Desired Experience:  (Note: "Desired," not required. Knowledge in one area can be enough)

-Technical writing abilities.
-Research skills in either the poli-sci or hard science realms (Upperclassmen with independent research experience are better than someone who has yet to see the library).
-Technical proficiency in website construction and design.
-Experience in environmental education.

Possible Positions and Projects:

-Policy-
Working on the compilation, analysis, and summarizing of both the political apparatus that RENew is/needs to/should be working under.  Developing fact sheets for the organization and groups like it on the scholarly literature that surrounds their field.  This project would be valuable for individuals interested in grassroots environmentalism to ascertain the sorts of hurdles these groups face and how to identify/overcome them.

 -Curriculum Development-
A major success of RENew has been to provide a viable wind energy program for the Northfield public schools.   Within a few years many Northfield school buildings will be functioning on wind energy.  RENew would rather that this success does not go unnoticed amongst the school children whom will benefit from it most.  This project will seek to prevent this by developing curriculum for the school system on the benefits of alternative energy and the implications of the wind energy powering their schools.         
 -Website Development-
The internet has become the rallying ground for all sorts of environmental information, but especially that of the grassroots movement.  This would be good experience for using your technical knowhow in an environmental context.    

Desired Experience:  (Note: "Desired, not required. Knowledge in one area can be enough)

-The ability to work independently in unfamiliar territory.  With only three full time workers and 1,460 square miles of land to keep an eye on, the CRWP staff does  not have time to be constantly training interns.  Should be a self starter.
-Technical proficiency in areas like website design, Global Information Systems, and data entry/organization.
-Research skills in policy, scholarly literature and science.
-Technical writing abilities.

Possible Positions and Projects

-Policy-
With a watershed that passes through so many jurisdictions (county/township/city) there are countless different laws and statutes CRWP must work around, within, and for.  As a result there is never any lack of policy research and analysis to be done.  The most recent project focused on Federal legislation and how it affects farmers actions.

-Development/Fundraising-
As a non-profit, CRWP spends a majority of its time looking for money to keep their cause alive.   This position could involve the organization of fundraising drives and/or learning how one goes about researching/writing grants.

-Science-  
As was mentioned earlier, CRWP has a good deal of land to keep its eye on.  As a result of this Justin Watkins, their watershed expert, must spend the majority of his time just driving to the watershed's different monitoring sites.  Monitoring and learning testing techniques would therefore be a valuable position for both you and the organization.  There is also, however, the opportunity for independent research. Recently a group of Carleton interns drafted a five year plan for monitoring the viability of wetlands bordering construction sites.  This provides both the opportunity for new research and greater time-frames than just a single semester.