Tori Ogolin, a student at Miles Community College, just finished her summer internship with the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks as a Non-Game Biologist Intern.
This type of an internship is extremely competitive and can be difficult to get. This is a very big honor for Tori, as she was a freshman applying for a position that probably had upper level classmen applying for it.
During the internship, Tori worked in Montana Region 6 and Region 7. She did surveys on the Greater Short-Horned Lizards, Chimney Swifts and Common Poorwills. These surveys were done in order to see where these species are located and in what numbers. Tori spent many hours, even in the middle of the night, taking these surveys around Glasgow and Miles City. Tori was also able to participate in bat netting. During the bat-netting, they would catch the bats in order to weigh them and take measurements. This bat netting was Tori’s favorite part of the internship. “I enjoyed the bat netting the most because we never knew what we were going to catch and that made it exciting. We even caught several birds!”
Tori’s advisor, Kim Gibbs, was thrilled for Tori getting such a wonderful opportunity, “I think this internship provided a great opportunity for Tori to have hands-on learning in the wildlife field and learn about what a career with FWP would be like.”
Tori is currently a sophomore at MCC, majoring in Wildlife & Fisheries Biology and she plans to graduate in the spring. After graduation, Tori plans to go to Bozeman and major in Wildlife Biology.
The Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Internship Program is open to any student that currently enrolled in an accredited university or college.
