Alex Moore - Land Resource Intern

What do you do as a Land Resource Intern? 

“As a Land Resource Intern, I did a lot of different things. My supervisor, Jess Stone, manages the natural aspects of the parks across the County, which is a huge job since there are so many parks in the county. Kelly and I were able to help her with some side projects over the summer. My projects were mainly focused on tree maintenance. There are problems regarding the maintenance of trees within our parks in Pierce County. For example, mowing or edge trimming right along the base of trees causes a lot of damage. In the long run, the damages cost the County money since we have to replace the trees that die. I created a maintenance guide for trees and parks for maintenance workers to read, so they can better understand how to take care of trees. On top of that, I worked quite a bit with GIS (Geographic Information Systems). We collected and surveyed tree data including diameter breast height, tree height, making comments about the crown, stem and roots. Doing this is basically assessing the health of the trees in the parks. Then I came back and imported that data into GIS to map out where these trees are located. There’s a good mix of field and computer work in my position. Every day was different in this position.”

Why Intern for Pierce County? 

“Working at Pierce County is unique because you are working for the public sector. You respond to the people, and this adds a whole other dynamic to your work. In parks, you are giving people in Pierce County something to enjoy and even learn through. I think it’s a really cool opportunity to work at Pierce County Parks, since it extends to the public.”

Advice for future interns? 

“Be adaptable. Especially with this internship, you never know what your day is going to look like. Be willing to change your day, and don’t have a clear expectation of how it’s going to go.” 

Fun fact about yourself:

“I studied abroad twice at PLU. My first trip was to the Bahamas to study marine biology. My second trip was to Copenhagen, Denmark where I studied environmental studies of the Arctic.”