From Student to Salaried: Using EPI Experiences to Launch a Conservation Career
Finding a job in the conservation field can be challenging, especially in western Montana. The area is home to top-tier wildlife biology, forestry, and environmental studies programs, and alumni from these cohorts flood the job market, eager to make a positive impact on the world.
Whitney Wyche spent most of her high school career engrossed in this setting after her family moved to Corvallis, MT from New York City before the start of her sophomore year. It was through her high school that she discovered EPI, participating in a 5-day Yellowstone Ecology course in the dead of winter.
Alongside her classmates, Whitney tromped through the Yellowstone snow looking for herds of bison, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, and mule deer to study. Their EPI instructors taught them to use radio telemetry to find collared ungulates, and, once located, how to identify the age and sex of each animal. These scientific skills, developed alongside others like living and working in a group setting, built the foundation for Whitney’s entry into the conservation world.
After her winter course, Whitney added more valuable EPI experience to her resume, this time through the Bitterroot Wildlife Initiative (BWI). Each BWI participant partners with a research mentor at MPG Ranch and acts as their field technician, all while formulating a research question of their own.
Whitney worked with her mentor to locate bat roosts throughout the ranch, seeking to discover if bats return to the same nesting sites year after year. In addition to utilizing her radio telemetry skills from her Yellowstone course, Whitney developed proficiency in mist netting, a technique used to safely capture birds, bats, and other flying wildlife.
While Whitney grew her resume, she also grew her rolodex, connecting with fellow BWI participants, instructors, and a wide array of MPG staff. These relationships came in handy during the summer of 2020– yearning to spend time outside, Whitney found a spot for herself at MPG, this time as an employee. Her work with seed collection, vegetation monitoring, and the butterfly census introduced her to conservation work with non-mammal species and opened the door to future career opportunities.
Whitney’s star has continued to rise ever since her time with EPI & MPG. Her skill set has taken her to places like Costa Rica, where she and her college professor studied epiphytes and their relationship with trees, and to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, where she worked with the National Park Service to restore the Montara Prairie.
Closer to home, Whitney also conducted soundscape monitoring in Glacier National Park, helping the park assess how changes in visitation patterns are affecting the human and wildlife populations in the area. She currently works for the Land Trust of Napa County in California, mapping rare plants, checking wildlife cameras, and removing invasive species, among other tasks.
What started as a class trip has grown into an enviable career that has taken Whitney to beautiful places across the western United States and beyond. For those seeking to follow a similar path, don’t be afraid to take the first step! Ask your science teacher about putting together an EPI course, or sign up for one of our individual student travel programs today!
