Hello everyone, my name is Alayna Krempa, and I am the 2025-2026 AmeriCorps Cape Cod member placed with the Friends of Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge. In May 2025, I graduated from Susquehanna University with a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and minors in Earth and Environmental Sciences as well as Sustainability Management. I moved to Cape Cod from my home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania at the beginning of October. Until the end of my program year, I will reside in Pocasset with eight of my fellow AmeriCorps members. Along with FMNWR, I am placed with the Mashpee Department of Natural Resources in the shellfish division and work on group projects throughout the Cape with the rest of my corps. As the Friends of Mashpee NWR individual placement, my main role will be aiding in the nonprofit’s educational and volunteer programming.
Before graduating college, I had some amazing internship opportunities which allowed me to gain experience in the field. In the summer of 2023, I was an intern with the Chesapeake Conservancy doing stream buffer maintenance. In this position, my fellow interns and I removed invasive species along stream banks, calculated survivability of tree saplings, and planted live stakes to promote native tree growth. Over the summer, we successfully maintained 50 acres of stream buffer areas on public and private lands to reduce erosion and nutrient runoff.
During my junior year, I was an intern with my university’s Freshwater Research Institute, where I aided in the maintenance of Pennsylvania’s first beaver dam analog. Beaver dam analogs are manmade systems of wood dams that are implemented on degraded streams to reduce erosion, create floodplains, and increase groundwater levels. As a restoration intern, I maintained the dams as needed using wood from invasive tree species and developed surveying techniques to determine the project’s success. 
In the summer of 2024, I became a Conservation Education Intern at the Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown, PA. In the mornings, I worked with paid staff and other interns to perform animal husbandry tasks to ensure a clean and healthy environment for animals and guests. Once the zoo opened, I was given my schedule for the day, which included generally educating guests as well as running interactive experiences like giraffe feeds, petting areas, and aviary tours. I look forward to using all the skills that I have acquired through these opportunities to better serve all the communities on Cape Cod! 
As a recent graduate in the field of ecological conservation, I am not sure exactly what pathway I want to take in my career, which is why AmeriCorps Cape Cod was the perfect option for me! As an AmeriCorps service member, I will be able to get a variety of experiences and skills, including environmental education, aquaculture, trail maintenance, marine mammal rescues, and more. Having the opportunity to aid the Cape Cod community through disaster preparedness and response, beach clean-ups, and other public outreach makes this experience invaluable. 
With my service partner, Lucinda Keith, as well as the other partners of Friends of Mashpee NWR, I look forward to all the projects that I will get to complete throughout my year of service! Already, we have installed a raised bed garden at KC Coombs School in Mashpee to provide habitat for pollinators and teach students about their critical role in the environment. Along with installing and maintaining pollinator gardens at schools, I will be continuing the previous member’s Gilbert the American Goldfinch narrative by creating a gardening guide that can be used by teachers, students, and parents to be able to build and maintain their own gardens. Look out for additional articles explaining the projects I will be working on, presentations I will be giving in the community, and for more information about the amazing species of the Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge. Thank you to everyone who has shown their support so far, and I can’t wait to see all that we will accomplish this year. 