Hi! My name is Maddie Tiemann, and this is my second seasonal position with St. Marks NWR. I grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia and spent a large portion of my childhood outdoors. To the east were the shorelines of New Jersey and to the west were part of the Appalachian Mountains, providing plenty of opportunities to explore! I’ve always had a passion and interest in wildlife since childhood that stemmed from my mom and older brother that only continued to grow as I got older. I’ve had the opportunity to travel up and down the east coast and I’m very grateful to be able to spend more time down on the Florida panhandle!

I attended the University of Maine where I recently graduated with a B.S. in December 2023. There, I majored in Wildlife Ecology with a concentration in Wildlife Science and Management. I had the opportunity to take a wide variety of courses regarding ecology, conservation, and wildlife biology that helped to further my knowledge. The numerous ecosystems in the state of Maine allowed for plenty of field labs and hands-on activities. From capturing Snowshoe Hares and fitting them with radio collars to track with radio telemetry to intertidal zone labs at Acadia National Park, there were no shortage of chances to apply the skills we learned in the classroom. Much of my field experience in Maine comes from a 2-week intensive field course that is lovingly known as May Term. Here I learned how to conduct grouse drumming surveys, woodcock singing ground surveys, avian point counts, assisted with passerine mist netting and small mammal trapping, captured and banded American Woodcock, and gained experience with telemetry and camera traps. While at school I also volunteered with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife to capture Wild Turkeys via rocket nets and assisted with banding.

This past summer I had the opportunity to be an intern at St. Marks, which was an amazing experience and tons of fun working with the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers (RCW)! Most of the work revolved around RCW monitoring which included nest checks via peeper scopes, assessing cluster and tree status, and determining potential breeding pairs. We also were able to mark and re-mark over 700 cavity trees as well as assess their status and condition as an independent project. In the time that wasn’t spent working with woodpeckers, I helped with a variety of tasks including conducting Frosted Flatwoods Salamander pond habitat assessments and sea turtle nesting surveys on St. Vincent NWR.

I am so excited to be back for another season at St. Marks in addition to the opportunity to work with an entirely different species this time around! There’s nothing better than spending my days working out on this beautiful refuge surrounded by such a wide range of flora and fauna. I’m looking forward to building upon the skills I’ve acquired over the summer and to continue learning new ones.