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 to garner support for the existing programs at the Arboretum as well as promote 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 to promote the Arboretum’s activities. The Education Intern is expected to help with these duties during their tenure at the Arboretum.

Participants of the Lyon Summer Intern program will experience a range of activities that highlight an education program in a botanical garden setting. 

Objectives and Goals

• Understand the importance of the role that informal education plays to educate the public about conservation and the natural world around us.
• Effective science communication – understand how to relay information about research and conservation to garner support from the general public.
• Learn effective social media practices in a professional setting
• Learn about the the Hawaii State Standards to assist with the design and development of activities for both the school field trip tours and nature day camp offered through the Arboretum.

Interns for the Education Department must complete a project focusing on a specific area of interest within the education department’s responsibilities.

Examples of possible projects:

• Develop curricula for the school group tours by designing a standards-based activity for the school tours that feature resources available at the Arboretum.
• A garden project to be used as a resource for educational activities in the Children’s Garden.
• Interpreting the Children’s Garden plant collections and cultural resources by researching and writing copy for displays, signage, events, and brochures can also be a designated project.

Other projects that are relevant to the missions of the Arboretum and the Education Department can be discussed.

Evaluation

The intern will be expected to do a presentation about the project completed and overall experience at the end of the internship term. The intern’s progress on the chosen project will be monitored throughout the term.

The Grounds and Collections Department is responsible for the management, curation, and development of all plantings at the Arboretum. Our diverse collection provides students, researchers, and community members access to plants from tropical areas worldwide.

There are two intern positions this summer:

Grounds and Collections Intern: Those who apply to intern in our department will be exposed to the rigors of maintaining this robust living collection. Selected applicants will learn the skills required for general maintenance/monitoring of this collection, including plant identification, invasive species removal, pruning techniques, accession inventory/health monitoring, out-plant site preparation, and subsequent outplanting.  

Objectives:  

• • • Learn how to identify plants and understand their evolutionary relationships.
    • Master invasive plant species removal techniques.
    • Command a working knowledge of living collections maintenance through proper tool usage, pruning best practices, and site prep/outplanting.
    • Attain an understanding of trail construction and accession interpretation.
    • Grasp the basic components of documenting accessions through GIS, herbarium vouchering, and data entry.

Requirements: Possession of a high school diploma, associated arts, or baccalaureate degree in any field and/ or 1-2 years landscape maintenance, natural resource management or botany; or equivalent education/training or experience.  Must be able to work in inclement weather and carry 50 lbs.  Must be over +18 and have a Hawaii State Driver’s License.

Arboriculture Intern Position: The Arboriculture intern will learn to safely use modern techniques to complete tree work in Lyon’s First Valley Section. The intern will job shadow and 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 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.

Learning Outcomes: On completion of this internship, the intern will have learned the following skills and will be able to confidently apply for a position at a professional tree care operation:

• • • • Tree/Invasive Species Identification
      • Safe Chainsaw Use and Worksite Practices
      • Proper Pruning Techniques
      • Tree Felling
      • Knowledge of Knots
      • Tree Climbing Fundamentals
      • Arboretum Accession Policies and Living Collection Management
      • Rigging Techniques and Tree Removal
      • Herbicide Application
      • Tree Biology and Physiognomy

Requirements: The candidate must be a high school graduate at least 18 years old, able to lift 50 lbs, and willing to work in the rain, heat, mud, mosquitoes, and all adverse conditions in a tropical rainforest. College experience in Botany, Environmental Resource Management, or Tropical Plants and Soil Sciences is not required but would make an ideal candidate. Experience in videography/drone photography is also ideal. The intern must have no other commitments and be willing to work full-time through the full course of the internship

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 off 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. The FLA Summer Internship Program is a great way for students or emerging professionals to get hands-on experience in the fields of horticulture, botany, arboriculture, environmental education, and natural resource conservation.

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 at Lyon can be very wet whereas other days are sunny and hot, reaching temps in the 90ʻs. Mosquitos are abundant at Lyon thanks to the ample moisture and suitable habitat. The working environment in the greenhouse is often hot and humid, especially in the 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.

Position Description:

The essential duties of a horticulture intern include maintaining living collections in Lyonʻs greenhouse facilities by watering, fertilizing, potting, conducting pest and disease surveys, as well as controlling weeds in growing areas and in the garden. Interns will learn and apply different propagation techniques with various 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 supplementing with new plantings. Finally, the horticulture intern will need to be able to follow verbal instructions and work effectively both independtly on specific tasks, or within a group working with others to complete larger goals of the department.

Objectives:

• Gain experience maintaining tropical and sub-tropical plants in a professional greenhouse setting.
• Receive hands-on experience with plant propagation, fertilization, integrated pest management, and re-potting.
• Achieve a basic understanding of plant identification, propagation techniques, potting media types, planting strategies, and marketing for sales.
• Acquire experience in conservation horticulture, helping to collect seeds, produce native plants for forest restoration, and maintain greenhouse stock of endangered species.
• Become familiar with the overall operations and responsibilities of the Arboretum departments

Requirements:

Possession of a high school diploma, associate or baccalaureate degree in any field and/ or 1-2 years of nursery, farm, garden experience, or natural resource management; or equivalent education/training or experience. Preference will be given to UH Manoa undergraduate students. Must be over +18 and have a valid state ID or Hawaii driver’s license. Must be able to work with others of diverse backgrounds, ages, and experience levels.

This position will assist the Lyon Arboretum Hawaiian Rare Plant Program and Hawaiʻi’s conservation community in its ongoing efforts to bring interest and awareness to the role of ex-situ conservation in the ongoing efforts to capture, stabilize and restore the critically endangered and threatened native plants of Hawaiʻi. We must continue conserving and maintaining our natural environment and resources to preserve Hawaiʻi’s unique beauty for future generations.

Through our participation, the Hawaiian Rare Plant Program (HRPP) Micropropagation Lab hopes to gain much-needed assistance in maintaining its large germplasm storage of endangered native Hawaiian taxa. In addition, we hope the participant will gain hands-on laboratory experience that includes maintaining the in vitro living plant collections and associated tasks such as 1) media preparation, 2) sterile techniques, and 3) general laboratory maintenance.

Both the participant and our organization will ultimately help to complete our mission and conservation goal of conserving those species that are on the precipice of becoming extinct without some human intervention.

Activities of the intern

Work activities to be conducted at the micropropagation laboratory include:

• Plant maintenance of the living plant germplasm stored as in vitro cultures with minimal supervision.
• Preparation of newly created and various existing plant growth nutrient media formulations and chemical stock solutions specifically used to grow plants as in vitro cultures within the laboratory.

Other activities include plant micropropagation, lab maintenance and cleaning, washing of labware, and possibly some computer and greenhouse work.

How the intern’s work will be evaluated

Intern activities will primarily be performed in the HRPP micropropagation lab, and due to the technicality of the tasks to be completed, constant supervision, monitoring, and evaluation by lab staff will be conducted. The intern will be expected to present a final presentation to the Lyon staff.

Training or other benefits the intern will receive

We will actively mentor the participant by teaching them the skills and protocols necessary to work with plants in the micropropagation laboratory setting and provide insight into the role of micropropagation (and HRPP as a whole) in conserving native Hawaiian endangered species.

We are currently developing the protocols necessary to provide cryopreservation storage for these endangered plants. The participant will be able to participate and learn about the crucial role of this new technology in conserving plant material in the laboratory setting. There may also be opportunities to work in the HRPP’s Seed Lab and Greenhouse and to participate in the out planting of propagules in the field with the State of Hawaiʻi DLNR-DOFAW’s Plant Extinction Prevention program collaborators