VT Fish and Wildlife Department

Emily Picciotto, 2009

Over the 2009 Winter Term, I participated in an internship with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department in Addison, VT.  Specifically, I worked in the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area.  My daily responsibilities varied depending on the weather due to extensive work in the field.  However, my main task over the month was to help the others in the office with maintenance of waterfowl nesting structures located on different Vermont waterways (swamps, lakes, ponds) near Lake Champlain.  This work can only be done in winter because the nesting structures can only be reached when the water is frozen.  Also, the birds have migrated south during the winter, so maintenance will not disturb them.  My other responsibilities included attending meetings within the larger department, helping to construct nesting structures, marking sites for timber harvest, and assisting with general office tasks.

I feel I performed to the best of my ability this month.  I was working in an office with two very knowledgeable men, who collectively had worked within the Fish and Wildlife Department for over twenty years.  Being thrown into that situation was difficult at first, but I completed all tasks I was given to the satisfaction of my supervisors-they even asked me to return in the spring to help with some of their more exciting work.  This is evidence to me that in working my hardest, my efforts were recognized and rewarded.

Through this internship, I learned a significant amount about a field I am interested in breaking into someday.  Working within a government agency, although I had heard about it, I learned first-hand how long decision-making processes are because of all the sub-agencies trying to work together.  As a public organization, the general public’s input and opinions are highly valued, and must be taken into consideration.  As a result, many programs take much longer to implement than originally anticipated.  I also learned a great deal about hunting and fishing in Vermont.  Although the department works with conservation practices in mind, a large percentage of the state population enjoys recreational fishing and hunting.  Therefore, many of the conservation practices in place are meant to simultaneously help hunters and fishermen.  This was not something I originally expected to be learning about, but it is an important part of Vermont culture and the state’s dynamic.

Working with the Fish and Wildlife department also taught me about myself.  Much of the work I was involved with over the duration of my internship was manual labor in one form or another.  It was exhausting, but I learned what it really means to put in a hard day’s work.  I also learned that I am capable of learning quickly under stressful circumstances, which will help me in any field I may choose to involve myself with.  One of the most important things I learned is that I am a capable young woman, able to work with highly experienced men in a male-dominated field.  Although at times I felt self-conscious, I was able to work through those feelings to get my jobs done.

Overall, this was an outstanding experience for me.  I was lucky to have such knowledgeable and supportive supervisors who also became my friends.  Through the development of those relationships, I was able to ask more questions, and learn more over my four weeks than I would have been able to otherwise.  There truly is no other way to learn about a career field than to jump headfirst and get right into it.  The opportunity I was given by Middlebury’s Winter Term program to do just that is something I will never take for granted.  After my intense month of hard work and learning, I feel it should be a requirement of all students to participate in some sort of internship prior to graduation.  I also feel really lucky to have been able to have this experience in Addison County because I have been able to meet so many great people in a different context than I would have been able to through a class or other direct College forum.  I have come appreciate even more Vermont and the people that inhabit it through this internship than I have in my previous three and a half years at Middlebury.

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