Authored by Olivia Oliver, 2026 CWSF Communications Intern

When I entered my first year of college at the University of Oregon, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. As a naturally indecisive individual with a drive to try out everything, narrowing down 80 majors into one felt like a nearly impossible task.

I knew two things without a doubt. The first being that I have always had a deep passion for storytelling. From silly, fictional stories written in my lined notebooks in fourth grade to taking on the role of feature editor of my high school newspaper, searching for the students who had a story to tell. The second being my undeniably, unshakeable, unwavering love for the great outdoors, especially the forests of the Pacific Northwest, which have served as the playground of my childhood and beyond. 

With these two essential pieces of knowledge stowed away in my brain, I was able to identify the perfect path for me, a beautiful intersection of both my passions: science communication. Utilizing the power of storytelling to communicate complicated scientific topics (environmental topics specifically) to audiences less familiar with environmental science was exactly what I wanted to do. And when I saw the application listing for a communications intern for the Council of Western State Foresters (CWSF) one year later, it was an easy decision to apply.  

Throughout this internship, I have had the opportunity to work on a plethora of projects and tasks that have allowed me to grow as a communicator and expand my understanding of the forestry world. One of these projects was reading through all of the State Forest Action Plan (SFAP) five-year highlight reports to identify readily available stories and organize them into an easily accessible document for CWSF staff. These success stories can now be repurposed into new content for a wide variety of purposes. 

The creation of this document led to the blossoming of another project I had the opportunity to work on. Collaborating with the Kansas Forest Service (KFS), I expanded upon a forest health story that I had previously identified in their SFAP highlights report. With additional information from KFS, I was able to add context and in-depth details to the story, and it was then posted to the CWSF State Forestry Success Stories webpage and featured in our August newsletter. 

With every monthly newsletter that was sent out during my internship, I created LinkedIn posts to highlight and promote the content to a large audience, as well as copyediting it before its release. This included both written captions and graphics that accompanied the post. I also created a media interview tip sheet to be used by the staff that highlights what they should do before, during, and after an interview in order to be as prepared as possible. In addition, I helped create a photo inventory system to help better organize the CWSF photo library to make it easier to find specific photos. Throughout the internship as a whole, I conducted a website audit, and designed one-pagers for Good Neighbor Authority stories – all of which expanded my communication and design skills.

From every project completed, challenge encountered, and feedback received, I have grown exponentially as a communicator. I have learned that strong communication requires time, multiple rounds of edits, immense collaboration, and a willingness to keep working at it until it's perfect. The skills I learned over the course of these four months are skills I will carry with me throughout my professional career, and allow me to be a stronger communicator. 

This year, I will be beginning my junior year at the University of Oregon, and plan to graduate in the spring of 2028 with a Public Relations major and minors in Environmental Studies and Science Communications. My summer at CWSF has paved a path for me to continue to explore and develop my science communication skills, which has made me so grateful for this summer and excited for what comes next.

I would like to sincerely thank the NASF Foundation for funding this internship, which has been an invaluable experience for me this summer. I would also like to thank Sara Goodwin for being an extremely supportive mentor and for her guidance throughout these past four months as I gradually learned what it takes to be an excellent communicator.