Lucia Marquez is a senior at San Francisco State University majoring in Environmental Studies with an Emphasis in Sustainability and Social Justice. Prior to onboarding, Lucia worked for a concrete
contractor company in Santa Clara, aiding over 800 field workers to be dispatched along with trucking and equipment. Her career goal is to inform the public about the strains of anthropogenic climate change, adopting new strategies and communication development to enhance the public’s awareness. By doing so, Lucia hopes to gain more articulation from the community, more Spanish speakers, to take part in reducing their carbon footprint
as well as other approaches.

Over the last few months of my internship, I was able to connect with local community organizations that uplift Latino voices and the area itself is predominantly Hispanic. It also makes it even more special to me because this is the community I was born and raised in. I take great pride in knowing that I am serving my underserved community and paving the way for future interns. I am excited to take the lead on this, my mentor trusted me with this task and though there is much I still need to learn, I have a lot of gratitude for her taking a chance on me to represent my community and make a difference.  

This is going to be a difficult task, but not in terms of the work content. I feel overwhelmingly sad that most of the community is either not aware of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but also general information of accessing their public lands. It will be challenging but nonetheless, it is imperative that we are seeing the same faces both in the community and public lands. I am excited to create programs, events, and most importantly a relationship with these organizations. It is something that I will take with me even after my internship.  

I have learned that outdoor recreation and access is not felt equally. I remember my first time when I became aware of the environment changing and how important it was to protect habitats. I was twelve years old, but I did not have many resources or money to go to National Parks. It really wasn’t until I got older and started college where I began my journey in this field. I always look back at my personal story and think to myself, “what if I did have resources?”. I want to give those opportunities to younger generations that I didn’t have. And who knows, maybe it can spark a love for this career just like it did for me.  

A wonderful highlight and dare I say, monumental, that we connected with the first San Jose school and my coworker, and I delivered a wonderful program! The kids were super excited to see Rangers and learn about endangered species, information about our Refuge and recreational opportunities. These are the biggest joys in my work and hope to carry the torch elsewhere. We also brought a school to a fishing field trip at our fishing pier and one of the kids caught a tiger shark! I got to touch it!  

I am almost reaching my halfway point as an outreach intern at Don Edwards San Francisco Bay NWR and I wanted to take the time to give a recap of my experience so far! 

If you would’ve told me that I would be working as an intern for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I would laugh! Not because I don’t think I am capable, but more so never really knowing much about the agency. I was geared more towards the National Park Service and even state and city parks, but never for the USFWS. I had to do some background research on the agency and assumed that it was more science orientated than visitor services.  

Upon my onboarding, I tackled as much information I can about the agency and to my surprise, there was a visitor services department. I was very impressed that one of their missions at the refuge was to enhance more visitor engagement and environmental education interpretation and that is where I come on. My main objective is an environmental educator and provide resources to communities on how to access their public lands. I developed a program for endangered species at our Refuge and will present the work to local libraries. It was a fun project that I am lucky I got tasked and I look forward to developing future environmental education programs. I also think it is important to highlight the USFWS for their continuation of protecting, conserving and enhancing wildlife. I often feel like we are not publicly known like the National Park Service is, but these small efforts will make a great tool for spreading awareness of the agency and our mission.  

I don’t have enough wonderful things to say about my experiences so far. It has helped my professional growth and improved my confidence and even sparked a fire in me to serve the underserve communities. Alongside the help of my mentor, I got exposed to field surveys of migratory birds and endangered species, storytelling, outreach planning, social media content, networking, audience centered experience training, tribal relations, science communications, and natural resource management. These are skills and techniques that I will carry with me after the internship. And for that I will be eternally grateful for this opportunity. I am looking forward to the next following months as I get to learn more and apply these skills.