The State College office of McQuaide Blasko has funded ClearWater Conservancy’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Internship for the third straight year.

“This donation provides many hours of skilled GIS mapping support for our land and water conservation projects and gives a student important, real-world experience at the same time,” said ClearWater Conservation Biologist Katie Ombalski.

Through the McQuaide Blasko internship, a geography student works at ClearWater an average of 15 hours per week on mapping projects related to land conservation and riparian restoration projects.

“Mapping is fundamental to every project we do. From preparing project proposals for landowners to documenting our conserved properties, GIS mapping is critical. The internship provides advanced GIS know-how and relieves the ClearWater staff of many hours at the GIS computer,” Ombalski said.

Management of the internship program is provided by Dr. Joe Bishop, a member of ClearWater Conservancy's Board of Directors, and a Research Associate and Geospatial Coordinator for the Penn State Riparian Center in the Department of Geography.

3/18/2013