April 20, 2026In 2022, Kylie McNary was a student at Sacramento City College when she presented her undergraduate research The Western Section of The Wildlife Society conference in Reno, Nevada. While there, she met Kim Armstrong, then a biologist at River Partners, who suggested she apply for a summer program called Restoration Fellows, a paid, hands-on internship at River Partners that offers college students and early-career professionals practical experience in large-scale restoration across California.
Taking Armstrong’s sage advice, McNary applied for and was accepted into the Restoration Fellows program, where she worked during the summer of 2022. During her internship, McNary said she fell in love with the world of restoration.
“My time as an intern introduced me to local plant and animal identification, soil classification, and basic hydrology,” she said. “The experience inspired me to pivot my education journey and major in ecology.”
“If anyone were considering a career in restoration, I would highly recommend applying for a Restoration Fellowship to determine if this field is your calling,” said River Partners Associate Restoration Scientist Kylie McNary, who participated in the Restoration Fellowship program in 2022.
McNary is one of nearly 50 Restoration Fellows River Partners has worked with and mentored since 2018. For eight weeks, Fellows work closely with biologists, ecologists, and project managers with a front-row seat to the inner workings of large-scale restoration at one of California’s leading restoration organizations.
“Restoration Fellows is program within the Science department at River Partners that offers opportunities to college students who are pursuing a natural resource degree,” said River Partners Restoration Science Ecologist Restoration Fellows Program Coordinator Holly Ferrara. “We are trying to train, teach, and encourage the next generation of ecological restoration practitioners.”
Working alongside scientists and ecologists from River Partners, which has restored more than 20,000 acres of riparian habitat throughout California since 1998, Restoration Fellows don’t sit on the sidelines. Instead, they work alongside our science and field teams, spending their days on active restoration sites monitoring habitat, conducting species surveys, and collecting data that helps shape how we design and manage our projects. From soil sampling and vegetation monitoring to GIS mapping and report writing, Fellows gain practical, real-world skills that set them up for success in the conservation field.
Ferrara makes it a point to tell students that the Fellowship is an opportunity to gain real-world experience with restoration professionals and to ensure the field is right for them.
“There are a lot of opportunities to learn what you do and don’t like in this field because there are so many different pathways you can take to still fulfill that natural resource career mindset,” she said. “There are so many different ways you can make a difference in the environmental world.”
Mentorship is at the heart of the program. Fellows learn directly from experienced professionals, building skills, confidence, and connections that carry forward long after the program ends. Many alumni have gone on to graduate school or full-time environmental roles—including at River Partners.
“The Restoration Fellows internship provides a little extra exposure to the world of restoration. A number of past interns have become full-time biologists or full-time employees with other departments at River Partners,” Ferrara said. “And not just within River Partners, but even outside partner agencies.”
With past interns working for partner agencies like the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as international organizations, Ferrara said the Restoration Fellowship Program is helping to broaden our network within the restoration field, because we know we can’t do this work alone.
“In order to change the health of California, now is the time to start doing restoration at a large scale—and River Partners excels at large-scale restoration,” she said. “We’re trying to provide opportunities for students to get that hands-on experience in the field, learn about our riparian ecosystems and how to restore them, and provide a pathway to learning.”
Since 2022, McNary has been part of River Partners’ staff. Today, she is an Associate Restoration Scientist in our Sacramento office. While she had an interest in restoration in college, the program solidified her passion for it and reassured her that she was pursuing the right field of study, especially seeing firsthand that there is, in fact, job security in the restoration and conservation field.
“If anyone were considering a career in restoration, I would highly recommend applying for a Restoration Fellowship to determine if this field is your calling,” she said.
