Meet Nicole Hardy: Wildlife and Wetland Field Fellow
This summer, Voyageurs National Park welcomed Wildlife & Wetland Ecology Field Fellow Nicole Hardy, a student whose passion for public lands and hands-on conservation work has taken her far from her hometown of Bloomington, Indiana and deep into the wilderness of northern Minnesota. She spent the summer building technical skills, unforgettable memories, and an even stronger love for the outdoors.
Nicole grew up in a landscape shaped by agriculture while surrounded by the lush expanse of Hoosier National Forest. This early exposure to the natural world helped her appreciate the value of public lands, but it wasn’t until college that she realized she wanted something more than traditional classroom learning. After choosing to move to Vermont to study environmental science, Nicole found herself craving real-world experience. A study abroad program in Botswana gave her the chance to study wildlife up close and sparked a new passion for fieldwork. “I got really sick of being in a classroom,” she shared, and “Botswana showed me how much I loved being out in the field.”
After returning home, she felt pulled toward the natural spaces of the Midwest. That’s when she found the Voyageurs Field Fellowship, an opportunity that she says, “opened doors I couldn’t have imagined.” With both wetland and wildlife focused weeks providing challenging work and unique field experiences, no two days looked the same during her fellowship.
During wetland-focused weeks, Nicole spent significant time on invasive species management, learning treatment techniques like underwater cutting and the careful use of herbicides. She also helped conduct vegetation surveys to track the health of Voyageurs National Park’s ecosystems. Later in the summer, a wildlife-focused week brought a standout project: replacing bat monitors across the park. These devices record ultrasonic calls that help scientists identify species and estimate population sizes.
When asked about her favorite memory from the summer, Nicole didn’t hesitate: eagle banding day. Getting up close with wildlife is always special, but the eagles were unforgettable. She also shared another standout moment from a bat monitoring hike, when she caught a rare glimpse of a pine marten darting through the trees.
For Nicole, the Voyageurs Conservancy Field Fellowship was an invaluable step towards conducting environmental research. Fieldwork, she emphasizes, is the kind of experience that you can’t replicate in a classroom. “It’s all about acquiring skills through messing up.” From earning her Motorboat Operator Certification Course (MOCC) to growing her skills in field work, she’s walking away with a toolkit that will prepare her for whatever comes next in her career. To future field fellows, she says “Be open to the experience and what you’ll get out of it. Fieldwork is tough, but you learn so much from it.”
Learn more about the Field Fellow experience by watching our “Field Stories” webinar from earlier this year!
Support Field Fellows:
The Conservancy’s Voyageurs Field Fellows program seeks to increase accessibility and professional development opportunities at Voyageurs National Park. The fellowship offers students and recent graduates a stipend-paid internship to engage in real world, hands-on work in areas such as preservation, natural resource management, environmental education and more. If you’d like to support future Field Fellows and their important work, please consider becoming a member with a gift today.
Funding for the Voyageurs Field Fellowship program is generously supported by Voyageurs Conservancy members, the Fredrikson & Byron Foundation, Elmer & Eleanor Andersen Foundation, and the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR). The Trust Fund is a permanent fund constitutionally established by the citizens of Minnesota to assist in the protection, conservation, preservation, and enhancement of the state's air, water, land, fish, wildlife, and other natural resources.
