate programs that will help me achieve the goal of becoming a certified wildlife biologist. This opportunity has also affected my future career plans, as I will be returning to work for Dr. Macaulay again this summer, but this time full-time. This should help me gain crucial experience in wildlife management, and I am sure that it will be very beneficial to me.