Follow the Fellows

It’s a dilemma faced by many recent graduates—you can’t find a job without experience, and you can’t get experience without a job.

The Nature Conservancy started the Claire M. Hubbard Young Leaders in Conservation Fellowship Program in Nebraska in 2013 with a gift from the Claire M. Hubbard Foundation. It’s a one-year program for two selected recent college graduates in conservation-related fields, headquartered at the Platte River Prairies in Nebraska.

So far, eight Fellows have graduated—and all found work in their desired fields.

“The Hubbard Fellowship provides broad, real-world experiences and practical skills to supplement a college education," said Chris Helzer, Director of Science for the Nebraska Program. "They learn a lot: prairie restoration and management planning, species identification and research, field monitoring, volunteer management, budgeting, fundraising, grant-writing, and whatever topics appeal to them individually.”

Each fellow designs and carries out their own independent project.

“As I move on to my new job survey streams on public lands across the western United States, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Hubbard Fellowship," said Dillon Blankenship, 2014-2015 Hubbard Conservation Fellow. "I leave as an advocate for Great Plains conservation, and I look forward to the days when I will again experience the incredible landscapes and people of Nebraska.”

The application period for the sixth round of the fellowship (February 2019–January 2020) is open now. Go to nature.org/careers and search for job #46787.  Deadline for application is September 21, 2018.