PHOTO PROVIDED Anthropologist Scott Goodwin interned at the Mound House

“Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge (DDWS) has provided funding for living-expense stipends for up to eight interns at J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge in the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

Another recently joined refuge public use staff and will be assisting with a project to upgrade interpretative native American signage on Shell Mound Trail. Scott Goodwin, who is currently working on his doctorate in applied anthropology at the University of Maryland, holds a masters degree in that field from the same university and a bachelors degree in environmental studies from Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. As an undergraduate, he interned at the Mound House, a native American site in Fort Myers Beach.

“The refuge has always focused on the environment, which is what it’s supposed to do,” said Goodwin. “But it has such great cultural resources. It is my hope to help link today’s environment with the past.”

Goodwin will continue his refuge work through mid-August. DDWS is applying for a grant to fund the trail improvements.

DDWS is a non-profit, friends-of-the-refuge organization that supports the Education Center and other educational and biological/habitat programs and services at the refuge.

To join DDWS and become a friend of the refuge, stop in at the refuge Education Center, call 239-472-1100 ext. 233, or visit www.dingdarlingsociety.org.