Redwing Ranch, Regenerative Ag Educational Program Assistant Internship, Summer 2025

Every summer, The Bill Lane Center for the American West offers many opportunities for Stanford undergraduates (including graduating seniors and co-terms) to work with organizations throughout the West. Through these internships, students can explore careers in natural history, conservation, land use, museum curation, resource management, energy and more.

All internships are full-time (at least 40 hours per week) for nine to ten weeks during the summer. They are fully funded by the Lane Center with stipends ranging from $7,500 to $10,000.

The Lane Center has placed hundreds of interns in positions across the West since 2005. It has developed strong relationships with host organizations and works hard to ensure interns have successful and enriching experiences.

For more information about the internship program, please visit the FAQs page, or email Education Manager Corinne Thomas.

Details about previous summer student interns and their placements can be found here.

Student reflections about the internship experience can be found by visiting the Out West student blog and the Lane Center Instagram channel.

Stipend Information:

The Bill Lane Center will provide a base stipend of $7,500 with additional funding for student financial aid and location, if applicable, up to $10,000. The stipend is provided to cover living expenses and, if applicable, part of the summer earnings expectation of the Office of Financial Aid.

The stipend is not intended to be, and is not, a paid, hourly wage. An internship is an educational and experiential learning opportunity intended for the student to apply their academics and gain real-world experience.

Description of the Organization: 

Redwing Ranch is a regenerative cattle operation located in Huerfano County, Colorado. 

Mission: Empowering the team, livestock, community, and nature. 

Vision: Redwing Ranch is a a working cattle ranch that has started a new era focused on integrating adaptive grazing, ecological decision-making, and team collaboration for a successful and profitable ranch business. We believe the future of agriculture lies in the energy and potential of new practitioners willing to try new things, break paradigms, and collaborate to build successful businesses. We want to help create that future through mentorship, educational opportunities, and leading by example with our own cattle grazing operations.

Internship Overview:

This internship will be a hybrid of ranch work and an individual project. To understand what regenerative ranching is, why we do it and the incredible potential of adaptive management, it is critical to be a part of the team and the day-to-day land and animal management. This work will include learning how to run summer ditch irrigation across the ranch; building polywire fence and moving cattle (on foot and atvs); assisting with livestock health issues; repairing and building infrastructure such as permanent fence, irrigation ditches, corrals and outbuildings; assisting in monitoring and management of pastures including scoring the grazing impact, documenting grazing moves and paddock design, assisting with ecological monitoring photo points, species lists, and invasive weed management. 

This ranch work will inform the individual project which will consist of helping Redwing Ranch tell its story through social media, our website, and educational marketing materials. The audience is people who want to get into ranching but may have little to no experience, individuals who want to find better ways to ranch, demographics who are underrepresented in ranching, and those who love inspiring stories of change. We are in the early stages of building an educational program that will offer 1-3 day in-person and virtual workshops sharing methods we have developed and lessons we have learned as we built a new business based on regenerative principles. 

The individual project will include working with the team on marketing/branding, social media posts and SOPs, updating the website, and developing materials (fliers, posts, and swag) to be used for advertising and promoting the workshops. The project will also involve working with Fiona (Ranch Manager) and Christy Wyckoff (owner) to develop curriculum and materials (presentation, handouts, worksheets) for 1-2 workshops, likely topics would be "How to Set up a Custom Grazing Operation," and "How to Develop a Grazing Plan."

Internship Work Environment:

This is an in-person internship. Depending on the week, the job will be outdoors heavy (>70% outdoors) for the first 1/3 of the internship and gradually increase in office time towards the end of the internship.

This position will be integrated into the Redwing Ranch Team, generally out working with other team members on ranch projects and occasionally working independently on tasks as needed, or working directly with Christy (owner) and Fiona (Ranch Manager) on marketing and educational programming. Christy Wyckoff (owner), Fiona (Ranch Manager), Erin (Ranch Hand), Payton (Ranch Hand), and an NAP Apprentice will make up the summer 2025 team.

As part of the Redwing Ranch Team, the intern is expected to help on group projects and attend weekly team meetings. It is a young team. Most of the team is under 30 years old, the 2025 NAP Apprentice age is unknown and there is a seasonal ranch hand in high school.

The intern will be expected to assist in ranch projects such as building temporary electric fence, mending permanent fence, repairing infrastructure, assisting with flood irrigation, moving cattle, ecological monitoring and other day-to-day tasks as needed and as permitted by progress on the primary project. Each day is likely a little different, we have weekly meetings to sort out upcoming tasks and priorities. We use a shared Google calendar to track planned activities and schedules. In the early part of the internship, the intern will work with staff to get oriented and understand the workflow, culture, goals, and daily flow of the ranch. That understanding will then be applied to helping us tell our story and build educational programming.

Day-to-day work: No day is the same on the ranch, but we do strive to maintain a work-life balance. The workday generally begins at 7 or 8 am, depending on the season, task and who you are working with that day. Our work week is generally 40-45 hours a week Monday through Friday, however, there are long days when the cattle get out of their pasture or the irrigation water jumps the ditch, and the intern would be expected to pitch in as needed like any team member.

Housing:

Redwing Ranch will provide housing in the recently remodeled headquarters that has several bedrooms. There will be a refundable damage deposit of $200. On-ranch housing is in the Headquarters/Huerfano House, located in the heart of the ranch, is available for the duration of the position, and contingent on employment. 

The provided housing will be a private bedroom and shared bathroom. The historic building has been recently remodeled, has laundry and a fully supplied kitchen, furnishings and linens are included. The Headquarters is a shared space and hub of activity with our office, and is used for housing of other staff, interns and guests of the ranch.

A car is necessary! Redwing Ranch is located in a remote part of southern Colorado and a personal vehicle is required for getting anywhere, especially the grocery store or exploring the area on the weekends. 

Grocery shopping: There is a Safeway & First Choice in Walsenburg, about 45 minutes east, there is a small local market in Westcliffe about 45 minutes north, and Pueblo is an hour and 45 mins NE with Walmart, Sam’s Club, King Soopers and Albertsons. 

Dining: All restaurant options are in Westcliffe or Walsenburg. 

Entertainment: Gardner has a bar but not much of any other businesses, entertainment out here includes hiking and recreating on the ranch or surrounding public lands, or creating your own entertainment. 

The ranch CANNOT provide a vehicle for an intern's personal use.