Dorothy "Dee Dee" De Lorenzo Scholarship Fund

In order to honor our President and Founding Member by promoting the preservation, awareness, and appreciation of our environment, the Friends of Bill Williams River and Havasu National Wildlife Refuges will offer scholarships to students who are pursuing careers in fish and wildlife management, environmental education and science, and related fields.

In 2020 we began awarding up to two scholarships each year in the amount of $1,000: 

One is for qualified applicant students entering or continuing in college or a graduate program at the end of their present term. These awards will be paid directly to the chosen academic institution and can be used for tuition, fees, books, supplies, and equipment, if required by all other students in the registered courses. 

This scholarship is available to students whose home residences are in the Tri-State Area of Arizona, Nevada and California. Students receiving full scholarships from another source or combination of services are not eligible.

If you're a student who is interested in applying, please see the fact sheet and application (PDF) available below. The application and required attachments must be postmarked on or before the annual deadline of March 15.

The other is a Refuge Intern Scholarship to help defray expenses for Interns at  the Bill Williams River or Havasu National Wildlife Refuge. Once hired, your supervisor can help you access these funds.

Fernando graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. He developed a passion for conservation and ornithology while in college during his internships with the Tucson Audubon Society and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 

Since graduating, he has worked as a avian point count technician at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, as a Yellow-billed Cuckoo surveyor along the Lower Colorado River, and as a habitat restoration technician throughout Southeastern Arizona. He is excited to be working again for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and looks forward to surveying Yuma Ridgway’s Rails at the Lake Havasu refuge area. 

His goal is to become a permanent wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. 

In his free time, he enjoys birding, running, and making coffee.  

This is a photo of Fernando at Organ Pipe during his first field job. 

 Rhiannon Watkins is a dedicated and passionate young woman pursuing a career in wildlife conservation.

In May 2019 she graduated with a B.S. Environmental Science from Arizona State University at Lake Havasu City. Her senior thesis on the juvenile dispersal of Western burrowing owls led to a co-publication with Dr. Kerrie Anne Loyd titled “Habitat Characteristics and Nesting Success of the Western Burrowing Owl in a Suburban Landscape” in Arizona Birds, 2019. 

With the short-term goal of completing the Wildlife Society’s Associate Wildlife Biologist certificate, Rhiannon is continuing her education with post-graduate courses for professional development. These courses will increase her chances of employment with federal government agencies, helping her reach the higher-level course requirements for permanent employment as a wildlife biologist.

 She has surveyed a variety of species including Northern goshawks, California spotted owls, salt marsh sparrows, black-footed ferrets, desert bighorn sheep, pronghorn, bonytail chub, razorback suckers, and spotted turtles. Rhiannon spent the summer of 2019 as an At-Risk Species Fellow collecting data on the frosted elfin butterfly and its habitat to provide adequate information for a determination on whether the species should be added to the Endangered Species List. Additionally, she spent time there collecting data from Sediment Elevation Tables (SETs) to contribute to a long-term study on the effects of Climate Change on salt marshes. 

When Rhiannon is not busy working in the field she goes hiking, kayaking, biking, and fishing, or spends time at home reading, painting, gaming, and hanging out with her Shar Pei/Labrador mix, Kai.