Summer Environmental Exchange Participant

Spend ten weeks with an international group at Lake Tahoe (California and Nevada) and Lake Baikal (Siberia, Russia) learning about watershed management issues at the two lakes.
Activities include meetings with scientists and policymakers, small-group research projects, participant presentations, and social events.

Since 1990, over 215 international young professionals have graduated from TBI's 10-week Summer Environmental Exchange (SEE) program. The SEE program provides up to 20 international participants the opportunity to develop their environmental inquiry, research, and action skills at the Lake Baikal watershed (in Russia and Mongolia) and at Lake Tahoe (United States).

In both Russia and the United States, the SEE program has the following components: Introduction to "the Players" - Meetings and interactive sessions with natural resource management agencies, non-profits and businesses at each lake. Small group projects - Participants spend two weeks at both Tahoe and Baikal working on small-group projects in partnership with specialists from local agencies, non-profit organizations, and academic institutions. Each group completes a written report and group presentation. 

Field trips to other areas of environmental or cultural importance;  Participant-led discussions comparing Lakes Tahoe and Baikal and participants' home regions, and methods for resolving environmental issues;  Restoration Work - Participants complete short clean-up and forest restoration projects at Tahoe and Baikal.

Key themes of the SEE program are bridging science and policy, developing multi-disciplinary problem solving techniques, and encouraging environmental leadership. Participants are introduced to community leaders who have wrangled with complicated issues in order to learn about their successes (and failures) and how they could possibly be replicated (or avoided) in TBI participants' research or work.