Undergraduate Fellowship

The Conservation Fellow will work closely with the Education Programs Coordinator, 
Conservation Easement Manager, and Conservation Project Manager to assist on a variety of projects that are core to the function of land trust.

Our reporters are expected to be flexible in covering a variety of stories including news, features and events. For this position we will try to identify sustainability-themed assignments but may make other assignments as well.

This position assists the Habitat Biologists with implementation of the Habitat Program and agency goals, mission objectives, and assignments.  This position works as a journey-level biologist under the supervision of a Habitat Biologist and Assistant Manager. 

This practicum will focus on updating Winthrop’s 2015 Comprehensive Plan, developing wayfinding maps and materials, and gaining varied experiences with land use planning. 

The intern will support farm and nursery operations, helping to grow a diverse range of native plants, cut flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Learning regenerative and innovative methods, the intern will help create the conditions needed for plants to thrive.   

The position will consist of milking cows, moving them to pasture, washing glass milk
bottles and filling milk bottles.

The Community Program Fellow will support FOWL in their role of bringing resources to the Library, which will include their contributions to community programming particularly in the Maker Space.

The Communication and Outreach Fellow will assist the HRWR Program Coordinator in all
aspects of our Human-Bear Coexistence community science project including fieldwork,
volunteer management, and outreach. 

The wildlife field fellow will primarily assist with data collection for HRWR’s lynx-wildfire project.

This practicum will focus on low waste programs at the Recycling Center in Twisp, including recycling, materials repair and reuse, skill sharing and skills development programs, and tool share library.

The Nutrition Programs position will primarily work with the Nutrition Programs Manager and 6 of the 9 food pantries; to include Omak, Tonasket, Oroville, Conconully, The Cove (Twisp), and the Colville Confederated Tribes in Nespelem, on their Sustainability and Succession Plans, and assist them with making and implementing those as needed.

This Resilient Methow Climate Leadership Fellow will work to support the implementation of the community Climate Action Plan. The position will entail a combination of research, communications, and collaborative project work with other organizational partners.

This Fellow will lead the Sustainability Youth Corps program and collaborate with other staff to implement and lead a small group of high school students in a series of career connected, hands-on work experiences in different areas of sustainability. 

This position will support the Economic Development and Business Support programming at TwispWorks.

The Town of Twisp is interested in an intern for the summer of 2025 to work as a Planning / GIS Technician to assist the Town’s contract planner in the day-to-day functions of the Town’s Planning Department.

The Botany Technician will primarily assist with the surveying and monitoring of rare and sensitive plant and fungal species, most notably whitebark pine.

The work performed is traditional hands-on wildlife work. The incumbent performs assignments related to all types of wildlife, including small mammals, birds, carnivores, megafauna, fish, reptiles, amphibians, etc

This internship works directly with the executive director to expand Methow Arts promotion of the creative economy across Okanogan County.

For this project, Sustainability Pathways partnered with long time Methow Valley resident, Mazama landowner, and WWU ‘68 alumni, Lee Whittaker, to create an ecological restoration and education plan for his property. Lee has a vision for his land in the future that he calls Project 2050. This vision includes better trail systems, a corridor and safe habitat for animals, native plants, and an educational resource to inform on the history of the site. The project goal is to conduct research and provide recommendations for the three main components of this project: an ecological restoration plan, an educational station along the trails to inform visitors of the history of the land, and programming for youth and community engagement. 

The project goal is to assist the Okanogan County Community Action Council (OCCAC) to form a zerofood waste, succession, and capacity-building plan for the nine food pantries in the county. Currently, the nine food pantries receive their food from partnerships with local farms and grocery stores; the United States Department of Agriculture and Northwest Harvest; and donations from the community. The food pantries are interested in developing partnerships with organizations in the community to compost their scraps. Additionally, in order to ensure their pantries’ long-term viability and capacity to serve clients, OCCAC is looking to help its food pantries develop formal succession and capacity-building plans.  

The primary goal of this project is to create a toolkit to mitigate and further reduce food waste in the nine food pantries, identify interested partners to aid in this mission, identify and research gleaning programs for local farms, and build a template for the food pantries to create a succession and capacity-building plan. 

Room One has been serving the Methow Valley community for 26 years, providing social services to all of its community members through the work of its 14 amazing staff members. The nonprofit began with the goal of preventing domestic violence and supporting vulnerable women, but has since expanded to provide social services ranging anywhere from SNAP benefits to social justice advocacy. Recently, Room One has been facing an increasing number of clients in need, in addition to decreasing funds. The expensive housing market and general economic inflation have made it harder and harder to subsist in the Methow Valley as a full-time resident and in-person worker. These issues combined with a lack of federal social services have led more community members to rely on nonprofits like Room One. 

A goal for Room One is to tackle the rising need for care by shifting their focus to building client resiliency and self-actualization, instead of the past model of responding to crisis and working to make ends meet. Room One’s staff wants to promote lasting well-being, instead of just survival. The purpose of this report is to showcase interventions currently being used for these purposes by similar organizations outside of the Methow Valley, and to provide resources for further learning and research for the Room One team. As such, this report includes a description of the research process, a list of interventions found, a top three interventions selection, and suggestions for further research.

The Sub-Unit A Plan, an addendum to the Okanogan County Comprehensive Plan, is the next iteration in a long history of community engagement in Upper Methow Valley land-use planning. Existing conditions and population projections in the plan have not been updated since 2014. New topics need to be added, such as more frequent wildfires and a growing recreation sector. 

This project is a collaboration with the Mazama Advisory Committee (MAC) and the Okanogan County Planning Department. Our project provides updated data and recommendations for the Sub-Unit A Plan according to their needs and in alignment with the 2021 Okanogan County Comprehensive Plan. This updated information enables the MAC to rewrite and reformulate the 2014 Sub-Unit A Plan as necessary. Our policy recommendations focus on climate mitigation and adaptation, wildfire management, water conservation, land use, and youth engagement. Key policies include increasing public transportation, establishing heating and cooling centers, promoting fire-resistant materials in new constructions, and conserving water resources. The recommendations also emphasize the importance of integrating climate considerations across all planning elements, and propose collaboration with local stakeholders, including youth, to ensure inclusive and effective governance. Additionally, more frequent data monitoring would allow the MAC to track progress and adapt strategies over time. 

Food insecurity is often amplified in rural communities. This resounds in Okanogan County, with 24.8% of children struggling with food insecurity (Feeding America, 2022). The rural, low-density nature of the county creates barriers for ample, equitable food access and distribution. Couple that with the limited distribution hours of existing food banks and pantries—it is clear that working individuals and families in need of free food may fall through the cracks and be unable to access limited resources available to the public.  

This document outlines how high school food pantries can act as supplemental food distribution points that can reach students and families who would be otherwise unable to access those resources. It outlines our research methods, findings, and contains a stand-alone sub-document that can be distributed to parties interested in creating a food pantry at their high school. This document is tailored to the needs we identified in Okanogan County, and is set up for the food pantries to be in collaboration with the Okanogan County Community Action Council (OCCAC), but could act as a guide for high schools elsewhere in the nation. 

Previous reports by Sustainability Pathways students have identified the area of Loup Loup Canyon, which is traditionally used by the Methow and Okanogan tribes of the Colville Confederated Tribes, as an important location for educational opportunities related to environmental stewardship and placed-based learning. To have full access to the site, clean water and housing are needed for the students who will use it. This report will serve as the design and basic planning for a mobile solar microgrid that will be used to power a well pump and a tiny home field station. 

The implementation of this project is an opportunity to explore co-stewardship of the Loup Canyon area with the Colville Confederated Tribes. An important aspect of such co-stewardship would be to engage with and keep a consistent communicative relationship with tribal programs who would be using the site, and make sure that their visions and goals for the space are being centered throughout the course of the project.