Summer 2021

Newsletter Archive

Summer Intern: Sophia

Welcome to our summer student Sophia

My name is Sophia Sulimov I am a second year Environmental Science student at Mount Royal University. Through my studies at Mount Royal, I gained various experience in terrestrial and aquatic ecology. These studies have helped me garner hands-on skills and knowledge such as sampling populations, identifying habitat, classifying disturbances, and describing the systems at work in an environment. This research along with a variety of in-depth courses have improved my framework for understanding ecology and the environment in a broad sense, which in turn has helped me find a role at Miistakis. At Miistakis, I have the honour of working alongside a talented team of scholars and experts, on a variety of fascinating projects such as Pronghorn Crossing. Pronghorn Crossing is a project that focuses on the conservation of pronghorn in the Northern Sagebrush Steppe. The project gathers data from historical pronghorn migratory routes and pronghorn animal-vehicle collisions to determine migratory pinch-points along the Trans-Canada Highway. These are areas where pronghorn have trouble successfully crossing and meeting their seasonal and yearly migratory needs. I have had the privilege of sitting in on some meetings between transport officials and scientists during discussions about Pronghorn Crossing, as well as examining conservation criteria from these discussions. Later in the summer I will have the chance to map fence lines along the Trans-Canada Highway, in efforts to better understand the effects fences have as barriers to pronghorn movement and migration.

I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity to work with Miistakis and see conservation in action. Miistakis has been an excellent institute to work for this summer. The scope of meaningful and robust projects I have had a chance to collaborate in and work on at my time here have inspired me to further pursue a career in conservation or environmental research.