AmeriCorps Member Kaycee Doherty

My name is Kaycee Doherty, and I am a recent graduate of Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina and a current member of AmeriCorps Cape Cod here in Barnstable County. I’m serving here at Friends of Mashpee Wildlife Refuge through the AmeriCorps individual placement program, where we can gain experience working with organizations committed to protecting our natural resources and wildlife.

I spent much of my childhood singing to the plants in my father’s garden, catching small invertebrates in the woods with my two older brothers, and simply becoming more and more fascinated with the natural world around us. As I grew up and learned more and more, my passion for the outdoors only grew. Nature became a sanctuary, a safe place where teenage angst, anxiety, and day to day problems no longer existed for me. It also became infinitely fascinating, learning about plant and animal behaviors, niches, and how everything interacts around us.

I only graduated from college in May of 2024, so my professional career so far has been populated pretty exclusively by internships and university-based experiences. My first summer internship after graduating high school was with the New Jersey State Park Service in Wharton State Forest where I learned a lot about the pinelands and got some insight into what I wanted to do with my future. Next was my first experience with AmeriCorps, where I drove my car for 24 hours to North Dakota to work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. I absolutely adored this job and found that I loved to work outside. Most of my time there was spent monitoring fences that surrounded restoration areas, and I was able to see the incredible progress the land that was being protected was making. I had the opportunity to see places that nobody had been in years and identify native plants that hadn’t been seen on these plots of land in centuries. I was able to see and experience incredible things, including banding piping plovers, natural prairie restoration, and learning about a lot of new birds and ducks I had never noticed before.

In my final year at college, I took an ornithology course that fueled my budding interest in birds and led me to do my undergraduate research on sparrow habitat and behavior around my college. I helped in building a small field habitat at my school, where grasses and wildflowers could provide habitat for animals that needed it. As a result, the Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana), a songbird never seen before on campus, began to show up. I became thoroughly interested in how and why these sparrows ended up there and how they were interacting with the existing sparrows in the preserve as well as how they divided food resources in general with other species and decided to do an undergraduate research project delving into their habitat and behavior. I learned so much about catching, banding, and observing smaller songbirds and really fell in love with how the birds interacted with each other and with other species.

My most recent role was at The Wetlands Institute back home in New Jersey, where I spent my last two summers researching wetlands and the birds that rely on these critical habitats. This experience helped me realize exactly what I want from my work and life. Whether it was getting up before dawn to catch the high tide or carefully observing bird behavior for hours, I found every part of it fulfilling. The early wake-ups and tough conditions didn’t matter—I was energized by the research we were conducting and the interesting patterns I was observing. Being out there in the wetlands, contributing to meaningful conservation efforts, and working with such dedicated people made every challenge feel worthwhile.

Wanting to keep exploring different paths in conservation and get hands-on experience in new areas, I felt that AmeriCorps Cape Cod was a natural next step. I was drawn to the program’s focus on natural resource management, disaster response, environmental education, and community outreach—all areas I’m eager to dive into. Working on projects that support local ecosystems and getting the chance to engage directly with communities really appealed to me, especially as I hope to share my passion for the natural world with others.

Now, as a member of AmeriCorps Cape Cod, I am thrilled to be part of a team working to protect and preserve the unique environment of Barnstable County. I look forward to using my field experience to make a positive impact and continue learning from the talented individuals around me. It’s going to be an incredible year, and I can’t wait to see what we accomplish together!

(Article written by Kaycee Doherty, 2024-25 AmeriCorps Member.)