Field Studies

The summer of 2005 will be the fourteenth year of the Northwestern University Environmental Field School. The field school is a program in which students are placed in national park units for about seven weeks of work. Most of these positions are internships that have students working on resource management and/or research projects during the summer. The concept of an "internship" can refer to office work, often of a fairly menial nature. That is definitely not the situation for placements in the summer environmental field school! In this program occasionally work for the summer may involve some sitting at a desk in an office. But usually the work involves field assignments, and assignments of much importance. While many of these positions have been particularly attractive to students interested in natural resource issues, there are also positions suited to people with primary interests in cultural resources and in American history. Most of the positions involve critical issues of public policy. The coming summer should be a very interesting time to both work upon and examine the interplay of public policy and efforts to protect biodiversity and cultural heritage in our park system.