A force to bee reckoned with: What is buzzing with the CCP

Name: Kyle Turner

Class Year: Class of 2019

Hometown: Pickerington, Ohio

Internship: Houston Zoo Collegiate Conservation Program

Location: Houston Zoo, Texas

Hey everyone!  My name is Kyle Turner.  I am a senior Zoo and Conservation Science major with a minor in Business Administration from Pickerington, Ohio.  This summer my adventure takes me to the large and beautiful state of Texas, where everything is bigger and better.  I was chosen as one of 11 students across the country to be part of the Houston Zoo’s Collegiate Conservation Program, the CCP for short.  We are a diverse group of college students who aspire to make a difference for our world.  This program is full of opportunities for us to grow and learn with every week bringing new adventures for the CCP.  I am excited for what my team’s future holds for this summer, we have so much planned. We are meeting some amazing people under the Houston Zoo’s umbrella, getting to experience hands on work, and collaborating together on multiple projects. After three weeks we have already come so far and done so much that none of us want this to end.

McKenna and I are ready to
clean up the Surfside Jetty!

On our first week we met with many different staff members from the Houston Zoo and learned about their role at the Houston Zoo.  It was amazing seeing how the Houston Zoo had compiled so many knowledgeable and passionate people to create a strong team.  Also during our first week, we learned more about our Gallup Strengths with strengths coach Jennifer Ford.  I discovered that my top five strength were: Futuristic, Context, Arranger, Individualization, and Communication.  Learning about them made me aware of how I go through my everyday life, and how I could use my strengths to my benefit at work.  My team and I found this to be a great way to bond with each other while we started to learn more about one another.  The highlight of this week, however, came on our second day here.  We had our first project where we went and cleaned up the Surfside Jetty.  The Surfside Jetty is a mile stretch of land on Surfside Beach which the Houston Zoo’s Sea Lion team adopted to clean up.  From what started out as one keeper going out a month to clean it of trash, is now seeing teams of people going out once or twice a month to pick up trash, recyclables, monofilament, etc.  We all had so much fun going out into the community, and we were thrilled and shocked to have the community be so grateful that we were there. 

The Collegiate Conservation Program Team with the International Crane Foundation

How would you react to millions of
bats flying around you?

For our second week we left the Houston area for the week to visit some amazing places.  Our first stop was to the Texas Zoo in Victoria, Texas.  Though this zoo was small and had around a dozen staff members, we all felt the passion and desire for improvement that came from this place.  They were hurt by hurricane Harvey but with their staff dedication and support from the zoo community they were able to survive the storm and continue after the water receded.  After the Texas Zoo we went to Welder Wildlife Foundation , where we spent the next couple nights learning about how the park came to be and completing some team building activities.  The second day on our trip we went to visit the Houston Zoo’s partner, the International Crane Foundation (ICF), where we got to learn the great work the ICF does for whooping cranes. The third day of our excursion we left Welder and went to Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve and learned how important it is to protect the habitat and to put resources towards connecting the guests to the habitat.  We got a surprise and met some of Oso Bay’s partners and learned about different career opportunities.  After our great time at the preserve we drove to the Texas State Aquarium Rehab.  I was amazed with what this rehab has done.  From their growth to how they dealt with hundreds of sea turtles and other injured animals.  Our final stop this day was at Bracken Cave. Bracken Cave is a hidden treasure here in the United States that is relatively unknown.  Bracken Cave is home to thee largest concentration of mammals in the world.  In this cave there are 8-15 million Mexican free-tailed bats.  It was such a surreal moment having this tornado of bats emerge from there cave, fly so close to us while our ears were filled with the sound of their wings beating, to then watching the black masses of bats fly into the distance as night time fell on us.  My team came to a consensus that this was a night that will stay with us for a very long time, and it awoken inside of us a new appreciation for the natural world.

The Collegiate Conservation Program at Bracken Cave

I discovered just how much can be accomplished with a team of dedicated individuals.  I also had a change in mindset over the gas and oil industry.  I feel we are taught that they are the enemy of conservation.  What they do and produce are the main threat to most wildlife and the reason conservation efforts start.  However, they are also some major donors towards conservation efforts.  Multiple places we visited had a sign that stated how they were supported for this project/ building/ etc. and I would find Exxon Mobil, Shell, and other local oil and gas company sponsoring them.  I looked at my uniform and under our name I saw that we were sponsored by Exxon Mobil.  Without that grant from Exxon Mobil, this amazing opportunity would not be available to us rising conservationists.

I feel that this was a lot for my first blog this summer, but it still does not cover everything that has happened thus far!  There are so many stories and lessons that I have gained and have yet to learn. I am looking forward to seeing what is ahead and I cannot wait to share it all with you.