Howdy! My name is Jarod Andrew Portillo, but I go by Andy. I’m from Amarillo Texas, which is in
the panhandle of the state. Though I went from one panhandle to the next, they could not be
more different! I am very excited to be working here at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge as a
biological intern.

I grew up in Texas, where I graduated from West Texas A&M University with a B.S. in
Wildlife Biology in December 2021. During my undergrad, I developed my love for native
herpetofauna through research trips and coursework. I spent a lot of time volunteering with
ongoing research projects at various Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Wildlife Management Areas, where I learned many skills such as trapping, identifying, and data collection. There I also developed my love of naturalizing through hiking, herping, birding, and native seed collection. This is my first job working with a threatened herpetofauna species, which is what I ultimately want to focus my future career on.

I just finished my most recent job in January 2023 with the Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department, where I was a Chronic Wasting Disease Technician. I would work at the hunt check station sampling both Mule Deer and White-Tailed Deer for testing, as well as collecting biological data of the deer. In the summer of 2022, I was an ecology intern for the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission working with a goat grazing regimen to reestablish historical habitat for Eastern Box Turtles. I also did many plant and songbird surveys to inventory newly acquired properties. I’m no stranger to working outside and working with animals, as I have also been a veterinary technician and greenhouse worker.

This will be the first time I have worked on a refuge, and I plan to make the most of it. As
an avid herp and bird enthusiast, I have ongoing lifelists of both. I became interested in the position for the dual purpose of working with the federally threatened Frosted Flatwoods Salamander, and the federally endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker. I have not worked or lived in the southeastern United States before, so I am very happy to be in a place that receives so much rainfall. I believe this internship will help me gain valuable experience on how to research a herp species, which I plan on utilizing when I attend graduate school in the future.