EWF Welcomes Winter TEK Interns

Renee Dompier (Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians of Oregon)

Native Plant Nursery Assistant

We are having our first ever six-month Winter TEK Internship and completely filling our classroom with an exciting cohort of gifted and enthusiastic interns! This is the size we usually work with each summer so it is not a new experience but training a team in the winter is new and so is the plan for six month internships. Since our Urban Forestry project prioritizes winter tree planting, these are the ideal months to plant the native trees we are now growing for our partners in our native plant nursery. We’re thankful for Friends of Trees and ODF’s Urban and Community Forestry team.

Winter TEK Cohort

I thought this would be a good time to introduce our new cohort to everyone. Six individuals are joining two interns who completed our Fall Internship and are continuing to assist us with our initiatives. Sam Eubank (Chinese American) graduated last year from U of O in Environmental Justice and focused upon their Environmental Leadership Program. He is helping Joaquin with our Native Plant Nursery Track and then heading to Panama in February to complete a two-year commitment in the Peace Corps. We will sure miss him! Madeline Butler (Indigenous Mexican) also one of our Fall 2025 Interns, is helping us with our Urban Forestry Track while completing her Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Design with a Focus in Sustainability in the Built Environment. 

The new Interns joining them includes David Mora-Flores (Latina) who graduated in Environmental Studies from U of O in 2025 and is assisting with Urban Forestry. He has experience in ecological restoration, including a capstone project on riparian areas and blueberry farms, and years commercial fishing in Alaska working with Alaskan Native fishermen. Irene Soul Reed (European American) has a background in school administration and is already doing an amazing job helping us reach out to three dozen Title One schools in Salem. She is making it possible for us to propose our culturally-tailored conservation classroom education and outdoor activities building tree canopies in students’ neighborhoods. Tetianna Smith Drysdale (African American) is graduating from U of O in June and is in our Urban Forestry Track. Her passion for research into arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in promoting plant resistance to herbivore plus her enjoyment of working in our Corvallis Winter Market booth is a blessing to us. Michelle Rivers (Latina/Apache) is graduating in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences at Oregon State University and lifelong nature enthusiast and herbal remedy background has been a great support to our ethnobotany work. 

Our Organic and Herbal Farming Track is led by Kaitlynn Gutierrez (Latina) who graduated in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems from University of California at Davis last year and is completing a 12-month internship as we continue development of our soil and our organic vegetable garden becomes certified organic. She has a gentle presence in our classroom and is helping to provide organic farming lesson plans on Thursdays to the other interns, and guiding herbal remedy production with our team. Jessica Sheldon (Iriquois descendant) also has experience in herbal medicine and is committed to supporting our microenterprise business while sharing enthusiastic support to the team out in the native plant nursery.