Participants of the Lyon Summer Intern program will experience a range of activities that highlight an education program in a botanical garden setting. Education and Outreach is an important component at Lyon Arboretum, as education is a main objective in the Arboretum’s mission.

The Education Department helps garner support for the Arboretum’s existing programs and promotes the conservation of plants, especially our highly endangered native species. Responsibilities of the Lyon Education Department include running the K-12 school tours program, coordinating community classes, training volunteers for guided tours, and leading tours for visitors. The Education Department also develops place-based activities for school groups and nature camps, participates in and develops outreach materials, recruits volunteers for other departments and Arboretum events, and maintains the Children’s Garden. Maintenance of the Arboretum website and social media accounts is also a responsibility of the Education Department and is an integral part of promoting the Arboretum’s activities. The Education Intern is expected to help with these duties during their time at the Arboretum. Once the intern has had time to observe and learn about the work of the Education Department, they will be given the opportunity to propose and complete an independent project aligned with their interests, provided it falls within the scope of the Education Department’s responsibilities.

There are TWO intern positions in the Grounds Department

Arboriculture Intern Position: This 10-week, full-time, 32-hour-a-week internship will teach the intern to safely use modern techniques to complete tree work on Lyon’s 100-plus-year-old tree collection. The intern will shadow Lyon’s Arborist, learn skills from Lyon’s Arborist, and then apply them hands-on in the field. Internship materials and reference points will be taken from the International Society of Arboriculture’s Best Practices. Safety standards will be observed, and based on the ANSI Z.133. Standards for Safe Arboricultural Practices. At the end of the internship, the intern will prepare and give a presentation on their experiences and what they have learned over the summer.

GIS and Mapping Internship: Through this internship, Lyon Arboretum’s mapping and collections staff hope to receive support in updating and improving the accuracy of maps for plant collections and trail systems across the grounds. These maps are essential tools for conservation, research, land management, and visitor use. At the same time, the intern will gain hands-on experience with high-accuracy field data collection, data processing, and map creation — learning how raw field data becomes a finished, usable product that supports the daily operations and long-term goals of a botanical garden and conservation organization.
Both the intern and the organization will contribute to Lyon’s broader mission of caring for living collections, protecting biodiversity, and making environmental information accessible and useful.

There are two intern positions in the Hawaiian Rare Plant Program

ex-situ Conservation Techniques Position
Hawaiian Rare Plant Program (HRPP) uses ex situ conservation techniques to store and maintain germplasm of endangered native Hawaiian plants to prevent their extinction and provide propagules for reintroduction efforts. The HRPP utilizes conventional seed storage protocols for over 33 million orthodox seeds and in vitro propagation for exceptional species with 43,000 plants.The HRPP in vitro collection is a repository of 47 botanical families and represents 321 endemic Hawaiian plant species, 170 of which are threatened. This collection is one of the most biodiverse in North America, a model for tropical plant conservation, and key to ensuring the survival of Hawaiʻi’s native landscape for future generations. The FLA Summer Internship in the HRPP is a great opportunity for students or emerging professionals to gain hands-on experience in ex situ conservation techniques. The goal of this opportunity is to promote understanding of why and how science is applied to preserve plants in a living collection for several years using in vitro plants and seeds. HRPP collaborates with other departments at Lyon Arboretum and with the Hawaiian
conservation community to provide an overall view of institutional collaboration and collective efforts in plant conservation.

Micropropagation Lab: The Hawaiian Rare Plant Program (HRPP) Micropropagation Laboratory uses in-vitro and cryopreservation techniques to prevent the extinction of native Hawaiian plant species by serving as a gene bank for the rarest plants in Hawaii. It currently holds over 45,000 individual plant cultures, made up of 170 taxa of critically endangered native Hawaiian plant species, 90 varieties of Hawaiian Kalo, and other culturally significant plant taxa. This collection also includes 24 species currently extinct in the wild. Using tissue culture techniques, the HRPP Micropropagation Lab has aided in the restoration of several native Hawaiian plant species through long-standing partnerships with conservation organizations across Hawaii.
Through this summer internship program, selected applicants will receive hands-on experience working with the rarest plants in Hawaii while learning micropropagation and laboratory techniques used for plant conservation. Interns will gain practical skills in sterile technique, media preparation, subculturing,
and data collection. Interns will also gain an understanding of how ex-situ conservation, especially in-
vitro and cryopreservation methods support restoration and recovery efforts for endangered Hawaiian
flora.

The Harold L. Lyon Arboretum has a diverse living collection of over 5,000 unique plants and trees from around the world, many of which started their journey in the greenhouse. The Horticulture Department works in collaboration with the Grounds and Collections Dept to source, propagate, and care for a variety of plants, including tropical ornamentals, palms, Polynesian canoe plants, and natives from around the Hawaiian Islands. Horticulturists at Lyon propagate and prepare plants for education and sales at our biannual community outreach events. Horticulture staff also participate in restoration activities and invasive species removal on the 190 acres of garden and forest that make up Lyon Arboretum.

Situated in the back of Mānoa Valley, most of Lyon’s property is within the tropical rainforest zone, averaging ~150 inches of rainfall per year. Therefore, some days in Lyon can be very wet, whereas other days are sunny and hot, reaching temperatures in the 90ʻs. Mosquitos are abundant at Lyon thanks to the ample moisture and suitable habitat. The greenhouse environment is often hot and humid, especially in summer, so proper hydration and sun protection are essential. It’s important that summer interns are comfortable with working outside, hiking on uneven terrain, and carrying heavy loads up to 50 lbs.

The essential duties of a horticulture intern include maintaining living collections in Lyonʻs greenhouse facilities by watering, fertilizing, potting, conducting pest and disease surveys, and controlling weeds in growing areas and in the garden. Interns will learn and apply various propagation techniques using plant materials (seeds, cuttings, etc.) from Lyon grounds and other sources to diversify our living collections, restore native forest habitat, and produce high-quality plants for our local plant sales. Interns are also expected to help maintain display plantings of Hawaiian native plants by weeding, pruning, and adding new plants. Finally, the horticulture intern will need to be able to follow verbal instructions, work effectively both independently on specific tasks and in a group,  and work with others to complete the department’s larger goals.