Nicole Parks and Nadira Mitchell, both now full-time Watershed staff members, transitioned smoothly into their current roles after completing apprenticeships at Watershed. What were the highlights of their apprenticeships, and how did their apprenticeships help them prepare for what they’re doing now?
Nicole joined the Watershed team as an apprentice in 2024, and one of her fondest memories from her apprenticeship is the training series that she and her fellow apprentices, interns, and docents participated in during the fall and winter of that year. She recalls Community Conservation Program Director Val Gaddy’s impactful workshop on indigenous perspectives on land and water and an interactive connect-the-parts-of-the-watershed activity. Nicole also shares that the field trip experience of “being able to go to Lower Sabino Creek, a place that’s not usually accessible to the public, and just sit there with my cohort, is something I still think about and really value.”
Having worked as the Sustainable Built Environments apprentice, Nicole was very well-prepared for her current role at WMG, and she feels that her experience as an apprentice added crucial context and information about the “Why?” behind the work she now does as an educator. Today, she teaches community members how to build heat and drought resilience through the Cool Tucson program. Her passion for native plants and the important role they play in cooling our desert landscape is obvious and inspiring!
Unlike Nicole, Restoration Ecology Coordinator Nadira Mitchell didn’t have the chance to train with a cohort when she first came on board at WMG. In February of 2025, she jumped right into her apprenticeship by assisting her supervisor, Senior Program Director and WMG co-founder Catlow Shipek, with analyzing data from the Fall 2024 Bi-National Annual Beaver Survey on the San Pedro River. She says that analyzing this data was “a really cool experience in learning all the behind-the-scenes things that go into WMG’s work on beaver restoration.”
Nadira then transitioned smoothly into a variety of current responsibilities including participating in and helping to organize beaver surveys in Glen Canyon, Utah, and along the San Pedro River in Arizona and Sonors, Mexico. She now coordinates the Arizona Statewide Beaver Working Group, whose members include more than 20 partner organizations and agencies such as Defenders of Wildlife, The Nature Conservancy, and the Arizona Wildlife Federation.
Nadira embraces the slogan, “Be the beaver” since it captures how we, as humans, can learn from the important work these creatures are doing to sustain riparian areas and contribute to long-term resilience in the face of heat and drought. You can often find her sharing fun beaver facts with staff and community members alike. Want to learn more about WMG’s beaver restoration work or just curious to learn more about these beneficial creatures? Join Nadira and her team on one of the beaver survey trips or attend our beaver-themed events at the Living Lab.