Summer Internships
Meet the 2011 Intern Regina Fitzsimmons
In Regina's own words...
I'm from Tucson, Arizona. I live with my family, dog and two desert tortoises beneath the Catalina Mountains on an acre of desert shrub, visited by a few interloping bobcats, javelina babies (when we're lucky, or some might say not-so lucky - they're awfully stinky) and a gila woodpecker that likes to say "hello" very early each morning on a wire antenna attached to the roof.
I wasn't raised on a farm or ranch, but I've always loved to eat - with one caveat: I've been a vegetarian since toddler days. While farming and ranching are often paired together, my interest in each emerged at different times and for different reasons: I started farming and gardening in college because I wanted to figure out where my food came from and, more literally, how it actually grew in the ground. (The life cycle of edible plants from seed to harvest was totally alien to me.) My friends Ali and Season taught me about the "food miles" of my favorite snack: dehydrated bananas--a mini lesson that got me thinking about where my favorite supermarket foods were grown, and whether or not I could find a source closer. (Cue farmers' market discovery!) I read a book by Barbara Kingsolver and was introduced to the concept of "seasonality"--something that hadn't occurred to me with the omnipresent array of accessible tomatoes in Safeway. Plus, Tucson's 50-week summer and 2-week winter didn't help "seasonal" comprehension. I visited a dairy farm in Eastern Oregon--my first, albeit veiled, glimpse (we weren't allowed on the premises) at food production on a large scale. That visit subsequently spurred a tizzy of reading about corporate "organic" vs. small-scale "organic" and their conventional counterparts; I also stopped drinking milk cold turkey and it took me a long time to come around to a few, particular organic dairies. My delight in local food--food, that is to say, that is grown in my watershed--continues to grow: it is something I bring to the dinner table and to my horse trough garden (when the pernicious mint crop is under control).
But around the time when I started loving and learning about this type of food (age 17 and 18), I was wholly and somewhat selfishly unaware of meat origins and production, as they didn't affect me directly. As a consequence, I didn't think about ranchers, either large-scale or small. I knew little about inhumane animal conditions in meat packing plants, for instance, but I also didn't know about a burgeoning population of ranchers who were--to cite one example of their practices--raising cattle, lambs, sheep and goats on grass.
Gary Nabhan, my current boss at the University of Arizona, was one of the first people to introduce me to small-scale ranching. Gary took me to my first Quivira Conference when I was 21. There I met Dennis Moroney, rancher at the 47 Ranch in McNeal, Arizona. At the end of the conference we ate giant chocolate chip cookies the size of our faces and I bashfully asked him and his wife Deb if I could interview them for my thesis (a collection of essays about food systems, biodiversity and land management). Like old friends, he invited me out to his ranch to take a look around. A couple months later, I put-putted up his dirt drive and was greeted with dog-yalps. Dennis, his son Gordon and I clambered into his truck (with freshly-ground peanut butter & local honey sandwiches in tow) and we drove out to a nearby orchard, loaded the back with giant pecan branches and trucked them back to his farm. He later used the branches to build a fence. Throughout the day Dennis offered gentle, thoughtful explanations of how and why he shaped the land in to what I saw that day. He taught me how a person could determine the "health" of a landscape (a process that prior to meeting Dennis seemed a bit amorphous and intangible) and whether or not a piece of land can truly "repair" when people and animals are eradicated from it (an idea I'd often heard--although privately doubted--from many anti-ranching activists). Dennis is, in his very essence, a land steward and treats both the animals he raises and the ground he lives on with respect. I've rarely felt as inspired as I did on my first visit to the 47 Ranch. As I saw it and still see it, there is no "downside" to this type of land and animal management: Small ranches, like Dennis', support their local economies, repair and improve their ecosystems and give animals a good life, outside. It's for this reason that I came to Quivira. I want to learn more about this community, this way of living and working and listen to people like Dennis and the Quivira crew, who bring compassion, love and a fierce land ethic to the work they do and their lives.
Previous Interns
Barclay-Pierce Conservation Internship
Earth Works Institute and The Quivira Coalition jointly created a collaborative Barclay-Pierce Conservation Summer Internship Program. During the summers of 2009 and 2010 the two Santa Fe conservation groups teamed up to offer and share an internship that allows promising, young conservationists to participate in on-the-job training with both organizations. The purpose of the internship was to advance the careers of promising young adults and develop the next generation of conservation leaders.
2010
Meet the 2010 Intern Daniel Escutia
In Daniel's own words...
Like a boy who's been set to grow up in a cave only to be shown the full power and glory of first light and breath, I now know the importance of healthy lands and skies.
I was born on the Northside of the city of Chicago. At the age of 6, my family and I moved to the western outskirts of the city. We moved into a house and neighborhood that is currently being turned into new runways as part of the O'Hare Airport Modernization Program. About two years ago, the house and land were seized by the state through eminent domain. My parents moved about a mile and a half down the county line into a house that is now being threatened by an eminent domain seizure again. Highways instead of homes. I moved 20 miles west to study in Evanston at Northwestern University. Born and raised in a space squeezed between big city and big airport, a space strangled by concrete, runways and highways and airways, I was a fertile surface, bare but potent, yearning for first light and fresh air.
That light and air came disguised in the form of a big, white biodiesel box truck that rolled into Evanston, through the coolness of the night, from three hours south - the Mackinaw River Valley. It would arrive at the Evanston Farmer's Market before dawn on summer Saturdays, open its back door, and pour out, onto the parking lot asphalt, a flood of light and air - embodied in innumerable varieties of fresh produce. The boy in the cave fully felt the power and glory of this first light and knew what had to be done: by all means, immerse yourself in it, nourish it, respect it, and protect it.
I graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A in 2005. From there, I went off to start a homestead on a tiny piece of land that my parents grew up on in Central Mexico. And from there, I tracked that white biodiesel box truck back to it's homeland in the Mackinaw River Valley. It's home turned out to be Henry's Farm, a sustainable, organic family farm in Central Illinois. I lived and worked there for a full season. After the season, I went back to my parent's home at the edge of the city and airport. Feeling stuck back in the cave with it's stifling land and sky and full of newly realized power, potential, and perspective, the only thing that felt right for me to do was start running. As a farewell to the cave that raised me, I ran the Chicago Marathon...and then just kept on running until I arrived in Santa Fe, NM in the Spring of 2010.
Here, I found a home and allies in The Quivira Coalition and Earth Works Institute, and I am
ready to carry on with the mission.
2009
Justin Cook
In Justin's own words...
I was born and raised near Houston, Texas. I eventually moved to Colorado Springs to attend Colorado College and will be entering my third year there this coming September. I am a double major in Southwest Studies and Sociology. My studies focus primarily on the challenges facing ranchers in the Southwest, ways to sustain the ranching lifestyle, and how sustainable forms of agriculture can be utilized as tools for social change. I am passionate about working with people who empower communities, conserve natural landscapes, and support local economies through ranching or farming.
I have had the great opportunity to travel throughout New Mexico while studying at Colorado College to learn about a variety of issues in this state from sustainable forestry to uranium mining. My decision to apply for this internship was based on my desire to further immerse myself in the vibrant culture and natural beauty of New Mexico. I hope to advance my understanding of the unique challenges facing this region of the country and the possible solutions available to overcome those challenges.
Avery Affholter
In Avery's own words...
I was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM, with most of my family in the area, including Belen, NM. Growing up, the extent of my exposure to agriculture and ranching was when my uncle would host a matanza in Belen; or, spending time at my stepmom's cabin in Mora, NM and visiting the nearby Salman Raspberry Ranch (it was so beautiful and they had alpacas!). Camping trips were always one night and near the car, and a backyard vegetable garden was certainly a foreign concept to me until I reached adulthood. Translation: my involvement in nature during childhood and adolescence was negligible.
I had been living and working in Colorado Springs for the last six and a half years, never establishing a significant connection to the area. After five interesting years of working in higher education, the time came when I knew I had to pursue my passion and become involved in something more meaningful to me. My interest in sustainable agriculture, the American food system, and ecological restoration was finally drawing me out of the traditional working world. Fortunately, the universe smiled upon me and I read Revolution on the Range at the same time my life was headed in a new direction.
What I read was inspiring and synchronous with what was occurring around me; so much so, that I wrote to Courtney White and told him how I felt about the book. At the end of his thoughtful response to my letter, Courtney mentioned Quivira's search for a summer intern. At the time I received his email, I had been accepted to Colorado State University's Rangeland Ecology program and I was planning to move to Fort Collins, CO. However, New Mexico (home!)was calling my name and the circumstances under which I discovered the internship were too coincidental for me to ignore. So, here I am! Hooray!