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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2005

news070505.pdf (PDF, 100kb)

Shell Conservation Interns

Toronto, Ontario – The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) and Shell Canada Limited are pleased to announce the 2005 Shell Conservation Interns. Chosen from over 1000 applicants, the 17 Canadian students have begun their stewardship and conservation management work at NCC sites across the country. Created as a unique partnership between Shell and NCC, the Shell Conservation Internship program provides exceptional field experience for students interested in a career in conservation or the environment.

The 17 interns, from 12 universities and colleges, are doing vital stewardship work for NCC properties across Canada that ranges from collecting scientific data related to Semipalmated Sandpipers at the Johnson’s Mills Preserve in New Brunswick to radio-tracking Spiny Softshell turtles in Québec’s Lake Champlain, creating inventories of animal and plant species.

“I am really pleased to be a Shell Conservation Intern with the Nature Conservancy of Canada,” said Elizabeth Walsh, Interpreter at NCC’s Johnson’s Mills Shorebird Interpretive Centre in New Brunswick. “I am especially proud to be managing NCC’s only Interpretive Centre. I love coming to work and knowing that I am helping to protect the hundreds of thousands of shorebirds we see here each day, on the beaches or in the air. I also get a chance to meet people from all over the world who come to watch this natural phenomenon found only on the shores of the Bay of Fundy.”

“The Shell Conservation Interns play a vital part in the ongoing conservation of our properties, by enhancing natural plant communities and improving habitats,” said John Lounds, president of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. “But equally important is the experience they get, the kind of experience that creates future environmental leaders.”

The Shell Conservation Internship Program was launched in 2002. Shell provides the funding and NCC provides the work at their ecologically significant properties across the country. At the end of the summer, the interns come to Shell’s Calgary office for a workshop and field trip, to share the results of their summer work and to talk about conservation challenges with Shell and NCC staff.

“We’re delighted with this partnership,” said Tim Bancroft, vice-president of sustainable development for Shell Canada. “It fits with our commitment to sustainable development; it contributes to the preservation of biodiversity across Canada, and it furthers the education of these quite remarkable young people.”

The 2005 Shell Conservation Interns are: