Hiya! My name is Emily Buehrle. I’m a December 2020 graduate from Webster University with my bachelors degree in Biodiversity. After wrapping up a summer internship with the Endangered Wolf Center, I’m here at LREC to acquire new skills and learn more about habitat and ecological restoration, in hopes of narrowing down what I might like to pursue in the future. I’m fascinated by the diversity of living organisms throughout the prairies and woodlands, both plants and creatures alike.

Hi! My name is Kiegan Baranski, and I’m one of the fall interns for 2021. I graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a dual degree in Environmental Biology and History in May of 2020. This past summer, I worked with the Missouri Department of Conservation studying plant and insect responses to management on six of Missouri’s remnant prairies out in the western part of the state. I’m very interested in prairie management and conservation, and I’m excited to work with LREC learning more about reconstructing prairie habitats, as well as learning more about the woodland and creek habitats here and all the life that inhabits them.

During this fall internship, we will also be working together to help various researchers, including working with entomologist Tom Hardy on photographing and digitizing his collection of insects caught here at LREC in the early 90s. Keep an eye out for those insects on the LREC iNaturalist project, because we’ll be posting them there by the end of the fall!

We are looking forward to all the adventures our fall internships will bring!

Sincerely,
Emily and Kiegan