Hello everyone, my name is Caroline Wolfe-Merritt, and I am one of the Spring 2021 interns at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. As a child in Colorado’s front range, I spent all my free time outside; in the winters I skied, snowshoed, sledded, and built snow forts, and when the snow melted I spent time looking for bugs under rocks, hiking, biking, and playing in the creek near my house. As I grew up, though I left Colorado for North Carolina when I was eight, and later went to college in Indiana, my love for being outside never left me. Indeed, I continued to spend time in nature and notice the plants, birds, insects, and herps around me, sometimes catching them to take a closer look, and other times focusing on documenting them through photography and sketches. In visits with my grandparents I was introduced to the estuarine and flatland pine ecosystems of eastern North Carolina, and my grandfather shared with me his love for birds, shells, and other wild things, coupled with his deep personal investment in scientific inquiry.

In high school I had the opportunity to participate in The Herp Project: Herpetological Research Experience, a NSF-funded program to learn research methods for studying reptilesand amphibians and assist graduate students in research on Eastern Box Turtles and Eastern Newts. Though this marked the beginning of my formal experience with ecological research, it was only the start.

As an undergraduate at Earlham College, I studied biology and Spanish, focusing on all things related to ecology. In the summer after my first year, I joined one of my professors investigating Tree Swallow nesting behavior, and working so closely with birds piqued my interest in ornithology. Over the next 3 years I continued working with the Tree Swallow team, took courses in ornithology and bird banding, and sought out new species with my binoculars and camera. Further, during an environmental and cultural studies semester in New Zealand, I interned at the Whanganui Bird Rescue, gaining valuable experience handling and rehabilitating birds. Meanwhile, I also had the opportunity to conduct research on animal behavior and conservation in Tanzania, to study invasion ecology in hardwood forests of different ages, and to investigate white-tailed deer using camera traps. While at Earlham, I also had the chance to assist a professor with ongoing monitoring of local salamanders; I assisted with setting and checking drift fences around ephemeral ponds during the breeding season, and gained experience identifying and sexing a variety of amphibians. All four years, I worked on the collections and outreach teams at the Joseph Moore Museum, which allowed me to approach natural history from a different angle, and share my enthusiasm with others.

I graduated with a B.A. in Biology in spring 2020, and am thrilled to join the biological team at St. Marks NWR. Though I find nearly all aspects of ecology to be fascinating, I am particularly passionate about community ecology and conservation of birds and herps, and I am eager for this opportunity to work with conservation efforts for both the Frosted Flatwoods Salamander and the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker, and to gain experience in the National Wildlife Refuge system! I plan to go to graduate school in the next couple of years, and this is a wonderful leaping off point into the wildlife ecology field!