Kalysta Adkins ’14 of Earlham is spending her summer outdoors, helping to preserve and restore Iowa’s natural beauty through a unique internship program.

The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation selected Adkins and nine other students from Iowa colleges as land stewardship interns for the summer of 2012. INHF looks for college students who possess a passion for conservation and a desire to learn hands-on techniques for preserving Iowa’s natural resources.

Adkins is majoring in biology with a minor in environmental science.

“I really life what the group has done together,” Adkins said. “I’ve done so much learning from everyone.”

INHF chooses its land stewardship interns based on their dedication to conservation and passion for preserving Iowa’s natural resources.

“We look for a commitment to conservation in Iowa,” said INHF Land Stewardship Program Director Joe McGovern. “The interns’ contribution is important because we work to restore rare and special native habitats throughout Iowa. The interns’ work allows us to increase our capacity to do high quality restoration work.”

Adkin’s internship is sponsored by the Rose Mary Schwent Internship program, allowing Schwent’s love for the sciences to be passed along to future generations of Iowa students.

INHF is a nonprofit, conservation group that works with private landowners and other partners to protect Iowa’s land, water and wildlife. Since its founding in 1979, INHF has helped protect more than 120,000 acres of Iowa’s wild places.

For more information, visit www.inhf.org or call 515-288-1846.