TEK Cohorts Complete their Summer Internships

By Rose High Bear, Founding Director

Summer 2026 TEK Internship

This summer we trained and mentored a generation of young university students and recent graduates from OSU, UofO, Willamette University, Western Oregon University and Reed College. We worked with a larger number of Native American and Latino interns this summer, including Eastern Shawnee, Mescalero Apache, Chickasaw, Ponca, and Native Hawaiian. They majored in forestry management, fish and wildlife, ecological engineering and other environmental sciences, plus health science and sustainability. Their inner discipline, hunger for experiential service learning and appreciation of Native American cultural values was admirable. Their hard work helped to strengthen their resilience along with their potential for conservation career pathway success.

Their time at Elderberry Wisdom Farm helped them expand not just their experience but also their resumes. They can now express to future employers that they helped develop and cultivate a native plant nursery with plants that will help restore sacred landscapes; identified and removed invasive plant species making room for increasing numbers of native trees and plants essential to the future of our local ecosystems; developed spreadsheets that assessed soil composition, drainage and moisture conditions specific to tree and shrub species, and installed and maintained climate-smart irrigation to conserve precious water resources.

Perhaps most important, they learned how Traditional Ecological Knowledge

successfully integrates with Western science practices. They witnessed how our relationships with partners can unite Native American and Indigenous peoples together with local government agencies, including the Oregon Department of Forestry: Urban and Community Forestry, along with educational institutions and environmental NGOs we have been collaborating with. Some of the interns’ final presentations were recorded and shared by Sam Forencich at our Vimeo Site, including this one by Damien Salazar, select the link to view the video from Vimeo: Damian Salazar EWF 2026 Summer Internship