Intern Profile-Dana Gilbert
Over the summer I interned with The Nature Conservancy's
Virginia Chapter in their Richmond office. Working primarily with the
Director of Government Relations, I wrote several different fact sheets and
research memos. In particular, I created two fact sheets which outline
the land preservation tax credit program as well as how conservation easements
impact local government budgets. Land trusts throughout Virginia will use
these fact sheets to help explain why the tax credit is beneficial from a
policy perspective to landowners, other private citizens, and local
governments. I also completed a research memo surveying U.S. water quality
trading programs and how various factors impact the creation of a healthy
market for trading pollution credits.
Although I spent the majority of my time in an office setting doing research, I
attended several stakeholder and working group meetings throughout the
summer. During a stakeholder advisory meeting for Clean Water Act Section
404 permits at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality's office, I
experienced firsthand the complexities and variety of stakeholders' concerns
for protecting environmental quality, natural resources, and economic
interests. The meetings offered a great way to meet several key figures
in state and regional environmental policy and also to see private-public
collaboration in action. Toward the end of my internship I even had the
opportunity to travel to TNC's Virginia Coast Reserve office on the Eastern
Shore and shadow a conservation biologist completing field work on the barrier
islands. Overall, it was an excellent experience, and I was able to learn
more about policy issues spanning everything from wind energy to land
conservation to uranium mining.
